I had an experience once which taught me something about the ways people made a bad situation worse by blaming themselves. One January, I officiated(主持) at two funerals for two elderly women. Both died a natural death. At the first home, the son of the deceased(已故) woman said, “If only I had sent my mother to Florida and gotten her out of this cold and snow, she would be alive today. It’s my fault that she died.” At the second home, the son said, “If only I had not insisted her going to Florida, she would be alive today. That long airplane ride was more than she could take. It is my fault.”

When things don’t turn out as we would like them to, we tend to assume that had we done things differently, the story would have had a happier ending. Any time there is a death, the survivors will feel guilty. Because the course of action they took turned out bad, they believe that the opposite course, for example, keeping mother at home, would have turned out better. After all, how could it have turned out any worse?

There seem to be elements involved in our readiness to feel guilty. The first lies in our belief that the world makes sense---there is a reason for everything that happens.  

The second is the thought that we are the cause of what happens, especially the bad things that happen. The roots of this feeling may lie in our childhood. A baby comes to think that the world exists to meet his needs, and that he makes everything happen in it. He wakes up in the morning and calls the rest of the world to its tasks. He cries, and someone comes to attend to him. When he is hungry, people feed him, and when he is wet, people change him. Very often, we do not completely abandon that childish thought that our wishes cause things to happen.

72. What is true about the two deceased elderly women?

   A. They both died of old age.             B. They died from hard work.

   C. They were’t accustomed to the change in life.

   D. They died due to lack of care by family members.

73. People feel guilty for the death of their loved ones because______.

   A. they cannot find a better way to express their sorrow

   B. they believe that they are responsible for what has happened

   C. they don’t know that natural course of events

   D. they don’t know things often turn out in the opposite direction

74. The underline part “the world makes sense” in Paragraph 3 probably means that____.

   A. everything in the world is planned in advance

   B. the world can be understood in different ways

   C. there’s an explanation for everything in the world

   D. we have to be wise in order to understand the world

75. People have believed since early childhood that______.

   A. everybody is at their command

   B. life and death is an unsolved mystery

   C. every story should have a happy ending

   D. their wishes are the cause of everything that happens

Last Friday, I was coming home late after spending time with friends and thought I’d go down to the $99 cent pizza place. On the way, I saw a man sitting on the stairs alone there. I’d seen him before every day I run late to work, but this time I had no place to rush off to.

There was something about him, a quiet manner, different from many of other homeless people I had seen in New York City. I walked past him, went to the pizza place, and those 10 seconds waiting in line was enough to practice stepping outside of my usual, familiar flow. So with a few slices in hand, I went back to join him. I asked him if he was hungry. He said yes, but not for pizza because it made him uncomfortable. He’d rather have a few bucks for chicken and rice since it was easier on his stomach. It’s funny, in that moment, he became more real to me.

This man I had seen almost every day was someone with specific conditions, needs, and experiences. We exchanged names and ended up talking for a little over an hour that night as Kevin told me stories from his life, how he had done things when “he was younger and didn’t know any better” and how he tried to make amends (补偿) but too much time had passed. He shared his views on the value for young adults to learn the history of other people.

He talked about his one wish being in his 60’s before he leaves this earth, which is to share his story with the teenagers and young adults so they could avoid the mistakes he went through. Throughout the conversation, he eventually got his chicken and rice and gifted me a rose he had been carrying. Shortly afterwards, I made my way home, thinking to myself, “I met an amazing homeless person”.

1.The writer’s purpose in writing the passage is to ____.

A. share his experience            B. show his generosity 

C. express his thoughts            D. exchange his opinions

2.The homeless man refused pizza because he ____.

A. did not feel very hungry at that moment    

B. had something wrong with his stomach

C. preferred some chicken and rice to pizza    

D. might feel ashamed to be given something

3.What’s the homeless man’s last wish?

A. To become a lot younger again.      

B. To make amends for his early life.

C. To have enough chicken and rice to eat. 

D. To teach the young not to follow his example.

4.It can be inferred from the text that ____.

A. The homeless man is different from others 

B. The writer showed his pity to the homeless man

C. What the homeless man thought shocked the writer 

D. What the homeless man did was not very meaningful

5.How do you like the homeless man after reading the passage?

A. Learned.    B. Honorable.    C. Determined.    D. Promising.

Last Friday, I was coming home late after spending time with friends and thought I’d go down to the $99 cent pizza place. On the way, I saw a man sitting on the stairs alone there. I’d seen him before every day I run late to work, but this time I had no place to rush off to.

There was something about him, a quiet manner, different from many of other homeless people I had seen in New York City. I walked past him, went to the pizza place, and those 10 seconds waiting in line was enough to practice stepping outside of my usual, familiar flow. So with a few slices in hand, I went back to join him. I asked him if he was hungry. He said yes, but not for pizza because it made him uncomfortable. He’d rather have a few bucks for chicken and rice since it was easier on his stomach. It’s funny, in that moment, he became more real to me.

This man I had seen almost every day was someone with specific conditions, needs, and experiences. We exchanged names and ended up talking for a little over an hour that night as Kevin told me stories from his life, how he had done things when “he was younger and didn’t know any better” and how he tried to make amends (补偿) but too much time had passed. He shared his views on the value for young adults to learn the history of other people.

He talked about his one wish being in his 60’s before he leaves this earth, which is to share his story with the teenagers and young adults so they could avoid the mistakes he went through. Throughout the conversation, he eventually got his chicken and rice and gifted me a rose he had been carrying. Shortly afterwards, I made my way home, thinking to myself, “I met an amazing homeless person”.

71. The writer’s purpose in writing the passage is to ____.

A. share his experience            B. show his generosity 

C. express his thoughts            D. exchange his opinions

72. The homeless man refused pizza because he ____.

A. did not feel very hungry at that moment     B. had something wrong with his stomach

C. preferred some chicken and rice to pizza     D. might feel ashamed to be given something

73. What’s the homeless man’s last wish?

A. To become a lot younger again.       B. To make amends for his early life.

C. To have enough chicken and rice to eat.  D. To teach the young not to follow his example.

74. It can be inferred from the text that ____.

A. The homeless man is different from others 

B. The writer showed his pity to the homeless man

C. What the homeless man thought shocked the writer 

D. What the homeless man did was not very meaningful

75. How do you like the homeless man after reading the passage?

A. Learned.    B. Honorable.    C. Determined.    D. Promising.