I’m seventeen. I had worked as a box boy at a supermarket in Los Angeles. People came to the counter and you put things in their bags for them. And carried things to their cars. It was hard work.

　　While working, you wear a plate with your name on it. I once met someone I knew years ago. I remembered his name and said,“Mr Castle, how are you?”we talked about this and that.As he left, he said," It was nice talking to you,Brett.”I helt great,he remembered me. Then I looked down at my name plate. Oh no. he didn’t remember me at all, he just resd the name plate. I wish I had put“Irving”down on my name plate. If he’d have said,“Oh yes, Irving,how could I forget you?”I’d have been ready for him. There’snothing personal here.

　　The manager and everyone else who were a step above the box boys often shouted orders. One of these was:you couldn’t accept tips（小费）。Okay, I’m outside and I put the bags in the car. For a lot of people, the natural reaction（反应）is to take a quarter and give it to me. I’d say,‘‘I‘m sorry, I can’t,”they‘d get angry. When you give someone o tip, you’re sort of being polite. You take a quarter and you put it in their hand and you expect them to say,”Oh,thanks a lot.”When you say‘‘I’m sorry,I can’t.” They'd get angry.When you give someone a tip,you're sort of being polite.You take a quarter and you put it in their hand and yo cxpect them to say, "oh , thanks a lot." When you say,"I'm sorry,I can't,"they feel a little put down. They say "No one will know.”And they put it in your pocket. You say, "I really can’t.”It gets to a point where you almost have to hurt a person physically（身体上）to prevent him from tipping you. It was not in agreement with the store’s belief in being friendly. Accepting tips was a friendly thing and made the customer feel good. I just couldn’t understand the strangeness of some people’s ideas. One lady actually put it in my pocket, got in the car,and drove away. I would have had to throw the quarter at her or eaten it or something.

　　I had decided that one year was enough. Some people needed the job to stay alive and fed. I guess I had the means and could afford to hate it and give it up.

1. what can be the best title for this text?

A. how hard life is for Box Boys

B. getting along with Customers

C. why I Gave up My Job

D. the Art of Taking Tips

2. From the second paragraph, we can infer that___.

A. the writer didn’t like the impersonal part of his job

B . with a name plate,people can easily start talking

C . Mr Castle mistook Irving for Brett

D. Irving was the writer’s real name

3. The box boy refused to accept tips because__

A. customers only gave small tips

B. some customers had strange ideas about tipping

C. the store forbade the box boys to take tips

D. he didn’t want to fight with the customers

4. The underlined phras“put down”in the third paragraph probably means__

A. misunderstood

B. dEfeated

C. hateful

D. hurt

At a recent luncheon(午餐会), Yao Ming, an well-known Chinese basketball players, was introduced to the CEOs of IBM, FedEx, Motorola, Disney, AOL Time Warner and visiting former Chinese President, Jiang Zemin. Other deals include Nike, Sorrent, and China Unicom.

In the end Yao is expected to earn much more in endorsement deals than his four-year,＄18-million salary to play center for the Houston Rockets.

    “His friendly personality is real”, says Jimmy Siegel, who as vice-chairman, senior executive creative director at BBDO New York was behind Yao’s “Yo！” commercial for the Visa check card.

    “He’s very much what you’d imagine,” says Siegel. “He’s very modest, down to Earth, somewhat self-effacing（不爱抛头露面的）and somewhat quiet but I think that’s part of the language problem.”

Despite all the attention, Ming’s bank account is still a far cry from Jordan’s or Woods’, who each earn between＄40 million and ＄60 million every year in endorsement.

Unlike Jordan and Woods--who are unquestionably the best in the world at what they do--there’s no way to know how long Yao Ming will remain the king of the NBA—he’s only been here for six months.

1. Who have / has contacted with Yao Ming recently ?

A. CEOs of IBM, Motorola.Disney, AOL Time Warner.

B. Visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao.      

C. Sorrent, vice-chairman of BBDO New York.

D. Jordan and Woods.

2. What does the underlined word“endorsement”mean?

A. Commercial.      B. Entertainment.      C. Sports.              D. Marketing.

3. Which of the statements about Yao Ming is Not true?

A. He is now quite popular in the U.S..

B. He is a modest, down to earth young man.

C. He may earn more in endorsement deals than his salary. 

D. He will surely become the future king of the NBA.

4. Why is it Yao Ming’s bank account still much less than Jordan’s or Woods’?

A. He is not as good a player as Jordon or Woods.

B. He will earn only 18 million in 4 years in the future.

C. His endorsement income is now lower than Jordan’s or Woods’.

D. He has only been in the States for six months.

5. What is the part reason why Yao Ming is self-effacing and quiet according to Siegel?

A. Because Yao Ming didn’t like the luncheon.

B. Because Jordon was invited to the luncheon.

C. Because Yao Ming had language problem.

D. Because Yao Ming didn’t meet his best friend here.

I'm sure you'd rather she went to school by bus，______？

A．hadn't you   B．wouldn't you  C．aren't I  D．didn't she

One of Britain’s bravest women told yesterday how she helped to catch suspected(可疑的) police killer David Bieber--and was thanked with flowers by the police. It was also said that she could be in line for a share of up to ￡30,000 reward money.

Vicki Brown, 30, played a very important role in ending the nationwide manhunt.

Vicki, who has worked at the Royal Hotel for four years, told of her terrible experience when she had to steal into Bieber’s bedroom and to watch him secretly. Then she waited alone for three hours while armed police prepared to storm the building.

She said,” I was very nervous. But when I opened the hotel door and saw 20 armed policemen lined up in the car park I was so glad they were there.”

The alarm had been raised because Vicki became suspicious(怀疑) of the guest who checked in at 3 pm the day before New Year’s Eve with little luggage and wearing

sunglasses and a hat pulled down over his face. She said, He didn’t seem to want to talk too much and make any eye contact(接触). Vicki, the only employee on duty, called her bosses Margaret, 64, and husband Stan McKale, 65, who phoned the police at 11 pm.Officers from Northumbria Police called Vicki at the hotel in Dunston, Gateshead, at about 11:30 pm to make sure that this was the wanted man. Then they kept in touch by phoning Vicki every 15 minutes.

“It was about ten past two in the morning when the phone went again and a policeman said ‘Would you go and make yourself known to the armed officers outside?’ My heart missed a beat.”

Vicki quietly showed eight armed officers through passages and staircases to the top floor room and handed over the key.

“I realized that my bedroom window overlooks that part of the hotel, so I went to

watch. I could not see into the man’s room, but I could see the passage. The police kept shouting at the man to come out with his hands showing. Then suddenly he must have come out because they shouted for him to lie down while he was handcuffed(带上手铐).”

The underlined phrase “be in line for” (paragraph 1) means _______.

A. get     B. be paid       C. ask for       D. own

Vicki became suspicious of David Bieber because _______.

A. the police called her  B. he looked very strange

C. he came to the hotel with little luggage

D. he came to the hotel the day before New Year’s Eve

Vicki’s heart missed a beat because _________.

A. the phone went again     B. she would be famous

C. the policemen had already arrived  D. she saw 20 policemen in the car park

David Bieber was most probably handcuffed in ________.

A. the passage B. the man’s room C. Vicki’s bedroom D. the top floor room

The whole event probably lasted about _______ hours from the moment Bieber came to the hotel to the arrival of some armed officers.

A. 6 B. 8 C. 11       D. 14