I had an experience recently with someone admitting to me that he had made a mistake fifteen years ago. He told me he had been the manager of a certain grocery store in the neighborhood where I grew up, and he asked me if I remembered the egg cartons. Then he related an incident and I began to remember vaguely the incident he was describing.

I was about eight years old at the time, and I had gone into the store with my mother to do the weekly grocery shopping. On that particular day, I must have found my way to the dairy food department where the incident took place.

There must have been a special sale on eggs that day because there was an impressive display of eggs in dozen and half dozen cartons. The cartons were stacked three or four feet high. I must have stopped in front of a display to admire the stacks. Just then a woman came by pushing her grocery cart and knocked off the stacks of cartons. For some reasons, I decided it was up to me to push the display back together, and went to work.

The manager heard the noise and came rushing over to see what had happened. When he appeared, I was on my knees inspecting some of the cartons to see if any of the eggs were broken, but to him it looked as though I was the wrongdoer. He severely punished me and warned me to pay for any broken eggs. I protested my innocence and tried to explain, but it did no good. Even though I quickly forgot all about the incident, apparently the manager did not.

　　  1. Who was to blame for knocking off the stacks of cartons?

　　   　　A. The author.　　　　　　 B. The manager.

　　　　   C. A woman.　　　　　　  D. The author's mother.

　　  2. Which of the following statements is NOT true?

　　　　   A. The woman who knocked off the stacks of cartons was seriously criticized by the manager.

　　　　   B. The author was severely criticized by the manager.

　　　　   C. A woman carelessly knocked off the stacks of cartons.

　　　　  D. It was the author who put the display back together.

　　 3. Which of the following can serve as the best title of the passage?

　　　　  A. It's Harder to Admit One's Mistake.

　　　　  B. I Was Once the Wrongdoer.

　　　　  C. I Remember an Incident.

　　　　  D. A Case of Mistaken Identity.

　　 4. The tone of the article expresses the author's——.

   　　   A. admiration for the manager’s willingness to admit mistake

　　　　  B. anger to the manager for his wrong accusation

　　　　  C. indignation against the woman who knocked off the stacks of cartons

　　　　  D. regret for the mistake he made in the store

　　During my ninth-grade year, I suffered from “anorexia nervosa”. It was not enough to be thin. I had to be the thinnest. Now, however, fully recovered, I can reflect back and realize that my wishes were more complex than fitting into size five pants. Many of my hidden emotions were related to my relationship with my father. As I was growing up, his work always came first. Sometimes I would not see him for up to two weeks. Not only did he devote his whole self to his work, but he expected me to do the same (“You cannot get anywhere unless you go to the best universities!”). Though, consciously, I never felt pressure to please him, I began dieting after the first time he told me I looked fat.　　

　　At the time, all I knew was that I had to be thin―thinner than anyone else. Every month my father went to Europe for a week or so and on the days he left, sorrow and emptiness swallowed me: Daddy was leaving. Then, I turned to focus on a mysterious weakness―a helpless childlike emotion that came from starving. I liked to know that I needed to be taken care of; maybe Daddy would take care of me.

Now, two years later and thirty-eight pounds heavier, I have come to realize that I cannot change my father’s inability to express his feelings. Instead, I must accept myself. I know that I am a valuable person who struggles to achieve and accomplish. But I cannot struggle solely for others. By starving, I attempted to gain pride in myself by obtaining my father’s approval or acknowledgment of my value as a person. But the primary approval must come from me, and I feel secure now that I can live with that knowledge safely locked in my mind.

54. What is “anorexia nervosa” as mentioned in the first line of the passage?

　　A. It is a situation of feeling self-doubting.

　　B. It is an inability to express one’s feelings.

　　C. It is someone who is emotionally unstable.

　　D. It is an illness that makes one want to stop eating.

55. Why did the writer suffer from anorexia nervosa?

　　A. She was told by her father to take care of herself.

　　B. She wanted to go to the best university.

　　C. She wanted her father’s attention.

　　D. She grew up in a poor family.

56. Which of the following statements is true about the writer?

　　A. She has problems controlling her tempers.

　　B. She is proud of herself for working hard to succeed.

　　C. She has had great confidence in herself since childhood.

　　D. She has changed her father’s way of expressing himself.

57. What’s the writer’s purpose of writing this passage?

　　A. To blame her father.

　　B. To report a case of child abuse.

　　C. To reflect on a stage of growing up.

　　D. To teach people how to lose weight.

One of the qualities that most people admire in others is the willingness to admit one's mistakes. It is extremely hard sometimes to say a simple thing like “I was wrong about that，” and it is even harder to say “I was wrong, and you were right about that.”

I had an experience recently with someone admitting to me that he had made a mistake fifteen years ago. He told me he had been the manager of a certain grocery store in the neighborhood where I grew up, and he asked me if I remembered the egg cartons. Then he related an incident and I began to remember vaguely the incident he was describing.

I was about eight years old at the time, and I had gone into the store with my mother to do the weekly grocery shopping. On that particular day, I must have found my way to the dairy food department where the incident took place.

There must have been a special sale on eggs that day because there was an impressive display of eggs in dozen and half dozen cartons. The cartons were stacked three or four feet high. I must have stopped in front of a display to admire the stacks. Just then a woman came by pushing her grocery cart and knocked off the stacks of cartons. For some reasons, I decided it was up to me to push the display back together, and went to work.

The manager heard the noise and came rushing over to see what had happened. When he appeared, I was on my knees inspecting some of the cartons to see if any of the eggs were broken, but to him it looked as though I was the wrongdoer. He severely punished me and warned me to pay for any broken eggs. I protested my innocence and tried to explain, but it did no good. Even though I quickly forgot all about the incident, apparently the manager did not.

　　  1. Who was to blame for knocking off the stacks of cartons?

　　   　　A. The author.　　　　　　 B. The manager.

　　　　   C. A woman.　　　　　　  D. The author's mother.

　　  2. Which of the following statements is NOT true?

　　　　   A. The woman who knocked off the stacks of cartons was seriously criticized by the manager.

　　　　   B. The author was severely criticized by the manager.

　　　　   C. A woman carelessly knocked off the stacks of cartons.

　　　　  D. It was the author who put the display back together.

　　 3. Which of the following can serve as the best title of the passage?

　　　　  A. It's Harder to Admit One's Mistake.

　　　　  B. I Was Once the Wrongdoer.

　　　　  C. I Remember an Incident.

　　　　  D. A Case of Mistaken Identity.

　　 4. The tone of the article expresses the author's——.

   　　   A. admiration for the manager’s willingness to admit mistake

　　　　  B. anger to the manager for his wrong accusation

　　　　  C. indignation against the woman who knocked off the stacks of cartons

　　　　  D. regret for the mistake he made in the store