D
The thing is, my luck’s always been ruined. Just look at my name: Jean. Not Jean Marie, or Jeanine, or Jeanette, or even Jeanne. Just Jean. Did you know in France, they name boys Jean? It’s French for John. And okay, I don’t live in France. But still, I’m basically a girl named John. If I lived in France, anyway.
This is the kind of luck I’ve had since before Mom even filled out my birth certificate. So it wasn’t any big surprise to me when the cab driver didn’t help me with my suitcase. I’d already had to tolerate arriving at the airport to find no one there to greet me, and then got no answer to my many phone calls, asking where my aunt and uncle were. Did they not want me after all? Had they changed their minds? Had they heard about my bad luck—all the way from Iowa—and decided they didn’t want any of it to rub off on them?
So when the cab driver, instead of getting out and helping me with my bags, just pushed a little button so that the trunk (汽车后备箱) popped open a few inches, it wasn’t the worst thing that had ever happened to me. It wasn’t even the worst thing that had happened to me that day.
According to my mom, most brownstones in New York City were originally single-family homes when they were built way back in the 1800s. But now they’ve been divided up into apartments, so that there’s one—or sometimes even two or more families—per floor.
Not Mom’s sister Evelyn’s brownstone, though. Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Ted Gardiner own all four floors of their brownstone. That’s practically one floor per person, since Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Ted only have three kids, my cousins Tory, Teddy, and Alice.
Back home, we just have two floors, but there are seven people living on them. And only one bathroom. Not that I’m complaining. Still, ever since my sister Courtney discovered blow-outs, it’s been pretty frightful at home.
But as tall as my aunt and uncle’s house was, it was really narrow—just three windows across. Still, it was a very pretty townhouse, painted gray. The door was a bright, cheerful yellow. There were yellow flower boxes along the base of each window, flower boxes from which bright red—and obviously newly planted, since it was only the middle of April, and not quite warm enough for them.
It was nice to know that, even in a sophisticated (世故的) city like New York, people still realized how homey and welcoming a box of flowers could be. The sight of those flowers cheered me up a little.
Like maybe Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Ted just forgot I was arriving today, and hadn’t deliberately failed to meet me at the airport because they’d changed their minds about letting me come to stay.
Like everything was going to be all right, after all.
Yeah. With my luck, probably not.
I started up the steps to the front door of 326 East Sixty-Ninth Street, then realized I couldn’t make it with both bags and my violin. Leaving one bag on the sidewalk, I dragged the other up the steps with me. Maybe I took the steps a little too fast, since I nearly tripped and fell flat on my face on the sidewalk. I managed to catch myself at the last moment by grabbing some of the fence the gardeners had put up…
67. Why did the author go to New York?
A. She intended to go sightseeing there.
B. She meant to stay with her aunt’s family.
C. She was homeless and adopted by her aunt.
D. She wanted to try her luck and find a job there.
68. According to the author, some facts account for her bad luck EXCEPT that ________.
A. she was given a boy’s name in French
B. the cab driver didn’t help her with her bags
C. her sister Courtney discovered blow-outs  
D. nobody had come to meet her at the airport
69. The underlined phrase “rub off on” in Paragraph 3 probably means _________.
A. have an effect on    B. play tricks on     C. put pressure on      D. throw doubt on
70. From the passage, we can know that _________.
A. the author left home without informing her mother
B. the author arrived in New York in a very warm season
C. her aunt’s family lived a much better life than her own
D. her aunt and uncle were likely to forget about her arrival

A good friend of mine lives about one hour away. I called her last week and found out that she wasn’t doing well at work, which would make the following year a little more difficult. After hanging up the phone, I decided to offer to help her, but I couldn’t think of what to do. However, opportunities come themselves when you’re not even looking for.

A few days later, some friends and I happened to be eating desserts at a restaurant in her city. As we were looking at the menu, I turned to my friends and asked them if they wanted to join in a game. After explaining the idea, they decided to take 15 minutes to make someone’s day. We ordered an extra dessert, wrote a note, added a smile card and were off. However, there was one problem: I had no idea where she was.

Therefore, it was time to rely on the network. I called up a friend and got him to call her to see what she was doing and found out that she was at work.

We drove to her work place and one of my friends became the delivery(投递)person.He went in to look for my friend, found her, didn’t really answer her questions and walked out, saying he’s simply a delivery person.

He ran out quickly and I bent down as we drove by to make sure she didn’t follow him out. Afterwards, all of us had this huge smile on our faces. We felt as if we had just planned a surprise party or something.

A simple opportunity turned into a moment that many of us can now share.

1.Why is the following year a little more difficult for the author’s friend?

A. Because she lives too far away from work. 

B. Because she was out of work.

C. Because she didn’t do well at work.    

D. Because she failed a test.

2.In Paragraph 2, the underlined phrases “make someone’s day” probably means “make someone________”.

A. satisfied      B. busy            C. sad    D. happy

3.The author got to know where her friend was by________.

A. asking her friend herself by phone     

B. asking another friend to call her

C. asking what she was doing directly      

D. asking her friend herself on the Internet

4.When given the dessert, the author’s friend________.

A. refused the offer                    B. knew the entire thing

C. asked some questions                    D. followed the delivery person out

5.The author and her friends might feel________at last.

A. joyful          B. thankful            C. pitiful        D. fearful

The thing is, my luck’s always been ruined. Just look at my name: Jean. Not Jean Marie, or Jeanine, or Jeanette, or even Jeanne. Just Jean. Did you know in France, they name boys Jean? It’s French for John. And okay, I don’t live in France. But still, I’m basically a girl named John. If I lived in France, anyway.

This is the kind of luck I’ve had since before Mom even filled out my birth certificate. So it wasn’t any big surprise to me when the cab driver didn’t help me with my suitcase. I’d already had to tolerate arriving at the airport to find no one there to greet me, and then got no answer to my many phone calls, asking where my aunt and uncle were. Did they not want me after all? Had they changed their minds? Had they heard about my bad luck—all the way from Iowa—and decided they didn’t want any of it to rub off on them?

So when the cab driver, instead of getting out and helping me with my bags, just pushed a little button so that the trunk (汽车后备箱) popped open a few inches, it wasn’t the worst thing that had ever happened to me. It wasn’t even the worst thing that had happened to me that day.

According to my mom, most brownstones in New York City were originally single-family homes when they were built way back in the 1800s. But now they’ve been divided up into apartments, so that there’s one—or sometimes even two or more families—per floor.

Not Mom’s sister Evelyn’s brownstone, though. Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Ted Gardiner own all four floors of their brownstone. That’s practically one floor per person, since Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Ted only have three kids, my cousins Tory, Teddy, and Alice.

Back home, we just have two floors, but there are seven people living on them. And only one bathroom. Not that I’m complaining. Still, ever since my sister Courtney discovered blow-outs, it’s been pretty frightful at home.

But as tall as my aunt and uncle’s house was, it was really narrow—just three windows across. Still, it was a very pretty townhouse, painted gray. The door was a bright, cheerful yellow. There were yellow flower boxes along the base of each window, flower boxes from which bright red—and obviously newly planted, since it was only the middle of April, and not quite warm enough for them.

It was nice to know that, even in a sophisticated (世故的) city like New York, people still realized how homey and welcoming a box of flowers could be. The sight of those flowers cheered me up a little.

Like maybe Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Ted just forgot I was arriving today, and hadn’t deliberately failed to meet me at the airport because they’d changed their minds about letting me come to stay.

Like everything was going to be all right, after all.

Yeah. With my luck, probably not.

I started up the steps to the front door of 326 East Sixty-Ninth Street, then realized I couldn’t make it with both bags and my violin. Leaving one bag on the sidewalk, I dragged the other up the steps with me. Maybe I took the steps a little too fast, since I nearly tripped and fell flat on my face on the sidewalk. I managed to catch myself at the last moment by grabbing some of the fence the gardeners had put up…

67. Why did the author go to New York?

A. She intended to go sightseeing there.

B. She meant to stay with her aunt’s family.

C. She was homeless and adopted by her aunt.

D. She wanted to try her luck and find a job there.

68. According to the author, some facts account for her bad luck EXCEPT that ________.

A. she was given a boy’s name in French

B. the cab driver didn’t help her with her bags

C. her sister Courtney discovered blow-outs  

D. nobody had come to meet her at the airport

69. The underlined phrase “rub off on” in Paragraph 3 probably means _________.

A. have an effect on    B. play tricks on     C. put pressure on       D. throw doubt on

70. From the passage, we can know that _________.

A. the author left home without informing her mother

B. the author arrived in New York in a very warm season

C. her aunt’s family lived a much better life than her own

D. her aunt and uncle were likely to forget about her arrival