The Sound of Speed （速度）

Kathy was a university student. Like most students she had very little money, but she wanted to buy a car.

“If I can buy one really cheap that works, ”she thought, “I will save money on bus fares（车费）. Then I’ll have more to spend on food. ”

She spent a day looking at cars in the second-hand car yards（车场）.Most of them were much too expensive, but at last found one for＄250.

The car was rusty and the paint was badly damaged（损坏）,but it worked .

“It’s got a good engine ,”the salesman said, “and the gear box（变速箱）is O.K. Forget everything else.”

Kathy bought the car and drove it out of the car yard. Everything was wrong with it except for the engine and gear box, which worked very well.

“As long as they work,” Kathy thought, “nothing else matters. The salesman was right.”

Unfortunately, a few days later, while she was driving to her university, a police car drove up beside her and made her stop. A young policeman got out of his car and walked around Kathy’s car. He looked at it disbelievingly.

He made a list of the things wrong with the car. It was a very long list.

Then he looked inside the car.

“Does your speedometer work?” he asked.

Kathy shook （摇）her head.

“It is against the law（法律）,miss,” he said, “not to know how fast you are travelling.”

Kathy smiled at him sweetly.

“Oh, but I do know how fast I am travelling,”she said. “Up to 30 miles an hour, the doors rattle. Between 31 and 50 miles an hour, the whole car rattles. Over 50 miles an hour, I rattle.”

1．Why did Kathy want a car?

A．She liked driving

B．All her friend had cars.

C．College was a long way from her home

D．She wanted to save money on bus fares

2．What kind of car did Kathy buy?

A．a very fast car                 B．a rusty old car

C．an police car                  D．an expensive second –hand car

3．Why was Kathy pleased with the car at first?

A．It was a very good car.

B．The engine and gear box worked well.

C．There weren’t many things wrong with it. 

D．It went very fast

4．Why did the policeman look at Kathy’s car disbelievingly?

A．He thought Kathy was telling lies.

B．He did not trust students.

C．The car had so many things wrong with it.

D．Kathy had broken the law.

5．How did Kathy know how fast she was travelling?

A．She looked at the speedometer.    

B．It couldn’t go faster than 50 miles an hour.

C．Because she knew what the rattles meant.

D．The police officer told her.

George Wilson had a shop where he sold and repaired watches．

    One day his daughter got married and her husband，James，soon came to work for him．

   “I’ll teach you everything I know about watches．”George told them．

    For the first few weeks，James served the customers，dusted the shelves and learned where everything was in the shop．George was very pleased with him．He worked hard and was polite and helpful to the customers．

    After about six months，James said，“Is there any thing else you want to teach me?”

    “Yes，James，there is，”George said：“It’s time I teach you the secret of our success．”

    “I think I know that，”James said．“You buy watches at one price，and sell them at a higher price．The difference in price is our profit．”

    “That is true，but it is not where we make most of our profit．”George said．

     He picked up a watch from the counter．“What do you think of this watch?”He asked James．

    “That is a cheap watch，”the young man replied．“We don’t make much profit from selling those，perhaps a few dollars each．”

    “That is where you are wrong，young boy．”George said，“Those cheap watches make more profit than any other watch in the shop．”

    “I don’t understand，”James said．

    “Because they are really cheap，they are always breaking，”George told him，“We make our profit from repairing them．”

任务一：根据所给的英语解释，从文章中找出相应的单词。

1．people who buy things from shops                       

2．Something that most people don’t know                   

3．things that people wear on their wrists to tell the time                  

任务二：用短文中出现的单词或短语完成下列句子。

4．The father will           when he knows about his son’s progress．

5．Who can tell me the      between the two words“funny”and“interesting”．