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Is there anything more important than health? I don’t think so. “Health is the greatest wealth(财富),” wise people say. You can’t be good at your studies or work well when you are ill.　　     

Speaking about health, I can’t help telling you a funny story.　　

An old gentleman came to see the doctor. The man was very ill. He told the doctor about his weakness, memory loss and serious problems with his heart and lungs. The doctor examined him and said there was no medicine for his disease.　   

He told his patient to go to a quiet place for a month and have a good rest. He also advised him to eat a lot of meat, drink two glasses of red wine every day and take long walks. In other words, the doctor advised him to follow the rule: “Eat at pleasure, drink with measure and enjoy life as it is.” The doctor also said that if the man wanted to be well again, he shouldn’t smoke more than one cigarette a day.　　

A month later the gentleman came into the doctor’s office. He looked cheerful and happy. He thanked the doctor and said that he had never felt a healthier man.　　

“But you know, doctor,” he said, “it’s not easy to begin smoking at my age.”

1.The writer thinks that 　　　　.

A.        health is more important than wealth

B. work is as important as studies

C. medicine is more important than pleasure

D. nothing is more important than money

2.. The doctor usually tells his patient what to do 　　　　.

A. without examining the patient

B. after he has examined the patient

C. if the patient doesn’t take medicine

D. unless the patient feels pain

3. The underlined part means “　　　　”.

A. he will be well again            B. he wasn’t a healthy man

C. he was feeling worse than before   D. he was feeling better than ever

4. From the last sentence of the passage, we learn the man 　　　　 before the doctor told him not to smoke more than one cigarette a day.

A. didn’t smoke                  B. has smoked so much

C. was a heavy smoker             D. began to learn to smoke

The need for an operation，especially an immediate operation， almost always comes as a ______ to the patient and his family.

     A. result       B. happiness     　C. disappointment      D. shock

Now that I am no longer young, I have friends whose mothers have passed away. I have heard these sons and daughters say they never fully appreciated their mothers ___36___ it was too late to tell them. I am blessed with the dear mother who is still alive. I ___37___ her more each day. My mother does not change, but I ___38___. As I grow older and wiser, I realize ___39___ an exceptional person she is. How ___40___ that I am unable to speak these words in her ___41___, but they flow easily from my pen.
　　How does a daughter begin to thank her mother for life itself? For the love, patience and just ___42___ hard work that go into ___43___ a child? For running after a toddler (学走步的小孩), for understanding a ___44___ teenager, for tolerating (忍受;容忍) a college student who knows ___45___ ? For waiting for the day when a daughter ___46___ how wise her mother really is?
　　How does a ___47___ woman thank a mother for ___48___ to be a mother? For being ready ___49___ advice (when asked) or remaining ___50____ when it is most appreciated? For not saying, “I told you so,” when she could have uttered these words ___51___? For being ___52___ herself-loving, thoughtful, patient, and forgiving?
I don’t know how, dear God, except to ask you to bless her as richly as she ___53___ and to help me live up to the example she has ___54___. I pray that I will look as good in the eyes of my children as my mother ___55___ in mine.

I have had just about enough of being treated like a second-class citizen, simply because I happen to be that unfairly treated member of society --- a customer. The more I go into shops and hotels, banks and post offices, railway stations, airports and the like, the more I am convinced the things are being run solely to suit the firm, the system, or the union. There seems to be a deceptive (欺骗的) new motto for so-called “service” organizations --- Staff Before Service.

　　 How often, for example, have you queued for what seems like hours at the Post Office or the supermarket because there were not enough staff on duty to man all the service grilles or checkout counters? Surely in these days of high unemployment it must be possible to hire cashiers and counter staff. Yet supermarkets, hinting darkly at higher prices, claim that uncovering all their cash registers at any one time would increase operating costs. And the Post Office says we cannot expect all their service grilles to be occupied “at times when demand is low”.

　　  It is the same with hotels. Because waiters and kitchen staff must finish when it suits them, dining rooms close earlier or menu choice is cut short. As for us guests, we just have to put up with it. There is also the nonsense of so many friendly hotel night porters having been thrown out of their jobs in the interests of “efficiency” and replaced by coin-eating machines which offer everything from lager to laxatives (从贮藏啤酒到通便剂). Not to mention the tea-making kit in your room: a kettle with a mixed collection of tea bags, plastic milk boxes and lump sugar. Who wants to wake up to a raw teabag? I do not, especially when I am paying for “service”.

　　Can it be stopped, this worsening of service, this growing attitude that the customer is always a bore? I angrily hope so because it is happening, sadly, in all walks of life.

　　Our only hope is to hammer home our anger whenever and wherever we can and, if all else fails, bring back into practice that other, older slogan --- Take Our Deal Elsewhere.

1.The writer feels that nowadays customers __________.

A. deserve the lowest status in society

B. are unworthy of proper consideration

C. have received high quality service

D. have become victims of modern organizations

2.The writer argues that the quality of service is changing because __________.

A. customers’ demands have greatly changed

B. the staff receive more consideration than customers

C. customers’ needs have become more complex

D. staff members are less considerate than their employers

3. According to the writer, long queues at counters are caused by __________.

A. not having enough male staff on duty

B. difficulties in hiring more efficient staff

C. lack of cooperation between staff members

D. not providing enough staff on purpose to reduce budget

4.The writer suggests that a customer __________.

A. be patient when queuing before checkout counters

B. put up with the rude manners of the staff

C. try to control his temper when ill-treated

D. go to other places where good service is available