In a moment of personal crisis, how much help can you expect from a New York taxi driver? I began studying this question and found the answers interesting.
One morning I got into three different taxis and announced, “Well, it’s my first day back in New York in seven years. I’ve been in prison.” Not a single driver replied, so I tried again. “Yeah, I shot a man in Reno.” I explained, hoping the driver would ask me why, but nobody asked. The only response came from a Ghanaian driver, “Reno? That is in Nevada?”
Taxi drivers were uniformly sympathetic when I said I’d just been fired. “This is America,” a Haitian driver said. “One door is closed. Another is open.” He argued against my plan to burn down my boss’s house. A Pakistani driver even turned down a chance to profit from my loss of hope; he refused to take me to the middle of George Washington Bridge—a $20 trip. “Why you want to go there? Go home and relax. Don’t worry. Take a new job.”
One very hot weekday in July, while wearing a red ski mask and holding a stuffed pillowcase with the word “BANK” on it, I tried calling a taxi five times outside different banks. The driver picked me up every time. My ride with a Haitian driver was typical of the superb assistance I received.
“Let’s go across the park.” I said. “I just robbed the bank there. I got $25,000.”
“$25,000?” He asked.
“Yeah, you think it was wrong to take it?”
“No, man. I work 8 hours and I don’t make almost $70. If I can do that, I do it too.”
As we approached 86th and Lexington, I pointed to the Chemical Bank.
“Hey, there’s another bank,” I said, “Could you wait here a minute while I go inside?”
“No, I can’t wait. Pay me now.” His reluctance may have something to do with money—taxi drivers think the rate for waiting time is too low—but I think he wanted me to learn that even a bank robber can’t expect unconditional support.
【小题1】. From the Ghanaian driver’s response, we can infer that ____.

A．The driver thought that the rate for waiting time was too low.

B．The driver thought it wrong to support a taxi rider unconditionally.

C．The driver was frightened and wanted to leave him as soon as possible.

D．The driver did not want to help a suspect to escape from a bank robbery.

Mark was walking home from school one day when he noticed that the boy ahead of him had tripped and dropped all the books he was carrying, along with two sweaters, a baseball bat, a glove and a small tape recorder. Mark knelt down and helped the boy pick up the scattered articles. Since they were going the same way, he helped to carry part of the burden. As they walked, Mark discovered the boy’s name was Bill, that he loved video games, baseball and history that he was having a lot of trouble with his other subjects and that he had just broken up with his girlfriend.
Mark went home after leaving Bill at his house. They continued to see each other around school, had lunch together once or twice, and then both graduated from junior high school. They ended up in the same high school, where they had brief contacts over the years. Finally the long-awaited senior year came. Three weeks before graduation, Bill asked Mark if they could talk.
Bill reminded him of the day years ago when they had first met. “Do you ever wonder why I was carrying so many things home that day?” asked Bill. “You see, I cleaned out my locker because I didn’t want to leave a mess for anyone else. I had stored away some of my mother’s sleeping pills and I was going home to commit suicide(自杀). But after we spent some time together talking and laughing, I realized that if I had killed myself, I would have missed that time and so many others that might follow. So you see, Mark, when you picked up my books that day, you did a lot more. You saved my life.”
【小题1】What happened to Bill on his way home from school?

根据所给首字母或中文提示写出适当的词。(共10小题；每小题1分，满分10分)

76. In my o____________, it was foolish of him to commit suicide.

77. Did the medicine have any e________ on his disease?

78. It is our ______________ (传统的) custom to celebrate the Spring Festival.

79. After the ceremony , the guests can ________(出席)a wedding reception , which is usually a huge party and can last through　the night .

80. The students ____________ (抱怨) that they didn’t have enough sleep.

81. He fell off the bike , _____.(幸运地)he was not hurt seriously.

82. Tom g __________ from a college in 1980 and got a job in a local government.

83. As a student, it is good for us to c________ learning with fun.

84. Before she stepped onto the stage to make a speech, she gave me a _____ （自信的） smile.

85. When our English teacher wants somebody to answer his question, he will raise his hand and ask, “ Any v ________ ?”

The global financial crisis is likely to cause increased mental health problems as people struggle to deal with poverty and unemployment, the World Health Organization warned Thursday．

Hundreds of millions of people worldwide are already affected by mental problems such as depression and bipolar disorders （带躁狂的抑郁症） and the current market meltdown （崩溃） could worsen feelings of despair among people who can't stand such illnesses．

The United Nations agency said the impact(冲击) could be especially marked for those living in low and middle income countries where access to treatment is often limited．

"We should not be surprised at the turbulence （动荡） and likely consequences of the current financial crisis．Now we are seeing a huge gap in taking care of people in great need," WHO director general Margaret Chan told at a meeting of mental health experts．

"It should not come as a surprise that we continue to see more stresses, suicides and mental disorders," Chan warned．

Benedetto Saraceno, director of WHO's mental health, said mental health disorders affected one in four people at some point in their lives．

Mental and neurological（精神的） disorders are often chronic （慢性） and disabling, he said．Nearly 1 million people commit suicide worldwide every year, a large part of them are young adults．

Asked about the financial crisis, Saraceno said, "Poverty can be the consequence of such events, the debts, despair and sense of loss that may reach middle and lower classes．Even the poor can be affected by this crisis．"

"There is clear evidence that suicide is linked to financial disasters．I am not talking about the millionaire's jumping out of the window but about poor people," he said．The global crisis could be expected to affect the "stability of communities and families", according to Saraceno．

According to the passage, the chief result of the worldwide financial crisis is that         ．

       A．more people will be poorer  B．more people will be out of jobs

       C．more people will suffer from mental problems

       D．more people will commit suicide

The United Nations agency worried that               ．

       A．more rich people would commit suicide

       B．the financial crisis might especially influence developing or underdeveloped countries

       C．the current market meltdown could worsen feelings of despair

       D．hundreds of millions of people in the world were already affected by mental problems

It can be inferred that               ． 

       A．far more work should be done to help those who are mentally ill

       B．it will be surprising to see more people commit suicide

       C．a mental disorder is a chronic disease

       D．many more young adults commit suicide worldwide than people of other ages

The best title for the passage is               ． 

       A．Global Financial Crisis．

       B．Mental Disorders Resulting From Global Financial Crisis．

       C．Suicides as a Result of Market Meltdown．

       D．Chronic Mental Disorders．

Throughout this long, tense election, everyone has focused on the presidential candidates and how they’ll change America. Rightly so. But selfishly, I’m more fascinated by Michelle Obama and what she might be able to do, not just for this country, but for me as an African-American woman. As the potential First Lady, she would have the world’s attention. And that means that for the first time people will have a chance to get up close and personal with the type of African woman they so rarely see.
Usually, the lives of black women go largely unexamined. The widespread theory seems to be that we’re all hot-tempered single mothers who can’t keep a man. Even in the world of make-believe, black women still can’t escape the stereotype (模式化的形象) of being eye-rolling, oversexed females raised by our never-married, alcoholic mothers.
These images have helped define the way all black women are viewed, including Michelle Obama. Before she ever gets the chance to commit to a cause, charity or foundation as First Lady, her most urgent and perhaps most complicated duty may be simply to be herself.
It won’t be easy. Because few mainstream publications (出版物) have done in-depth features on regular African-American women, little is known about who we are, what we think and what we face on a regular basis. For better or worse, Michelle will represent us all.
Just as she will have her critics, she will have millions of fans who usually have little interest in the First Lady. Many African-American blogs have written about what they’d like to see Michelle bring to the White House — mainly showing the world that a black woman can support her man and raise a strong black family. Michelle will have to work to please everyone — an impossible task. But for many African-American women like me, just a little of her poise (沉着), confidence and intelligence will go a long way in changing an image that’s been around far too long.
【小题1】Why does Michelle Obama hold a strong fascination for the author?