Many people who work in London prefer to live outside it, and to go in to their offices or schools every day by train, car or bus, even though this means they have to get up early in the morning and reach home late in the evening. 
One advantage of living outside London is that houses are cheaper. Even a small flat in London without a garden costs quite a lot to rent. With the same money, one can get a little house in the country with a garden of one's own.
Then, in the country one can really get away from the noise and hurry of busy working lives. Even though one has to get up earlier and spend more time in trains or buses, one can sleep better at night and during weekends and on summer evenings, one can enjoy the fresh, clean air of the country. If one likes gardens, one can spend one's free time digging, planting, watering and doing the hundred and one other jobs which are needed in a garden. Then, when the flowers and vegetables come up, one has got the reward together with those who have shared the secret of nature.
Some people, however, take no interest in country things: for them, happiness lies in the town, with its cinemas and theatres, beautiful shops and busy streets, dance-halls and restaurants. Such people would feel that their life was not worth living if they had to live it outside London. An occasional (偶尔的) walk in one of the parks and a fortnight's (two weeks) visit to the sea every summer is all the country they want: the rest of the country they are quite prepared to spend with those who are glad to get away from London every night.
【小题1】Which of the following statements is NOT true?

用括号内所给的单词，根据句意用其适当形式填空（10分）

-- What' s the weather like?

   -- Oh， it       outside. Take an umbrella with you.

   A. rains            B. is raining         C. was raining       D. rained

When I was a boy growing up in New Jersey in the 1960s, we had a milkman delivering milk to our doorstep. His name was Mr. Basille. He wore a white cap and drove a white truck.
Of course, he delivered (分发) more than milk. There was cheese, eggs and so on. If we needed to change our order, my mother would write a note — “Please add a bottle of buttermilk next delivery”. Then she put the note and the empty bottles into the milk box. The next day, the buttermilk would magically appear.
There was also a close relationship between families and their milkmen. Mr. Basille even had a key to our house, for those times when it was so cold outside that we put the box in the house, so that the milk wouldn’t freeze. And I remember Mr. Basille from time to time taking a break at our kitchen table, having a cup of tea and telling stories about his delivery.
I am sad that there is no home milk delivery today. Big companies produce cheaper milk, and milk is for sale everywhere. People may not need the milkman anymore.
Recently, I saw an old milk box in the countryside and it brought back my childhood memories. I took it home and put it outside the door. My son’s friends always ask what it is. So I start telling stories of my boyhood, and of the milkman who brought us friendship with his milk.
【小题1】The milkman delivered milk to family _____ in the old days.