It was a winter morning, just a couple of weeks before Christmas 2005. While most people were warming up their cars, Trevor, my husband, had to get up early to ride his bike four kilometers away from home to work. On arrival, he parked his bike outside the back door as he usually does. After putting in 10 hours of labor, he returned to find his bike gone.
The bike, a black Kona 18 speed, was our only transport. Trevor used it to get to work, putting in 60-hour a week to support his young family. And the bike was also used to get groceries（食品杂货）, saving us from having to walk long distances from where we live.
I was so sad that someone would steal our bike that I wrote to the newspaper and told them our story. Shortly after that, several people in our area offered to help. One wonderful stranger even bought a bike, then called my husband to pick it up. Once again my husband had a way to get to and from his job. It really is an honor that a complete stranger would go out of their way for someone they have never met before.
People say that a smile can be passed from one person to another, but acts of kindness from strangers are even more so. This experience has had a spreading effect in our lives because it strengthened our faith in humanity（人性）as a whole. And it has influenced us to be more mindful of ways we, too, can share with others. No matter how big or how small, an act of kindness shows that someone cares. And the results can be everlasting.
【小题1】Why was the bike so important to the couple?

There is a unique place where deserted factories have been transformed into a lively artistic zone – where the city's tradition and heritage (遗产) meet with cutting-edge art and fashion. This is Redtory.

Located at Yuancun Si Heng Lu, not far from the Pearl River of Guangzhou city, Redtory is a creative cultural and industrial zone made up of more than 30 old buildings – mostly red-brick ones. Back in 1956, it used to be the biggest canning factory in China. The factory produced the Can Dace (鲮鱼) with Black Bean Sauce, an iconic food product in the last century, well-known throughout south-east Asia. After the local government's industrial structure reformations, the canning factory moved away and the workshops were left deserted. There was nothing left but memories in well-preserved Soviet-style buildings.

Not long after the noise of the running machines was gone, posters of advertisement and art were found hanging on the wall in the area. To enrich the cultural and artistic life of the people in Guangzhou, the abandoned factories reopened in 2009 – displaying art, fashion and culture of different forms. Redtory is home to more than 40 establishments including art galleries, themed restaurants and design studios. Large international cultural exchange activities, art exhibitions and seminars are often held here, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. Meanwhile, waste materials have been used wisely instead of being thrown away. For instance, some installations (设施) standing around the area are made up of the rusty machines or components from the old canning factory.

The shabby and nostalgic (怀旧的) appearance combined with fashionable and artistic features makes Redtory uniquely attractive. That may be the reason that Redtory is considered the holy land for young art-lovers in Guangzhou.

Add.: No.128 Yuancun Si Heng Lu, Tianhe District, Guangzhou

Bus: Yuancun Er Heng Rd Stop – 40,44,140,284,293,299,401,504,540,542,583,882；Yuancun Stop Terminal (Meilin Garden) – B11,243；Pazhou Bridge (North) Stop – 137,304,564,B7,B25

Metro: Exit B, Yuancun Station, Line 5

71. The “cutting-edge art and fashion” (Paragraph 1) refers to _____.

A. the deserted factories together with the old culture

B. all that is displayed and going on in Redtory

C. the Soviet-style red-brick buildings

D. the modern world outside Redtory

72. The canning factory was removed from Redtory because _____.

A. the place was too large to manage                     B. nothing good could be produced there

C. the industrial structure needed reforming     D. the place was intended for other purposes

73. Now Redtory has developed into a place for _____.

A. art, fashion and culture                              B. galleries, restaurants and studios

C. restaurants, exhibitions and seminars          D. service and activities

74. What’s special about Redtory?

A. It perfectly combines the old with the new. B. It shows every respect of modern city life.

C. It tells the story of some old buildings         D. It shows how the old is replaced by the new.

75. By writing the article, the writer is trying to _____.

A. introduce a modern trend                           B. report a piece of news

C. make an advertisement                              D. discuss a hot issue

In Britain, in a population of 60 million, there are 13 million grandparents, many of whom live alone a long way from their grandchildren.The loneliness of these older people has become an issue that schools are trying to teach children about .

On a popular teacher’s website, there is a classroom activity to help make children aware of the implications of the different generations of the same family living far from each other. It’s a story about Mrs. Eiderdown, an elderly lady whose grandchildren have moved to Australia with their parents. She lives alone and rarely sees her family .

First of all, the children speculate about Mrs. Eiderdown’s life.  What does she have for breakfast ? what does she do all day ?how does she feel about her life ?

One day, Mrs. Eiderdown decides that she wants a pet to keep her company and puts an advertisement in a local shop window. Then she waits at home to see if anyone will answer her advertisement .

A tall thin man rings her doorbell. he is holding a cardboard box. Mrs. Eiderdown chats with the man for ten minutes before she realizes that she hasn’t looked in-side the box to see what the pet is. She can hear a his-sing sound. The children guess what is in the box(a snake). Mrs. Eiderdown thanks the man but says she doesn’t think the snake is a good idea .

The next time the doorbell rings, there’s a lady on the doorstep, also carrying a cardboard box.In the bottom of the box, Mrs. Eiderdown sees something black and hairy with eight legs. Again ,the children say what they  think it is (a spider). Mrs. Eiderdown thanks the lady for her kindness but says that a spider is not the sort of pet she has in mind.

At last, the little girl next door brings her a dog .Mrs. Eiderdown’s life improves a lot because of the dog. more importantly, of course, the little girl, whose own granny lives a long way away, starts to visit Mrs.Eiderdown more often. This interactive classroom idea has led to a greater awareness among children about the possible loneliness of older people who live quite near them .

1.what’s the main idea of the passage?

A. children get to know about the trouble of the elderly

B. neighbors help select pets for Mrs. Eiderdown

C. society helps the lonely people in the UK

D. school send pets to the lonely elderly

2.what does the underlined sentence in the third paragraph mean ?

A. they talk about how she feels about being old

B. they try to experience her loneliness

C. they try to imagine how she lives

D. they write about her life story

3.what can we infer from the passage ?

A. the little girl often visits her own granny

B. the people who offer pets are lady’s neighbors

C. the farther the elderly live ,the lonelier they feel

D. the little girl begins to care more about Mrs. Eiderdown

My newly-rented small apartment was far away from the centre of London and it was becoming essential for me to find a job, so finally I spent a whole morning getting to town and putting my name down to be considered by London Transport for a job on the underground. They were looking for guards, not drivers. This suited me. I couldn’t drive a car but thought that I could probably guard a train, and perhaps continue to write my poems between stations. The writers Keats and Chekhov had been doctors. T.S. Eliot had worked in a bank and Wallace Stevens for an insurance company. I’d be a subway guard. I could see myself being cheerful, useful, a good man in a crisis. Obviously I’d be overqualified but I was willing to forget about that in return for a steady income and travel privileges — those being particularly welcome to someone living a long way from the city centre.

The next day I sat down, with almost a hundred other candidates, for the intelligence test. I must have done all right because after about half an hour’s wait I was sent into another room for a psychological test. This time there were only about fifty candidates. The interviewer sat at a desk. Candidates were signaled forward to occupy the seat opposite him when the previous occupant had been dismissed, after a greater or shorter time. Obviously the long interviews were the more successful ones. Some of the interviews were as short as five minutes. Mine was the only one that lasted a minute and a half.

I can remember the questions now: “Why did you leave your last job?” “Why did you leave your job before that?” “And the one before that?” I can’t recall my answers, except that they were short at first and grew progressively shorter. His closing statement, I thought, revealed (揭示) a lack of sensitivity which helped to explain why as a psychologist, he had risen no higher than the underground railway. “You’ve failed the psychological test and we are unable to offer you a position.”

Failing to get that job was my low point. Or so I thought, believing that the work was easy. Actually, such jobs — being a postman is another one I still desire — demand exactly the sort of elementary yet responsible awareness that the habitual dreamer is least qualified to give. But I was still far short of full self-understanding. I was also short of cash.

The writer applied for the job chiefly because _________.

A．he wanted to work in the centre of London

B．he could no longer afford to live without one

C．he was not interested in any other available job

D．he had received some suitable training

The writer thought he was overqualified for the job because _________.

A．he often traveled underground       B．he had written many poems

C．he could deal with difficult situations    D．he had worked in a company

The length of his interview meant that _________.

A．he was not going to be offered the job

B．he had not done well in the intelligence test

C．he did not like the interviewer at all

D．he had little work experience to talk about

What does the writer realize now that he did not realize then?

A．How unpleasant ordinary jobs can be.   B．How difficult it is to be a poet.

C．How unsuitable he was for the job. D．How badly he did in the interview.

What’s the writer’s opinion of the psychologist?

A. He was very aggressive.   B. He was unhappy with his job.

C. He was quite inefficient. D. He was rather unsympathetic.

My newly-rented small apartment was far away from the centre of London and it was becoming essential for me to find a job, so finally I spent a whole morning getting to town and putting my name down to be considered by London Transport for a job on the underground. They were looking for guards, not drivers. This suited me. I couldn’t drive a car but thought that I could probably guard a train, and perhaps continue to write my poems between stations. The writers Keats and Chekhov had been doctors. T.S. Eliot had worked in a bank and Wallace Stevens for an insurance company. I’d be a subway guard. I could see myself being cheerful, useful, a good man in a crisis. Obviously I’d be overqualified but I was willing to forget about that in return for a steady income and travel privileges — those being particularly welcome to someone living a long way from the city centre.

The next day I sat down, with almost a hundred other candidates, for the intelligence test. I must have done all right because after about half an hour’s wait I was sent into another room for a psychological test. This time there were only about fifty candidates. The interviewer sat at a desk. Candidates were signaled forward to occupy the seat opposite him when the previous occupant had been dismissed, after a greater or shorter time. Obviously the long interviews were the more successful ones. Some of the interviews were as short as five minutes. Mine was the only one that lasted a minute and a half.

I can remember the questions now: “Why did you leave your last job?” “Why did you leave your job before that?” “And the one before that?” I can’t recall my answers, except that they were short at first and grew progressively shorter. His closing statement, I thought, revealed (揭示) a lack of sensitivity which helped to explain why as a psychologist, he had risen no higher than the underground railway. “You’ve failed the psychological test and we are unable to offer you a position.”

Failing to get that job was my low point. Or so I thought, believing that the work was easy. Actually, such jobs — being a postman is another one I still desire — demand exactly the sort of elementary yet responsible awareness that the habitual dreamer is least qualified to give. But I was still far short of full self-understanding. I was also short of cash.

The writer applied for the job chiefly because _________.

A．he wanted to work in the centre of London

B．he could no longer afford to live without one

C．he was not interested in any other available job

D．he had received some suitable training

The writer thought he was overqualified for the job because _________.

A．he often traveled underground       B．he had written many poems

C．he could deal with difficult situations    D．he had worked in a company

The length of his interview meant that _________.

A．he was not going to be offered the job

B．he had not done well in the intelligence test

C．he did not like the interviewer at all

D．he had little work experience to talk about

What does the writer realize now that he did not realize then?

A．How unpleasant ordinary jobs can be.   B．How difficult it is to be a poet.

C．How unsuitable he was for the job. D．How badly he did in the interview.

What’s the writer’s opinion of the psychologist?

A. He was very aggressive.   B. He was unhappy with his job.

C. He was quite inefficient. D. He was rather unsympathetic.