A jobless man wanted very much to have the position of “office boy” at Microsoft. The HR manager interviewed him and then watched him cleaning the floor as a test. “You have passed the test,” he said. “Give me your e-mail address and I’ll send you the form to fill in and the date when you may start.” The man replied, “But I don’t have a computer, neither an e-mail.” “I’m sorry,” said the HR manager. “If you don’t have an e-mail, that means you are not living. And anyone who isn’t living cannot have the job.”

The man left with no hope at all. He didn’t know what to do with only $10 in his pocket. He thought and thought. Then he went to the supermarket and bought 10 kilos of tomatoes. He sold the tomatoes from door to door. In less than two hours, he had 20 dollars. He repeated the operation three times, and started to go early every day, and returned home late. Shortly, he bought a cart , then a truck, then he had his own fleet of delivery vehicles(运货车队). Five years later, the man was one of the biggest food retailers (零售商)  in the US.

One day, one of his friends asked him for his e-mail. He said, “I haven’t got one.” His friend couldn’t believe his ears. “Can you imagine what you could have been if you had an e-mail?” The man thought for a while and replied, “Yes, I’d be an office boy at Microsoft!”

What did the man do for the test?

     A. He sent e-mails.                     B. He did the cleaning

     C. He sold computers.                   D. He filled in forms.

The man didn’t get the job because he_____________.

    A. disliked such a job             B. didn’t pass the test

    C. didn’t have an e-mail           D. knew nothing about computers

The man ______after he left Microsoft.

   A. went to look for another job       B. asked for food from door to door

   C. thought of an idea to make money  D. bought a computer and got an e-mail

Why could the man become one of the biggest food retailers in the US?

A. Because he had many friends to help him.

B. Because he was smart and worked very hard.

C. Because he had his own fleet of delivery vehicles.

D. Because he wanted to show Microsoft he was living.

What does the story want to tell us?

A. Computers are very important in our daily life.

B. Everyone can make a lot of money with only$10.

C. The HR manager didn’t find the ability of the man.

D. Nothing in the world is impossible if we work hard.

During the Christmas break from college, a young man wanted to borrow his father’s car. He was going to a New Year’s Eve   21  to be held in Vermont. The father was   22  about the son hitting one of the roadblocks that people set up all over the place on New Year’s Eve. However, a(n)   23  reached was that the son would be allowed to use the car, but he would not drink at all.
So he drove to Vermont, got completely   24  , and attempted to drive home. On the way home he hit a roadblock. He was told to   25  the car and stand in a line of people that were being given the sobriety (not drunk)   26 . However, the policeman   27  him out. He was   【小题1】 standing off to the side while the others were   29  the police officer how well they could walk a   30  line, etc.
At 7:00 am the next morning, his father got up to answer the   31 . There were   32  policemen there. They asked him if he was the   33  of that red FIAT. He replied, “Yes, I am.” One of the policemen asked him if he was driving the car the evening before and he said that his son had been the driver.
When the young man   34  himself in front of the policemen, he knew he was in some sort of   35 . Upon questioning, he   36  that he was driving the car. But when asked if he had been   37 , he said, “NO!” When the policemen asked if they could see his car, he was unable to remember the   38 . He said that it was in the garage.
And when the four of them walked out to look at the car, instead of looking at the car he had driven the   39  before, they saw a   40  car parked there.

Around 5:30 p.m., I was on the bus one day and everybody on the bus was quiet. People had just  36 from work, students had just finished their 37 class and everybody was a little  38  from a long day. It wasn't a particularly good day for me  as I was feeling quite tired too. I was just looking outside of the 39 without any specific thought in my mind. It was the same 40  I had seen many times before, people hurrying home.
In front of me, there was a guy sitting in the seat who didn't look too clean. 41  he was looking out of the window, the guy suddenly 42 to me and pointed at something outside. "Hey, look." He had a big smile on his face. I turned to the  43  he was pointing to and there it was ---- the beautiful Catalina mountains burning with a beautiful  44 . The mountains were coated with bright pink light and shadows. He turned to other people on the bus and told them to look at the mountains. He  45   
" Wow" and " It's so beautiful" again and again. Everybody on the bus  46  the views indeed.
The  47 view also helped me to 48  my long tiring day with a good feeling in my heart. But, more 49  , I was so inspired to see that this man wanted to 50  the beautiful view with everybody on the bus, total strangers. His 51 act made me accidentally find something that I had lost which I didn't even know I had lost. He made me  52 that I had lost the feelings and the excitement I  53 have everyday. In my daily life, many things had  54  their color and movement. But he 55 me that things are still there ---- they never get lost.

【小题1】

A．gone by B．got off C．given up D．taken up

【小题7】

A．referred B．attended C．turned D．objected

【小题11】

A．enjoyed B．impressed C．described D．recorded

Mr Reese was born in a big city. His father had several companies and got a lot of money. He could give his son all the young man wanted. He was busy with his business and never asked him how he got along with his studies. So the boy spent most time in the restaurants or cinemas. Of course he was weak at his lessons and learned nothing at school. He made many friends but none of them was good and when they knew he came from a rich family, they began to teach him to gamble（赌博）. Of course he lost much money.

Now Mr Reese was twenty and finished middle school. He could not do anything. But his father didn't mind it until one day he found the young man had sold one of his companies. He became so angry that he made him leave his house. The young man couldn't gamble any longer. His friends made him pay his debt. He had to ask his mother to help him and the woman often gave him some money. But one evening his father happened to find it. The old man stopped his wife from doing so. They began to fight in the room. The young man brought out a knife and killed his father. His mother helped him to run away, but soon after that he was caught and sentenced（判刑）to death.

It was a cold and wet day. Suddenly it began to rain hard when Mr Reese was being sent to the execution ground（刑场）. Soon both he and the soldiers were wet through. He said angrily, “Bad luck! I shall be shot in such bad weather!”

“Don't complain（抱怨）, brother, ”said one of the soldiers. ‘You're luckier than us all. We'll have to go back to the city after that!”

Old Reese never wanted to know about his son's studies because ____.     [    ]

A. he was sure his son was good at his lessons

B. he spent all his energies on his business

C. he knew nothing about the education

D. his wife looked after their children

The bad young men taught Young Reese to gamble in order ____.      [    ]

A. to play with him

B. to spend spare time

C. that the could get much money from him

D. that they could find jobs in his father's companies

Old Reese became angry because ____.       [    ]

A. his son had learned nothing at school.

B. his son was weak at all his lessons

C. his son couldn't do anything in the companies

D. his son had lost one of his companies

Mr Reese complained ____.   [    ]

A. he was sentenced to death

B. he would be shot

C. he went to the execution ground on foot

D. he would be shot in bad weather

Last Christmas was a very difficult time for me. My family and all of my close friends were back home in Florida, and I was all alone in a rather cold California. I was working too many hours and became very sick.

I was working a double shift at the Southwest Airlines ticket counter, it was about 9:00 PM on Christmas Eve, and I was feeling really miserable inside. There were a few of us working and very few customers waiting to be helped. When it was time for me to call the next person to the counter, I looked out to see the sweetest-looking old man standing with a cane. He walked very slowly over to the counter and in the faintest voice told me that he had to go to New Orleans. I tried to explain to him that there were no more flights that night and that he would have to go in the morning. He looked so confused and very worried. I tried to find out more information by asking if he had a reservation or if he remembered when he was supposed to travel, but he seemed to become more confused with each question. He just kept saying, “She said I have to go to New Orleans.”

After much time, I was able to at least find out that this old man had been dropped off at the curb on Christmas Eve by his sister-in-law and told to go to New Orleans, where he had family. She had given him some cash and told him just to go inside and buy a ticket. When I asked if he could come back tomorrow, he said that she was gone and that he had no place to stay. He then said he would wait at the airport until tomorrow. Naturally, I felt a little ashamed. Here I was feeling very sorry for myself about being alone on Christmas, when this angel named Clarence MacDonald was sent to me to remind me of what being alone really meant. It broke my heart.

Immediately, I told him we would get it all straightened out, and our Customer Service agent helped to book him a seat for the earliest flight the next morning. We gave him the senior citizen’s fare, which gave him some extra money for travelling. About this time he started to look very tired, and when I stepped around the counter to ask him if he was all right, I saw that his leg was wrapped in a bandage. He had been standing on it that whole time, holding a plastic bag full of clothes.

I called for a wheelchair. When the wheelchair came, we all stepped around to help him in, and I noticed a small amount of blood on his bandage. I asked how he hurt his leg, and he said that he had just had bypass surgery and an artery was taken from his leg. Can you imagine? This man had had heart surgery, and then shortly afterward, was dropped off at the curb to buy a ticket with no reservation to fly to New Orleans, alone!

I never really had a situation like this, and I wasn’t sure what I could do. I went back to ask my supervisors if we could find a place for him to stay. They both said yes, and they obtained a hotel voucher for Mr. MacDonald for one night and a meal ticket for dinner and breakfast. When I came back out, we got his plastic bag of clothes and cane together and gave the porter a tip to take him downstairs to wait for the airport shuttle. I bent down to explain the hotel, food and itinerary (行程) again to Mr. MacDonald, and then patted him on the arm and told him everything would be just fine.

As he left he said, “Thank you,” bent his head and started to cry. I cried too. When I went back to thank my supervisor, she just smiled and said, “I love stories like that. He is your Christmas Man.”

1.Last Christmas the writer had a miserable time because ______.

A．there were more customers than usual waiting to be helped

B．it was freezing cold in California at Christmas time

C．she was working all alone at the ticket counter

D．she was far away from her family and friends

2.The writer’s first impression of the old man was that he was ______.

A．gentle-looking and weak                  B．tired out and worried

C．confused and very sick                   D．sad and anxious

3.The old man wanted to fly to New Orleans to ______.

A．see his friends there

B．spend the Christmas with his family

C．visit his sister-in-law

D．undergo heart surgery

4.On hearing the old man say that he would wait at the airport the whole night, the writer felt a bit ashamed. This is because ______.

A．she felt sorry that she couldn’t do the old man a favor

B．she realized that someone was even more miserable than she felt

C．it took her a long time to find out how helpless the old man was

D．the old man was like an angel in the writer’s eyes

5.The writer called for a wheelchair for the old man because ______.

A．the old man had broken his leg when he was dropped off at the curb

B．the old man could spend the whole night on it at the airport

C．the old man was carrying a whole lot of clothes

D．the old man had had surgery just before and was very weak by then

6. By calling the old man the writer’s Christmas Man, the writer’s supervisor implied that ______.

A．the old man had told the writer a love story on Christmas

B．the old man had caused a lot of trouble for the writer on Christmas

C．the old man was the best gift the writer could have received on Christmas

D．the old man was the only customer the writer had served on Christmas