One Sunday afternoon, I went shopping at Wal-Mart . But I never thought I would have a life ­changing experience at WalMart.
Although my thoughts were only on speed, the checkout line I was standing in wasn’t moving as quickly as I wanted, and I looked towards the cashier.
There stood a man in his seventies, wearing glasses and a nice smile. I thought, well, he’s an old guy!
For the next few minutes I watched him. He greeted every customer before scanning the items. Sure, his words were the usual, “How’s it going？” But he did something different—he listened to people carefully and then he would reply to what they had said
I thought it was strange. I has grown used to people asking me how I was doing simply out of conversational habit. I could say, “I just found out I have six months to live，” and someone would reply, “Have a great day！”
But that wasn't the end.
He gave them the change, walked around the counter (柜台), and hugged them with his right hand in an act of friendship. He looked at the customers in the eyes. “I want to thank you for shopping here today,” he told them. “You have a great day. Bye-bye.”
The smiling looks on the faces of the customers were priceless. All had been touched by his simple gesture—and in a place they never expected. They would gather their things and walk out, smiling.
Of course, he did the same to me and I got to know his name—Marty.
Who was that guy? It was as if Sam Walton (沃尔玛的创始人)had come back from the dead and invaded this old guy’s body.
I had never walked away from that shop feeling like that.

【小题1】The underlined word “customer” mean________ in Chinese.

“________ away this old coat and ________ me the new one, ”he said.

1. A.
   Bring/take
2. B.
   Take/bring
3. C.
   Get/take
4. D.
   Bring/carry

Adults usually do not remember most of the things that are taught by their teachers at school. But this story is one   16  that I will never forget.
It was a normal Monday morning, and my teacher was teaching us about  17  things in life and about devoting ourselves to what we really need. This is how the story went:
  18   lived in a certain part of London, and he would wake up every morning and go to the underground. He would get onto the train right to Central London, and then sit at the street corner and   19 . He would do this every single day of his life. He sat at  20 street corner and begged for almost 20 years.
His  21  was dirty, and a stench （恶臭） came out. The neighbors could not bear the  22 any more, so they called for the police officers to clear the place. The officers knocked down the door and  23 the house. There were small bags of  24  all over the house that he had collected over the years.
The police counted the money, and they soon   25 that the old man was a millionaire. They waited outside his house expecting to  26  the good news with him. When the old man arrived home that evening, one of the officers told him that there was no need for him to beg any more as he was a   27 man now, a millionaire.
But the old man said  28  ;he went into his house and locked the door. The next morning he woke up  29  ,went to the underground, sat at the same street corner and continued to beg.
Clearly, this old man had no great plans,  30   or anything significant (重大的) for his life. We learn nothing from this story but to stay focused on the things we enjoy doing.

Adults usually do not remember most of the things that are taught by their teachers at school. But this story is one such    16     that I will never forget. Every time I drift off course, I think of this story.

    It was a normal Monday morning, and my teacher was teaching us on  17  things in life and about devoting ourselves to 18   is important to us. This is how the story went:

    An old man lived in a certain part of London, and he would wake up every morning and go to the sub-way. He would    19    the train right to Central London, and then sit at the street corner and   20  . He would do this every single day of his life. He sat at  21   street corner and begged for almost 20 years.

    His  22    was dirty, and a stench came out and it smelled terrible. The neighbors could not stand the smell any more, so they called for the police officers to clear the place. The officers knocked down the door and cleaned the house. There were small bags of  23   all over the house  24   he had collected over the years.

    The police counted the money, and they soon   25  that the old man was a millionaire. They waited outside his house expecting to ___26__ the good news with him. When the old man arrived home that evening, one of the officers told him that there was no need for him to beg any more as he was a   27    man now, a millionaire.

    But the old man said  28   ; he went into his house and locked the door. The next morning he woke up  29 , went to the subway, sat at the street corner and continued to beg.

    Clearly, this old man had no great plans,  30   or anything significant for his life. We learn nothing from this story other than staying focused on the things we enjoy doing.

1.A. class             B. teacher        C. lesson        D. study

2.A. interesting         B. special         C. important     D. necessary

3.A. what              B. that           C. how          D. where

4.A. get up             B. get onto        C. get from       D. get to

5.A. sing              B. sleep          C. think         D. beg

6.A. a different         B. another        C. the same      D. a strange

7.A. house             B. coat          C. cap          D. bag

8.A. food              B. money        C. books         D. clothes

9.A. that               B. where         C. whose         D. who

10.A. recognized        B. said           C. realized        D. thought

11.A. tell               B. share          C. cover          D. discuss

12.A. rich              B. poor           C nice            D. bad

13.A. thanks            B. something       C. nothing        D. much

14.A. much later         B. much earlier     C. so quickly      D. as usual

15.A. friends            B. jobs            C. chances        D. dreams

Every day when I enter the classroom, I will take a look at the wall beside my seat. You will find nothing special about this old wall if you just look at it. But for the students in my class, it is a special wall. Take a good look at it, and you will get to know the real feelings and thoughts of us, the 9^th graders.

In the middle of the wall, there is a big “VICTORY”. It was written in pencil. I guess it must have been written by someone who got a good mark in an exam.

A little higher above the formulas, there is a poem. It only has two sentences. It reads: All those sweet memories have disappeared. Like tears dropping in the heavy rain.

Oh! It must have been written at the end of the last semester in middle school. Classmates had to leave school and good friends had to part. What a sad poem!

If you look at the wall more carefully, you will find many other interesting things, like a crying face, or a happy face, and other patterns(图案). There are still some patterns and letters that I can’t understand, but they all show the feeling of the students who drew them.

For years, the wall has witnessed(目睹) all the things that have happened in the classroom. I don’t know how it will be next year, two years from now, or even ten years from now. But I hope more smiling faces will be drawn on it.

1.There is ____ special on this wall.

A. something    B. anything    C. nothing     D. everything

2.What was the “VICTORY” written in?

A. Chalk    B. Pencil    C. Pen    D. Brush

3.When has the poem been written?

A. At the beginning of the last semester.    B. At the end of the year.

C. At the end of the last semester.         D. At the beginning of the last month.

4.What’s the meaning of the underlined word?

A. 部分    B. 分离    C. 和好    D. 聚集

5.What’s the title of the passage?

A. The Pictures of the Wall         B. The Feelings of the Students

C. The Patterns of the Classroom    D. The Hope of the Writer