To Whom It May Concern:

Your address was forwarded to us by Why Brother Magazine. All of us here think The International Institute of Not Doing Much is the best organization in the world. You know how to avoid unnecessary activities!

We closely followed the advice in your article. First, we replaced all our telephones with carrier pigeons. Simply removing the jingle of telephones and replacing them with the pleasant sounds of birds has had a remarkable effect on everyone. Besides, birds are cheaper than telephone service. After all, we are a business. We have to think of the bottom line. As a side benefit, the birds also fertilize the lawn outside the new employee sauna.

Next, we sold the computers off to Stab, Grab, Grit, and Nasty, a firm of lawyers nearby. Our electricity bill went way down. Big savings! The boss is impressed. We have completely embraced paper technology. Now that we all use pencils, doodling is on the increase, and the quality of pencilwomanship is impressive, as you can tell from my handwriting in this letter. By the way, if you can, please send this letter back to us. We can erase and reuse it. Just tie it to Maggie’s leg and she’ll know where to take it.

Now it’s very calm and quiet here. You can notice the difference. No more loud chatter on the telephones! All we hear is the scratching of pencil on paper, the sound of pigeons, and the delivery of inter-office correspondence by paper airplane.

Wonderful! I’ve always wanted to work for an insurance company ever since I was a little girl. Now it’s perfect.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 Sincerely yours,

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 Eleanor Lightly

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 Spokeswoman and Company Hair Stylist

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 ABC Activity Insurance: Insure against overdoing it

64.　　 Which of the following best describes the life the author is leading?

A. A simple, slow-paced life.　　　　　　　 B. A life of hard work and security.

C. A religious, peasant-like life.　　　　　　　　　 D. A life away from paper and pencils.

65.　　 Where is Eleanor’s letter sent to?

A.　　 Why Brother Magazine.

B.　　 ABC Activity Insurance Company.

C.　　 Stab, Grab, Grit, and Nasty Law Firm.

D.　　 The International Institute of Not Doing Much.

66.　　 Which of the following is practiced in the author’s company?

A.　　 Replacing the manual work system with modern technology.

B.　　 Turning off lights in the daytime to save electricity.

C.　　 Recycling paper resources whenever possible.

D.　　 Buying birds and pets as company for the staff.

67.　　 What is true about Maggie?

A.　　 She works as a manager in the author’s company.

B.　　 She sometimes helps fertilize the lawn outside the sauna.

C.　　 She often helps with inter-office correspondence using e-mail.

D.　　 Her handwriting has improved a lot after entering the company.

Hughie Erskine was in love. The girl he loved was Laura Merton, the daughter of a retired army officer. They were the best-looking couple in London, and had not a penny between them. Her father was very fond of Hughie, but would not hear of any engagement.

“Come to me, my boy, when you have got ten thousand pounds of your own, and we will see about it,” he used to say, and Hughie looked very miserable in those days.

One morning he went to see a great friend of his, Alan Trevor, who was a painter. When he came into the studio he found Trevor putting the finishing touches to a wonderful life-size picture of a beggar-man. The beggar himself was standing on a platform in a corner of the room. He was a dried up old man with a lined face and a sad expression. Over his shoulder was thrown a rough brown coat, all torn and full of holes. His thick boots were old and mended, and with one hand he leaned on a rough stick, while with the other he held out his ancient hat for money.

“Poor old fellow!” said Hughie. “How miserable he looks!”

At that moment a servant came in and told Trevor that a man wanted to speak to him. Trevor went out.

The old beggar-man sat down to rest for a moment. He looked so miserable that Hughie pitied him, and felt in his pockets to see what money he had. All he could find was a pound and some pennies. “Poor old fellow,” he thought to himself, “he wants it more than I do, but ‘I shan’t have much money myself for a week or two”; and he walked across the room and slipped the pound into the beggar’s hand.

The old man jumped, and a faint smile passed across his old lips. “Thank you, sir,” he said, “thank you.”

That night Trevor told Hughie that the old “beggar” was Baron Hausberg, one of the richest man in Europe, who had asked him a month before to paint him as a beggar. He also said that he had told the old man all about the lovely Laura and the ten thousand pounds. The next morning, as he was at breakfast, an old gentleman brought Hughie a letter from Baron Hausberg. On the envelope was written, “A wedding present to Hughie Ershine and Laura Merton, from an old beggar”, and inside was a cheque for ten thousand pounds.

1．The girl’s father          .

      A．liked Hughie because he was rich         

       B．disliked Hughie

       C．disliked Huhghie because Hughie was poor                            

       D．liked Hughie but didn’t allow Hughie to marry his daughter

2．Hughie gave some money to the beggar because         .

       A．he was very rich

       B．he was kind-hearted and showed mercy to the beggar

       C．the painter told him to do so

       D．the girl’s father told him to do so

3．Which is True about Baron Hausberg?

       A．He was the girl’s father.                        B．He was a painter.

       C．He had a lot of wealth.                         D．He was a beggar.

4．It can be inferred from the passage that         .

      A．Hughie Erskine married Laura Merton

       B．Hughie Erskine didn’t marry Laura Merton

       C．Mr. Merton still didn’t agree to the marriage

       D．Hughie married the girl because he was good-looking

5．We can learn from the text that         .

       A．one should be good-looking                  B．one should be poor

       C．one should be rich   D．one should be tender-hearted