My boss’s daughter was studying in the Philippines. He asked me if my husband and I could take care of her. He thought his daughter would be able to improve her English communication skills in this way.
After days of thinking, we agreed. He then brought her here and left after 3 days. I thought that my boss’s daughter was well-mannered, but that was wrong.
After a month of staying in the Philippines, she started to show her true colors. When my husband asked her what she wanted for breakfast, she answered him in a rude way. From then on, we experienced fights at home. There was a time when we didn’t talk to her for a week as a punishment of not being good to us. What I hated most was that she didn’t care about other people’s feelings. She ate ahead of us when we were still working and didn’t leave anything for us. So we had to separate her food from ours to avoid such a problem.
The worst thing about her was that she shouted at us. I was wondering if she did this to her parents. We told this to her parents, but unfortunately I didn’t think that solved the problem. This situation lasted for almost 8 months. Our patience was tested during that time.
We tried to teach her everything we could to make her a better person, but I guess 8 months may not to be enough. We even tried to understand her and adjust for her, but it didn’t work. I just hope that she learned something from us and from other Filipinos.
【小题1】This passage is mainly about the writer’s experience of              .

.She said ___ she ate little and ___ she was not hungry.

        A. that…/   B./…./     C. /…that     D.it….that.

There were red faces at one of Britain’s biggest banks recently. They had accepted a telephone order to buy ￡100,000 worth of shares from a 15-year-old schoolboy (they thought he was 21). The shares fell in value and the schoolboy was unable to pay up. The bank lost ￡20,000 on the deal which it cannot get back, because, for one thing, the young boy does not have the money, for another, being under 18, he is not legally liable for his debts. If the shares had risen in value by the same amount that they fell, he would have pocketed ￡20,000 profit. It certainly is better than delivering the morning newspaper. In another case, a boy of 14 found, in his grandmother’s house, a suitcase full of foreign banknotes. But they were now not used in their country of origin or anywhere else. This young boy headed straight to the nearest bank with his pockets filled with notes. The cashiers did not realize the country in question had reduced the value of its currency by 90%. They exchanged the notes at their face value at the current exchange rate. In three days, before he was found out, he took ￡200,000 from nine different banks. Amazingly, he had already spent more than half of this before the police caught up with him. Because he is also under 18 the banks have kissed goodbye to a lot of money, and several cashiers have lost their jobs.

Should we admire these youngsters for being enterprising and showing initiative or condemn them for their dishonesty? Maybe they had managed for years with tiny amounts of pocket money that they got from tight-fisted parents. Maybe they had done Saturday jobs for peanuts. It is hardly surprising, given the expensive things that young people want to buy, such as fashionable running shoes and computer games, if they sometimes think up more imaginative ways of making money than delivering newspapers. These youngsters saw the chance to make a lot of money and took it.

Another recent story which should give us food for thought is the case of the man who paid his six-year-old daughter￡300 a week pocket money. He then charged her for the food she ate a few coins for her piggy bank（存钱灌）“She will soon learn the value of money, ” he said. “There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Everything has to be paid for and the sooner she learns that the better.” At the other extreme there are fond parents who provide free bed and board for their grown-up children, While even the most hard-hearted parents might hesitate to throw their children out on the streets, we all know of people in their twenties who still shamelessly live off their parents. Surely there comes a time when everyone has to leave the parental nest, look after themselves and pay their own way in life. But when is it?

1..

 Recently one of Britain’s biggest banks _____.

   A. bought a lot of shares for a customer and brought him a great loss

   B. lost money as its young customer had no money to pay his debts

   C. lost much money because the shares they bought fell in value

   D. received a telephone order to buy shares for a 21-year-old boy

2..

. The author’s attitude to the example of the two boys who cheated the banks is _____.

   A. objective     B. subjective       C. questioning      D. negative

3..

 The man paid his daughter ￡300 a week pocket money and then required her to pay for her living expenses because _____.

   A. he wanted her to know making money was not easy

   B. he wanted to save money for her future education

   C. he thought it useful for family members to bear life hardships together

   D. he wanted her to learn the value of money 

4..

It can be concluded from the passage that the author believes that _____.

   A. children should leave the parental nest as soon as possible

   B. grown-up children should live on their own

   C. children should be taught not to cheat others

   D. parents should give more pocket money to their children

It was Sunday. I had one last patient to see. I approached her room in a hurry and stood at the doorway. She was an old woman, sitting at the edge of the bed, struggling to put socks on her swollen(肿胀的)feet. I entered, spoke quickly to the nurse and examined her chart. She was getting better.

    I looked down at her. She asked if I could help put on her socks. Instead, I said something like this:“ How are you feeling? Your sugars and blood pressure were high but they’re better today. The nurse mentioned you were anxious to see your son who’s visiting you today. I bet you really look forward to seeing him.”

    She stopped me with a serious voice, as if she was giving an order. “ Sit down，Doctor．This is my story，not your story. ”

    I was surprised and embarrassed. I sat down. I helped her with the socks. She began to tell me that her only son lived around the corner from her, but she had not seen him in five years. She believed that her health problems really had something to do with it. After hearing her story and putting on her socks, I asked if there was anything else I could do for her. She shook her head and smiled. All she wanted me to do was to listen．

    Later on, I often thought of what that woman taught me. Everyone has a story and each story is different. Some have a beginning, middle and end. Others wander without a clear conclusion. Yet all those things do not really matter. What matters to the storyteller is that the story is heard—without interruption or judgment．

1. The writer went to visit the older woman to     .

 A. 1isten to her story        B．tell her good news

    C. help her put on her socks   D．see if she was getting better

2.What problem did the old woman have?

A. She ate too much sugar．

B. She had high blood pressure．

C. She had too many visits. 

D. She liked telling others stories．

3.The underlined word “it” in Paragraph 4 refers to the older woman’s     .

A. not having seen her son for long       B. having no one to look after her

C. serious voice when giving orders       D. struggling to put socks on her feet

4.What does the story mainly tell us?

    A. Everyone should learn to listen to others.

    B. Children had better stay with their parents．

    C. We all have a story and each one is different.

    D. Older women are good at telling their stories.

Ellen Parker was worried about her health. She could not walk very quickly and it was difficult for her to climb stairs（爬楼梯）. She was soon out of breath.（气喘吁吁）

“I think I had better go to the doctor, ” she thought.

She went to the doctor and told him her problem.

“I’m not at all surprised, ”he said. “It’s obvious （明显的）what your problem is.”

He examined her and then gave her some advice.“If you don’t do what I say, Mrs. Parker,” he said. “You will have a heart attack（心脏病）. It could kill you.”

Ellen was very worried as she left the doctor’s. She knew that she had to take his advice but that would not be easy and it would take time.

The next day she went shopping. The first shop she went into was a butcher’s shop（肉店）.

“I’d like ten pounds of steak (大块肉片), please,” she said.

“Certainly, madam,” the butcher(屠夫) answered and went into the cold room and found a large piece of steak. He brought the huge piece of meat back into the shop and placed it on the scale(秤).

“That’s just ten pounds,” he said.

“That’s big enough,” Mrs. Parker said.

The butcher worked out(计算) the price.

“At $ 4.99 a pound that will be $ 49.90, please. Would you like me to cut it into small pieces for you?”

“Oh, I don’t want to buy the meat,” Mrs. Parker said.

“If you don’t want to buy it,” the butcher said angrily, “Why did you ask me to get it for you?”

“My doctor told me that I am overweight (超重的)and have to lose ten pounds. I wanted to see what ten pounds of flesh looked liked.”

1.. Why did Ellen Parker visit the doctor?

2.. Why did she ask for ten pounds of steak?

3... What was her real problem?

4.. What did the doctor think might happen to Ellen?