My husband and son took a New York-to-Milwaukee flight that was supposed to leave Friday at 11:29 am. The flight boarded after 4 pm and didn’t leave the gate until 4:40, and half an hour later the pilot announced it would be another hour until takeoff. At that point a Jewish family, worried about violating the Sabbath （安息日）, asked to get off. Going back to the gate cost the plane its place in line for takeoff, and the flight was eventually cancelled. Was the airline right to grant that request?

M. W, Norwalk, CONN.

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Situations like that can bring out the worst in people. But despite the increasing resentment（怨恨） of a plane full of people, the pilot tried to do the right thing. He went out of his way to satisfy one family’s urgent need. He should not have done so.

Passengers bought tickets in the belief that the airline’s primary goal was to get them to their destination as close to the schedule as possible. Once they got on the plane and the doors are locked, it’s not correct to announce that the rules have changed and that a personal (as opposed to medical) emergency —no matter how urgent — might take precedence（优先）.

That would be just as true if turning back to the gate had merely cost a few minutes rather than doomed the flight entirely, since on a plane, even a slight delay can spread outward, from the people in the cabin to those meeting them to the passengers waiting to board the plane for the next leg of its journey and so on. It would also be true if the personal emergency were not religious — if someone suddenly realized she’d made a professional mistake that might cost her millions, and she had to race back to the office to fix it.

If a religious practice does nothing to harm others, then airlines should make a reasonable effort to accommodate it. Though that family has every right to observe the Sabbath, it has no right to enlist an airplane full of captive bystanders to help them do so. By boarding a flight on a Friday afternoon, the family knowingly risked running into trouble. The risk was theirs alone to bear.

1.M. W. wrote the letter to ask whether ______.

A．Any religious passenger has the right to ask the pilot to take off

B．The airline has the right to cancel the flight without any reason

C．A flight should meet any passenger’s need despite others’ benefit

D．A plane which has left the gate should give up taking off

2.What do we know from the reply letter?

A．The pilot did the right thing in spite of the fierce resentment.

B．The plane should turn back if anyone aboard is seriously ill.

C．Anybody who has boarded has no chance to get off the plane.

D．Any flight shouldn’t change its schedule no matter what has happened.

3.What does the underlined part in Paragraph 4 mean?

A．Turning back to the gate usually takes a plane quite a long time.

B．Nobody should take precedence to require the plane to turn back to the gate.

C．Even if it had taken a few minutes it was not right to turn back to the gate.

D．It was OK if turning back to the gate hadn’t caused the flight to be cancelled.

4.The author of the reply letter thinks that _________.

A．It’s right for the plane to turn back to the gate to save a passenger’s treasure

B．The Jewish family should give up observing the Sabbath after boarding

C．The biggest problem of turning back is to bring trouble to the pilot

D．The Jewish family had better avoid boarding on Friday afternoon

My husband and son took a New York-to-Milwaukee flight that was supposed to leave Friday at 11:29 am. The flight boarded after 4 pm and didn’t leave the gate until 4:40, and half an hour later the pilot announced it would be another hour until takeoff. At that point a Jewish family, worried about violating the Sabbath （安息日）, asked to get off. Going back to the gate cost the plane its place in line for takeoff, and the flight was eventually cancelled. Was the airline right to grant that request?
M. W, Norwalk, CONN.
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Situations like that can bring out the worst in people. But despite the increasing resentment（怨恨） of a plane full of people, the pilot tried to do the right thing. He went out of his way to satisfy one family’s urgent need. He should not have done so.
Passengers bought tickets in the belief that the airline’s primary goal was to get them to their destination as close to the schedule as possible. Once they got on the plane and the doors are locked, it’s not correct to announce that the rules have changed and that a personal (as opposed to medical) emergency —no matter how urgent — might take precedence（优先）.
That would be just as true if turning back to the gate had merely cost a few minutes rather than doomed the flight entirely, since on a plane, even a slight delay can spread outward, from the people in the cabin to those meeting them to the passengers waiting to board the plane for the next leg of its journey and so on. It would also be true if the personal emergency were not religious — if someone suddenly realized she’d made a professional mistake that might cost her millions, and she had to race back to the office to fix it.
If a religious practice does nothing to harm others, then airlines should make a reasonable effort to accommodate it. Though that family has every right to observe the Sabbath, it has no right to enlist an airplane full of captive bystanders to help them do so. By boarding a flight on a Friday afternoon, the family knowingly risked running into trouble. The risk was theirs alone to bear.
【小题1】M. W. wrote the letter to ask whether ______.

对话填空(共10小题；每小题1分，满分10分)

阅读下面对话，掌握其大意，并根据所给字母的提示，在标有题号的右边横线上写出一个英语单词的完整、正确形式，使对话通顺。

Travel Agent—T;Paul—P

T:Good afternoon,how can I help you?

P:Hi,I want to(76) b____ a room and some tickets for the summer holiday.

T:Where are you going?

P:Sydney.

T:And how many people will be going?

P:Four.Two(77) a____ and two children.

T:(78)W____ would you like to go?

P:Anytime after 12th July,but(79) b____ 20th July.Can you tell me the (80) p____ of the cheapest flight?

T:Sure,can I ask if your children are over two years old?

P:Yes,they are.

T:In that(81) c_______,for the flight they will be charged at children’s rates and for the hotel there won’t be any charge.It(82) l____ on 15th July and returns on 29th July on Virgin Atlantic.This is the cheapest flight(83) a_______.

P:Fine.Do you have a(84) c____ of the journey plan that I can take away with me?

T:Sure.I hope to hear from you soon.

P:Thanks.I’ll think about it tonight and ring you in the(85) m____ tomorrow.

T:Thanks.I’m looking forward to your reply.

对话填空(共10小题；每小题1分，满分10分)

阅读下面对话，掌握其大意，并根据所给字母的提示，在标有题号的右边横线上写出一个英语单词的完整、正确形式，使对话通顺。

Travel Agent—T;Paul—P

T:Good afternoon,how can I help you?

P:Hi,I want to(76) b____a room and some tickets for the summer holiday.

T:Where are you going?

P:Sydney.

T:And how many people will be going?

P:Four.Two(77) a____and two children.

T:(78)W____would you like to go?

P:Anytime after 12th July,but(79) b____20th July.Can you tell me the (80) p____of the cheapest flight?

T:Sure,can I ask if your children are over two years old?

P:Yes,they are.

T:In that(81) c_______,for the flight they will be charged at children’s rates and for the hotel there won’t be any charge.It(82) l____on 15th July and returns on 29th July on Virgin Atlantic.This is the cheapest flight(83) a_______.

P:Fine.Do you have a(84) c____of the journey plan that I can take away with me?

T:Sure.I hope to hear from you soon.

P:Thanks.I’ll think about it tonight and ring you in the(85) m____tomorrow.

T:Thanks.I’m looking forward to your reply.