For twenty or thirty years Ernest Faber had owned cars of different sorts, and had driven them regularly, not only in England, but also in many countries of Europe and the Middle East. He was glad to think that he was an experienced driver, because he heard frequent complaints about the difficulties of passing the driving tests in these modern days. He was told that people tried unsuccessfully to pass the test five, seven, or even thirteen times. He heard of one man who failed the test, did no driving at all for a month, and then passed the next test without difficulty. One woman said that she failed several times in one part of the country. And so she went to another town and immediately passed. Faber was not sure whether to believe such stories or not. But he began to think that the results of the tests were frequently unreasonable.

Although it did not affect him in the least, Faber grew angry about all this. He decided to take the test himself. He was an excellent driver; and if he failed, that would prove that his doubts about the examiners were correct. And then he would write to the newspapers to tell everyone what happened.

About two months later the following letter appeared in one of the leading papers of England:

“Dear sir,

During the last twenty-seven years I have driven cars thousands of miles in thirteen different countries in all sorts of weather, and have never had an accident. I have never damaged anything belonging to anybody, and I have never seen the inside of a court of justice. I can take a motor-car engine to pieces and put it together again, and I have given driving lessons to men and women who have later passed the test. No policeman has ever said a sharp word to me. I am not a stupid person, and I have two university degrees.

For some time, I have felt doubtful about the driving test held in this country, because their results often seem unreasonable. I therefore decided that the time had come to test the examiners themselves. If anyone can drive a car, I can. I therefore paid the pound and sent my application in. It is unnecessary to tell you that I did not mention my great experience, my unusual ability as a driver, or my wide and exact knowledge of cars.

The day of the test came.

I very much regret to inform you that I passed.

Yours Faithfully

Ernest Faber”

57. Faber’s driving experience made him _____________.

    A. surprised           B. satisfied             C. destroyed          D. troubled

58. It was said that the driving tests in different parts of the country were ________.

A. not equally difficult

B. getting more and more difficult

C. intended to discourage women from driving

D. intended to discourage people from owning cars

59. When Faber decided to take the test, _____________.

A. he knew that he could do it free of charge

B. he expected to get a driver’s license

C. he wondered if he was an excellent driver

D. he thought even he himself might fail the test

60. The letter tells us that the driving test is _____________.

    A. difficult             B. unfair         C. reasonable         D. unbelievable

With Amazon selling more e-books than hardbacks, this may not seem like the best time to be having a book festival in San Diego County — let alone two．But that’s what book lovers have in store, with the San Diego City College International Book Fair concluding this weekend and the County Library Book Festival running all day Oct．9．

“Whatever the format, it’s still a writer putting pen to paper or tapping their fingers on keyboards,” said Liz Hildreth, co-chair of the library festival．“It’s still authors, still stories, still books．We hope what the festival tells us is that books are a real part of people’s lives．That books are still important．”

So important, organizers say, that one day they hope to rival （竞争） festivals in other places that routinely draw more than 100,000 people and feature hundreds of top writers across virtually every literary genre．

Now in its fifth year, the weeklong City College International Book Festival attracted about 150 people to its Sept．24 opening night．The featured author was Laurel Corona, a professor at the school who writes historical fiction．

 “Festivals are just fun, for readers and authors,” said Corona, one of the experts at the county library event．“They create excitement about books in general．People wander, discover authors they might never find otherwise．”

Moore Susan, community relations manager for the county library system, said going to festivals changed her view that “owning a book was enough．I went and heard authors like （children’s writer） Chris Raschka．He added depth and meaning to what I had read, brought new ideas forward that I had no clue about．”

“We’re doing it because we love books, we love reading, and because our customers are asking us all the time for author events,” Moore said．“People really do long to make those connections．”

1．Book festivals in San Diego _________．

      A．play a real part in local people’s lives    B．are organized by book lovers

      C．attract hundreds of top writers            D．are reader and author events

2．Which of the following is true of Liz Hildreth?

      A．He prefers e-books．                         B．He is a book lover．

      C．He writes historical fiction．               D．He is a professor of relations．

3．The underlined words “literary genre” in Paragraph 3 probably mean “_________”．

       A．theory of literature                              B．example of writers

       C．type of literature                                D．kind of readers

4．Readers in the festivals can _________．

      A．meet their favorite authors                   B．create scenes from the book

      C．read books on the stage                      D．put forward their new ideas

5．From what Moore Susan said we can learn that _________．

      A．she seldom goes to book festivals

       B．it’s easy to organize such activities

       C．book festivals in San Diego are popular

       D．it’s not the best time for book festivals now