阅读下列短文，从所给的四个选项中，选出最佳答案。

　Nat lived in a small town in England. He always stayed in England for his holidays, but then last year he thought, “I've never been outside this country. All my friends go to Spain, and they like it very much, so this year I'm going to go there too.”

　First he went to Madrid and stayed in a small hotel for a few days. On the first morning he went out for a walk. In England people drive on the left, but in Spain they drive on the right. Nat forgot about this, and while he was crossing a busy street, a bicycle knocked him down. Nat lay on the ground for a few seconds and then he sat up and said, “Where am I?”

　An old man was selling maps at the side of the street, and he at once came to Nat and said, “Map of the city, sir?”

1．The story mainly tells us ______.

[　　]

A．Nat lived in a small town in England

B．Nat always stayed in England for his holidays

C．Nat decided to go to Spain to spend his holiday

D．what happened to Nat in Madrid one morning

2．Where is Madrid?

[　　]

A．In England.　　　B．In Spain.

C．In France.　　　 D．In Germany.

3．Which of the following statements is not true according to this passage?

[　　]

A．It was the first time that Nat had been on holiday.

B．It was the first time that Nat had been to Spain.

C．It was the first time that Nat had been to Madrid.

D．Nat's friends all liked Spain very much.

4．Nat was knocked down by a bicycle because ______.

[　　]

A．he knew nothing about the road rules in Spain

B．he didn't know that in Spain people drove on the right

C．he didn't remember any of the road rules in Spain

D．he forgot one important road rule in Spain, which is quite different from that in England

5．The old man who was selling maps came to Nat ______.

[　　]

A．in order to see what had happened

B．in order to help Nat to rese to his feet

C．in order to sell his maps

D．in order to teach him a lesson

－I think you should phone Jenny and say sorry to her.

－________. It was her fault.

[　　]

As a young boy, I sometimes traveled the country roads with my dad. He was a rural mill carrier, and on Saturdays he would ask me to go with him. Driving through the countryside was always an adventure: There were animals to see, people to visit, and chocolate cookies if you knew where to stop, and Dad did.
In the spring, Dad delivered boxes full of baby chickens, and when 1 was a boy it was such a fun to stick your finger 'through one of the holes of the boxes and let the baby birds peck on your fingers.
On Dad' s final day of work, it took him well into the evening to complete his rounds because at least one member from each family was waiting at their mailbox to thank him for his friendship and his years of service. "Two hundred and nineteen mailboxes on my route." he used to say, "and a story at every one. " One lady had no mailbox, so Dad took the mail in to her every day because she was nearly blind. Once inside, he read her mail and helped her pay her bills.
Mailboxes were sometimes used for things other than mail. One note left in a mailbox read. "Nat, take these eggs to Marian; she's baking a cake and doesn't have any eggs. " Mailboxes might be buried in the snow, or broken, or lying on the groom:. bat the mail was always delivered On cold days Dad might find one of his customers waiting for him with a cup of hot chocolate. A young wrote letters but had no stamps, so she left a few button on the envelope in the mailbox; Dad paid for the stamps. One businessman used to leave large amounts of cash in his mailbox for Dad to take to the bank. Once, the amount came to 8 32,000.
A dozen years ago, when I traveled back to my hometown on the sad occasion of Dad’s death,  the mailboxes along the way reminded me of some of his stories. I thought I knew them all, but that wasn't the case.
As I drove home, I noticed two lamp poles, one on each side of the street. When my dad was around, those poles supported wooden boxes about four feet off the ground. One box was painted green and the other was red, and each had a long narrow hole at the top with white lettering: SANTA CLAUS, NORTH POLE. For years children had dropped letters to Santa through those holes.
I made a turn at the comer and drove past the post office and across the railroad tracks to our house. Mom and I were sitting at the kitchen table when I heard footsteps. There, at the door, stood Frank Townsend, Dad's postmaster and great friend for many years. So we all sat down at the table and began to tell stories.
At one point Frank looked at me with tears in his eyes. " What are we going to do about the letters this Christmas?" he asked.
"The letters?"
'I guess you never knew. "
"Knew what?"
" Remember, when you were a kid and you used to put your letters to Santa in those green and red boxes on Main Street? It was your dad who answered all those letters every year. "
I just sat there with tears in my eyes. It wasn’t hard for me to imagine Dad sitting at the old table in our basement reading those letters and answering each one. I have since spoken with several of the people who received Christmas letters during their childhood, and they told me how amazed they were that Santa had known so much about their homes and families.
For me, just knowing that story about my father was the gift of a lifetime.
【小题1】It can be inferred from the passage that the writer regarded his travels with Dad us_____.

It was 11:30 in the evening. A ___1___ American lady of about seventy was standing on the side of an Alabama ___2___ trying to bear a pouring rainstorm. Her car had ___3___ and at the moment she ___4___ needed a ride. Wet to the skin, she decided to flag down the next ___5___. A young white man stopped to help her—generally unheard ___6___ in those conflict-filled(矛盾冲突) 1960s. The man ___7___ her to safety in his car, and ___8___ a taxicab(a kind of car)for her. She seemed to be in a great ___9___. She wrote down his ___10___, thanked him and drove away. Several days went by and a ___11___ came on the man’s door. To his ___12___, a very big color TV was delivered to his home. A special note was ___13___ to it. It read: “ Dear sir, thank you so much for assisting a(an) ___14___ colored woman on the freeway ___15___ night, The rain ___16___ wet all over not only my clothes ___17___ my spirits. Then you ___18___ along. Because of you, I was ___19___ to make it to my dying husband’s bedside just ___20___ he passed away. God bless you for helping me and kindly serving others. Sincerely, Mrs. Nat King Cole.

1. A. black      B. white  C. poor   D. sick

2. A. railway   B. freeway      C. street  D. avenue

3. A. broken up      B. speeded up C. broken down           D. slowed down

4. A. seriously B. badly  C. fairly  D. probably

5. A. bus B. truck   C. taxi     D. car

6. A. from      B. by      C. before D. of

7. A. put  B. led      C. fetched       D. took

8. A. hired      B. took    C. sent    D. asked

9. A. need       B. help    C. hurry  D. trouble

10. A. address B. number      C. name  D. words

11. A. lady      B. salesman    C. letter   D. knock

12. A. surprise       B. delight       C. joy     D. satisfaction

13. A. offered B. given  C. stuck   D. written

14. A. aged     B. dark    C. lucky  D. unhappy

15. A. another B. the other    C. other   D. any

16. A. let B. made  C. had     D. turned

17. A. and      B. but     C. or         D. otherwise

18. A. got       B. went   C. ran     D. came

19. A. able      B. ready  C. likely  D. willing

20. A. after     B. before C. until   D. since

There was a man who played the piano in a small bar. There were not too many 36  , but because he was a good piano player, some people 37  came in every night just to hear him play. But one night, a patron (老主顾) told him he didn’t want to hear him play but to sing a song.
The man said, “I have never 38  that before in public. I think I’m 39  at playing the piano.”
But the customer 40 . He told the waiter, “I’m 41  listening to the piano day after day. I want to hear something new and I want that guy to sing.”
The waiter 42  across the room, “Hey, buddy! If you want to get 43  , sing a song. The patrons are asking you to sing!”
  44  in order to bring some money home that night, the piano player who had never sung in public did so for the very first time. And 45  had ever heard the song Mona Lisa sung before  46   that night by Nat King Cole, and it surprised all, including the 47  himself!
He had talent he was 48  on! He may have lived the rest of his life as a no-name piano player in a no-name bar, but because he had to sing, he 49  to become one of the best-known entertainers in America.
You, too, have skills and 50  . You may not feel as if your “talent” is particularly 51  , but it may be better than you think! And with persistence (坚持), most skills can be 52  . Besides, you may as well have no ability at all if you sit on whatever talent you 53 ! The 54  is not “What ability do I have that is useful?” It is 55 “How will I use whatever ability I have?”.
Just think a minute…