I try not to be biased（偏见）but I had my doubts about hiring Stevie. His social worker assured me that he would be a good, reliable busboy. But I had never had a mentally handicapped employee. He was short, a little fat, with the smooth facial features and thick-togued speech of Down’s Syndrome（唐氏综合症）. I thought most of my customers would be uncomfortable around Stevie, so I closely watched him for the first few weeks.
I shouldn’t have worried. After the first week, Stevie had my staff wrapped around his stubby little finger, and within a month my regular trucker customers had adopted him as their official truck stop mascot. After that, I really didn't care what the rest of the customers thought of him. He was like a 21-year-old in blue jeans and Nikes, eager to laugh and eager to please, but fierce in his attention to his duties. Every salt and pepper shaker was exactly in its place, not a bread crumb or coffee spill was visible when Stevie got done with the table. Our only problem was persuading him to wait to clean a table until after the customers were finished.
Over time, we learned that he lived with his mother, a widow who was disabled. Money was tight, and what I paid him was probably the difference between them being able to live together and Stevie being sent to a group home.
That's why the restaurant was a gloomy place that morning last August, the first morning in three years that Stevie missed work. He was at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester getting a heart surgery. His social worker said that people with Downs Syndrome often had heart problems at an early age and there was a good chance he would come through the surgery in good shape and be back at work in a few months.
A ripple of excitement ran through the staff later that morning when word came that he was out of surgery, in recovery, and doing fine. Frannie, my head waitress, did a little dance when she heard the good news. Belle Ringer, one of our regular trucker customers, stared at her and asked, “Okay, Frannie, what was that all about?”
"We just got word that Stevie is out of surgery and going to be okay."
"I was wondering where he was. I had a new joke to tell him. What was the surgery about?"
Frannie quickly told Belle Ringer and the other two drivers sitting at his booth about Stevie's surgery, then sighed: "Yeah, I'm glad he is going to be OK," she said. "But I don't know how he and his Mom are going to handle all the bills. From what I hear, they're barely getting by as it is."
Belle Ringer nodded thoughtfully, and Frannie hurried off to wait on the rest of her tables.
After the morning rush, Frannie walked into my office. She had a couple of paper napkins in her hand.
"What's up?" I asked.
“I cleared off that table where Belle Ringer and his friends were sitting after they left, and I found this. This was folded and tucked under a coffee cup."
She handed the napkin to me, and three $20 bills fell onto my desk when I opened it. On the outside, in big, bold letters, was printed "Something For Stevie".
That was three months ago. Today is New Year’s day , the first day Stevie is supposed to be back to work. His placement worker said he had been counting the days until the doctor said he could work, I arranged to have his mother bring him to work, met them in the parking lot and invited them both to celebrate his day back. I took him and his mother by their arms. “To celebrate you coming back, breakfast for you and your mother is on me.”
I led them toward a large corner booth. I could feel and hear truck customers and the rest of the staff following behind as we marched through the dining room. We stopped in front of the big table. Its surface was covered with coffee cups and dinner plates, all sitting slightly on dozens of folded paper napkins.
"First thing you have to do, Stevie, is clean up this mess," I said.
Stevie looked at me, and then pulled out one of the napkins. It had "Something for Stevie" printed on the outside. As he picked it up, two $10 bills fell onto the table. Stevie stared at the money, then at all the napkins peeking from beneath the tableware, each with his name printed on it.
I turned to his mother. “There's more than $10,000 in cash and checks on that table, all from truckers and trucking companies that heard about your problems. Happy Thanksgiving!”
While everybody else was busy shaking hands and hugging each other, Stevie, with a big, big smile on his face, was busy clearing all the cups and dishes from the table.
【小题1】Why did the author have doubts about hiring Stevie?

—I hear your journey was not very pleasant.
—But for the sudden rain we _______ a wonderful time.

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。
Dear Boris,
1   
After I had spent a week with my English family, I slowly began to understand their English a little better.    2   Students in my group are from different cities of Britain and their dialects are different too!  Some of their accents are quite strong and they also have their own words and expressions.
3    Before I came to England I had thought that fish and chips were eaten every day.  That’s quite wrong!  I get rather annoyed now when I hear all the foolish words about typical English food.
I had expected to see “London fog”.  Do you remember our texts about it? We had no idea that most of this “thick fog” disappeared many years ago when people stopped using coal in their homes.  But the idea to speak about weather was very helpful.   4  On the other hand, habits are different.  People tell me what is typical British here in London is not always typical in Wales or Scotland.   5  
But what is ordinary for all British is that they follow traditions(传统).  Probably Britain has more living signs of its past than many other countries.  And people have always been proud of having ancient (古老的) buildings in capitals, big cities and the countryside.
I will tell you more about Britain in my other letters.
Love from Britain.

Students and Technology in the Classroom
I love my blackberry—it’s my little connection to the larger world that can go anywhere with me . I also love my laptop computer ，as it holds all of my writing and thought .Despite this love of technology ,I know that there are times when I need to move away from these device and truly communication with others.On occasion ,I teach a course called History Matters for a group of higher education managers. My goals for the class include a full discussion of historical themes and ideas .Because I want students to thoroughly study the material and exchange their ideas with each other in the classroom ,I have a rule —no laptop ,ipads ,phones ,etc .When students were told my rule in advance of the class, some of them were not happy .
Most students assume that year reasons for this rule include unpleasant experiences in the past with students misusing technology . There’s a bit of truth to that.Some students assume that I am anti-technology . There’s no truth in that at all . I love technology and try to keep up with it so I relate to my students.
The real reason why I ask students to leave technology at the door is that I think there are very few places in which we can have deep conversions and truly engage complex ideas. Interruptions by technology often break concentration and allow for too much dependence on outside information for ideas . I want students to think differently and make connections between the course the material and the class discussion .
I’ve been teaching my history class in this way for many years and the educations reflect student satisfaction with the environment that I create .Students realize that with deep conversation and challenge , they learn at a level that helps them keep the course material beyond the classroom .
I’m not saying that I won’t ever change my mind about technology use in my history class, but until I hear a really good reason for the change ,I’m sticking to my plan. a few hours of technology-free dialogue is just too give up.
【小题1】
some of the students in the history class were unhappy with____

One is not born able to speak a language．One is born able to make a noise．I have heard babies cry in America and in China．I can't tell any difference．But when I hear someone from America speak English and hear someone speak Chinese, I can tell you there are a lot of differences．
 I believe a common problem with Chinese students’ learning English is that they were not taught to think in English．They have an idea spoken in English and want to translate the idea into Chinese, Then they think in Chinese of the proper reply and translate it into English．After a long period of speaking the language, one begins to think in the foreign language naturally．You will learn faster if you begin to think in English at the very beginning of your study．Many students ask me: What can I do to improve my spoken English?
My reply is: The more English you speak, the better English you will speak．There are many things you can do to improve your spoken English．Of course, the best way is to live where English is spoken as a language of the country．
【小题1】The cries of American and Chinese babies are ________．

A．some teachers didn't teach students to think in English

B．teachers never gave the students the way of learning English

C．students didn't remember the way teachers taught them

D．teachers didn't want their students to think in English