My wife and I used to feel that it was impossible to be a true friend to someone whose name we didn’t know. How wrong we were! Years of Sunday-morning bus trips through the city with the same group of “nameless” people have changed our thinking.

Before the bus takes off, we all join in a conversation: where’s the silent woman who sits up front and never responds to our cheery greetings? Here she comes. Her worn clothing suggests she doesn’t have much money to spare, but she always takes an extra cup of coffee for the driver.

We get smiles from a Mexican couple as they get on the bus hand in hand. When they get off, they’re still holding hands. The woman was pregnant late last year, and one day her change of shape confirmed that she’d delivered the child. We even felt a little pride at the thought of our extended family.

For many months, our only sadness lay in our inability无能无力 to establish the same friendship with the silent woman at the front of the bus. Then, one evening, we went to a fish restaurant. We were shown to a table alongside someone sitting alone. It was the woman from the bus.

We greeted her with friendly familiarity we’d shown all year, but this time her face softened, then a shy smile. When she spoke, the words escaped awkwardly( 笨拙地) from her lips. All at once we realized why she hadn’t spoken to us before. Talking was hard for her.

Over dinner; we learned the situation of a single mother with a disabled son who was receiving special care away from home. She missed him desperately不顾一切地, she explained.

“I love him… and he loves me, even though he doesn’t express it very well,” she murmured. “Lots of us have that problem, don’t we? We don’t say what we want to say, what we should be saying. And that’s not good enough.”

The candles flared on our tables. Our fish had never tasted better. But the atmosphere grew pleasant, and when we parted as friends—we shared names.

1.Which of the following might be the best title of this passage?

2.All the following statements can describe the woman except ______.

3.The underlined word “establish” in the fourth passage probably has the same meaning as _____.

4.The woman had the same problem with her son in the way that ______.

[1]One Friday night in May 2010, Oliver and Ione Kleven heard angry shouts coming from their front lawn(草坪). Ione, 65, stepped onto the porch(门廊) and saw two men in dark clothes struggling with something on the ground—right where she and her grandson had planted a flower bed the weekend before.

[2] “Go fight somewhere else!” she shouted, worried her plants would get damaged. At the sound of her voice, the face of a boy appeared from beneath the two men. He looked 14. “They’re trying to kill me!” the boy screamed. Ione ran toward them and, without hesitation, caught the boy’s arm, pulling him out.

[3] “Leave him alone!” she shouted. When the men stood up, Ione saw what looked like a sharp object in one man’s hand. When she turned back toward the boy, he was moaning(呻吟) in pain and holding his stomach. The attackers began to move in on the boy again when Ione’s husband shouted: “Get lost!” The two men walked quickly and quietly across the street and drove off in a dark car.

[4]“I have to get to the hospital!” the boy cried. He lifted his shirt, and Ione could see a bloody wound on his stomach. Oliver hugged the trembling(发抖的) boy while Ione caught her cell phone and car keys inside the house. She handed the phone to Oliver. “Call 911,” she told him. “I’m going after them.” Ione took off but was unable to find the car.

[5]The Klevens then learned what had happened . Earlier that night, as the boy waited for his parents to pick him up from the high school across the street from the Klevens’ house, two men approached and demanded his wallet. When he refused, one of the men hit him in the face. The boy ran across the street. The men caught up with him, and one hurt him in the back and stomach with a sharp knife. That’s when Ione stepped in.

1.When was Ione born? (within 2 words)

2.Why did Ione shout at the two struggling men? (within 8 words)

3.Whom does the underlined word “him” (in Para.3) probably refer to? (within 3 words)

4.Why did Ione hand the phone to Oliver? (within 8 words.)

5.What was the boy doing when the two men approached him? (within 10 words.)

    I stopped to watch my little girl busy playing in her room. In one hand was a plastic phone; in the other a toy broom. I listened as she was speaking to her doll. And I will never forget the words she said, ever though it was pretended.

    She said, “Suzie’s in the corner because she’s not been very good. She didn’t listen to a word I said or do the things she should.” In the corner I saw her baby doll all dressed in lace and pink. It was obvious that she’d been put there to sit alone and think.

    My daughter continued her “conversation”, as I sat down on the floor. She said, “I’m all fed up, I just don’t know what to do with her anymore. She cries whenever I have to work and wants to play games, too. She tries to help me with the dishes, but her arms just cannot reach…And she doesn’t know how to fold towels. I don’t have the time to teach. I have a lot of work to do and a big house to keep clean. I don’t have the time to sit and play —don’t you know what I mean?”

    And that day I thought a lot about making some changes in my life, as I listened to her words that cut me like a knife. I hadn’t been paying enough attention to what I hold most dear.

    But now my attitude has changed, because, in my heart, I realize…I’ve seen the world in a different light through my little darling’s eyes. So, let the cobwebs have the corners and the dustbunnies rule the floor, I’m not going to worry about keeping up with them anymore.

    I’m going to fill the house with memories of a child and her mother…For we are granted only one childhood, and we will never get another.

1. What was the little girl doing with her doll?

A. She was dressing up her doll.    

B. She was playing the doll with her friend Suzie.

C. She was talking to her mother.   

D. She was punishing her doll.

2. Which statement is TRUE about the mother’s behaviors before that day?

   A. She spent a lot of time with her daughter talking to her.

   B. She was busy cleaning the house with little time spared for her daughter.

   C. She didn’t show her love to her child.

   D. She always dressed up baby dolls with her daughter.

3. What do the underlined words “cobwebs” and “dustbunnies” probably refer to?

   A. A happy atmosphere inside the home.   

B. All her d aughter’s toys

   C. Happy memories of a child           

D. Things that kept the mother busy

4. Which of the following is the most suitable title for this passage?

   A. Daughter and Her Doll         B. Daughter’s Words

   C. Only One Childhood           D. A Busy Mother’s Change

Coolest Hotels in the World
Artau Aragon Towers
The Ariau Amazon Towers hotel lets you sleep in a tree house. Eight towers make up this
hotel that offers over 300 rooms. If you really want to get into the spirit, book the Tarzan Suite which is large enough for a big family. You'll be thirty feet up in the air and can travel between the towers through their wooden walkways.
Prices: starting at $300 one night for each person for a regular room and going all the way
up to $3000 for the Tarzan Suite.
For more information, visit the website: http://Hwww.ariautowers.com
The Ice Hotel
Every winter in Jukkasjarvi, Sweden, a special kind of hotel called the lee Hotel is built. Each year, world-famous artists are invited to design and produce works of art from the ice, many of which can be found in the rooms. You'll have your choice between hot or cold rooms but you will be well advised to stay at least one night in a cold room for a true experience.
Prices: starting at $318 one night for each person for either a cold room or a warm one. For more information, visit the website: http:Hwww.icehotel.com
Propeller Island
Propeller Island City Lodge is a very special hotel that was designed by a German artist Each room provides you with the possibility of living in a work of art. Every single piece of furniture in the thirty rooms of the hotel has been hand-made and each room is completely different. You'll be able to choose a room based on your own personal tastes.
Prices: starting at just $91 a night, and an additional (另外) person for only 20 extra dollars. For more information, visit the website: http://www.propeller-island.com
For information about other cool hotels In the world, visit the website: http://www.bahamabeachclub.com
【小题1】What it special about the Ariau Amazon Towers hotel?