One man tells of driving on a long and lonely road, the last 65 miles of it unpaved, in order to watch Indian dances in the state of Arizona. After the dances, he returned to his car only to find that it had a flat tire. He put on the spare and drove to the only service station in that town.
“Do you fix flats?” he inquired of the attendant.
“Yes,” came the answer.
“How much do you charge?” he asked.
With a twinkle in his eye, the man replied, “What difference does it make?”
This is what has been called a “Hobson’s choice”. A Hobson’s choice is a situation that forces a person to accept whatever is offered or go without.
According to Barbara Berliner, the phrase was inspired by sixteenth-century entrepreneur (企业家) Thomas Hobson. There was no choice by the customer — it was strictly Hobson’s choice.
But often we really have a choice, and the choice does make a difference. We may not always believe it. We may feel as if we have no choice, but almost always there is a choice in the matter. And when we realize that we do most things by choice, then we are taking control of our own lives.
Someone challenged me to try an experiment that completely changed my perspective. “For the next seven days,” he said, “eliminate the words ‘I have to’ from your vocabulary and say ‘I choose to’. Don’t say, ‘I have to work late tonight’. Instead, say, ‘I choose to work late’. When you choose to do it, you take control of your life. Instead of saying, ‘I have to stay home’, try ‘I choose to stay home’. The way you spend your time is your choice. You are responsible. You have control.”
In just seven days I was no longer saying “I have to” and I felt better about my decisions. I learned that there is very little in my life I actually have to do. You and I decide to do certain things because we believe that it will be for the best. When we eliminate “I have to” from our vocabularies, we take control.
Try it for a week and you see what happens. I think you’ll see it’s a change for the better.
【小题1】 What did the attendant mean by saying “What difference does it make”?

One man tells of driving on a long and lonely road, the last 65 miles of it unpaved, in order to watch Indian dances in the state of Arizona. After the dances, he returned to his car only to find that it had a flat tire. He put on the spare and drove to the only service station in that town.

“Do you fix flats?” he inquired of the attendant.

“Yes,” came the answer.

“How much do you charge?” he asked.

With a twinkle in his eye, the man replied, “What difference does it make?”

This is what has been called a “Hobson’s choice”. A Hobson’s choice is a situation that forces a person to accept whatever is offered or go without.

According to Barbara Berliner, the phrase was inspired by sixteenth-century entrepreneur (企业家) Thomas Hobson. There was no choice by the customer — it was strictly Hobson’s choice.

But often we really have a choice, and the choice does make a difference. We may not always believe it. We may feel as if we have no choice, but almost always there is a choice in the matter. And when we realize that we do most things by choice, then we are taking control of our own lives.

Someone challenged me to try an experiment that completely changed my perspective. “For the next seven days,” he said, “eliminate the words ‘I have to’ from your vocabulary and say ‘I choose to’. Don’t say, ‘I have to work late tonight’. Instead, say, ‘I choose to work late’. When you choose to do it, you take control of your life. Instead of saying, ‘I have to stay home’, try ‘I choose to stay home’. The way you spend your time is your choice. You are responsible. You have control.”

In just seven days I was no longer saying “I have to” and I felt better about my decisions. I learned that there is very little in my life I actually have to do. You and I decide to do certain things because we believe that it will be for the best. When we eliminate “I have to” from our vocabularies, we take control.

Try it for a week and you see what happens. I think you’ll see it’s a change for the better.

1. What did the attendant mean by saying “What difference does it make”?

2.The author learnt from the experiment that he      .

3.What does the underlined word “eliminate” mean?

4.What is the situation where we have a “Hobson’s choice”?

5. The purpose of writing this text is to            .

One man tells of driving on a long and lonely road, the last 65 miles of it unpaved, in order to watch Indian dances in the state of Arizona．After the dances, he returned to his car only to find that it had a flat tire．He put on the spare and drove to the only service station in that town．

“Do you fix flats?” he inquired of the attendant．

“Yes,” came the answer．

“How much do you charge?” he asked．

With a twinkle in his eye, the man replied, “What difference does it make?”

This is what has been called a “Hobson’s choice”．A Hobson’s choice is a situation that forces a person to accept whatever is offered or go without．

According to Barbara Berliner, the phrase was inspired by sixteenth-century entrepreneur (企业家) Thomas Hobson．There was no choice by the customer — it was strictly Hobson’s choice．

But often we really have a choice, and the choice does make a difference．We may not always believe it．We may feel as if we have no choice, but almost always there is a choice in the matter．And when we realize that we do most things by choice, then we are taking control of our own lives．

Someone challenged me to try an experiment that completely changed my perspective(看法，观点)．“For the next seven days,” he said, “remove the words ‘I have to’ from your vocabulary and say ‘I choose to’．Don’t say, ‘I have to work late tonight’．Instead, say, ‘I choose to work late’．When you choose to do it, you take control of your life．Instead of saying ‘I have to stay home’, try ‘I choose to stay home’．The way you spend your time is your choice．You are responsible．You have control．”

In just seven days I was no longer saying “I have to” and I felt better about my decisions．I learned that there is very little in my life I actually have to do．You and I decide to do certain things because we believe that it will be for the best．When we remove “I have to” from our vocabularies, we take control．

Try it for a week and you see what happens．I think you’ll see it’s a change for the better．

66．What did the attendant mean by saying “What difference does it make”?

       A．The man shouldn’t come to the service station．

       B．The man didn’t need to pay for the work．

      C．There was no need f to fix the tire ．

       D．It was unnecessary for the man to ask about the price．

67．What is the situation where we have a “Hobson’s choice”?

      A．We should make preparations before a journey．

      B．We should often change our choice．

      C．We have no choice but to follow．

      D．We should think twice before taking action．

68．The author learnt from the experiment that he  _________．

      A．actually changed his attitudes towards life     B．could spend more time relaxing himself

      C．should take pleasure in helping others         D．could become more challenging

69．The purpose of writing this text is to _________．

      A．tell an interesting story about the author    B．explain what Hobson’s choice is

      C．accept others’ advice modestly              D．advise us to become active in life

70．What's the best title of this passage?

   A．I Have To            B．I Choose To          C．Hobson’s Story       D．Fix a Flat Tire

The Best Holiday

 I was unbelievably proud of my nine-year-old daughter. Emily   41   to buy a mountain bike. She’d been saving her pocket money all year,   42   doing small jobs to earn extra money.

 By Thanksgiving, she had collected only $49. I said, “You   43   have your pick from my bicycle   44  .” “Thanks, Daddy. But your bikes are so old.” She was right. All my girls’ bikes were 1950’s models, not the kind a kid today would   45   choose.

As Christmas   46   near, Emily and I went bike shopping. As we left one store, she   __47   a Salvation Army volunteer standing next to a big pot. “Can we give something, Daddy?” she asked. “Sorry, I’m out of   48  .”

  Throughout December, Emily continued to   49   hard. Then one day, she made a   __50   announcement. “You know all the money I’ve been saving?” she said hesitantly. “I’m going to give it to the poor people.” So one cold morning before Christmas, Emily handed her total savings of $ 58 to a volunteer who was really very   51  .

  52   by Emily’s selflessness, I decided to contribute   53   of my old bicycles to a car dealer who was collecting used bikes for poor children.    54   I selected a shiny model from my collection, however, it seemed as if a second bike took on a glow (发光). Should I   contribute two? No, one would be enough. But I couldn’t   55   the feeling that I should give a second bike. When I later   56   the bikes, the car dealer said, “You’re making two kids very __57  , sir. Here are your tickets. For each bicycle contributed, we’re   58   away one chance to win a girls’ mountain bike.”

Why wasn’t I surprised when that second ticket proved to be the   59  ? I like to think it was God’s way of   60   a little girl for a sacrifice beyond her years－while giving her dad a lesson in the process.