A passenger told an air hostess that he needed a cup of water to take his medicine when the plane just took off．She told him that she would bring him the water in ten minutes．

         Thirty minutes later, when the passenger's ring for service sounded, the air hostess flew in a flurry．She was kept so busy that she forgot to deliver him the water．As a result, the passenger was held up to take his medicine．She hurried over to him with a cup of water, but he refused it．

    In the following hours on the flight, each time the stewardess passed by the passenger she would ask him with a smile whether he needed help or not. But the passenger never paid any attention to her.

When he was going to get off the plane, the passenger asked the air hostess to hand him the passengers’ booklet (意见簿). She was very sad. She knew that he would write down sharp words, which might result in the loss of her job. But with a smile she handed it to him.

Off the plane, she opened the booklet, and cracked a smile, for the passenger put it, “On the flight, you asked me whether I need help or not for twelve times in all. How can I refuse your sincere smiles?”

That’s right! Who can refuse your twelve sincere smiles from a person?

1.What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2 mean?

        A．The air hostess forgot the passenger’s need on purpose.

         B．The air hostess suddenly realized that trouble was coming.

         C．The passenger wasn’t angry at being ignored.

         D．The passenger was refused to be served.

2.According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?

         A．The passenger refused to take his medicine.

         B．The passenger set down his anger in the booklet.

         C．The words in the booklet would never affect the air hostess.

         D．The hostess finally moved the passenger with her smile.

3.What kind of person do you think the passenger is?

         A．Forgiving.                B．Curious.                   C．Sharp.                       D．Enthusiastic.

4.As a result, the air hostess would          .

        A．get fired by her company                              B．be hired by the passenger

         C．keep her job                                                      D．get a promotion

Imagine one day, the water taps in your house stop running. You have to buy water from shops. And still there isn’t enough for everyone. Your mother has to save the family’s shower water to do other things. Would you be able to stand that kind of life?

Probably not. But that’s what kids in Yemen are experiencing. Experts said Yemen is going to be the first country in the world to run out of water. According to a report, the capital, Sanaa, will run out of drinking water as early as 2025.

Because of the shortage, the government often cuts the water supply. Hannan, an 18-year-old from Lahej, told the Times: “In a good week we’ll have a water supply all week. But then the following week there will be water only for a day or two.”

Hannan said only rich people have enough water to use. They can buy water from the shops or from the water truck. Private companies own the trucks. They travel around the city every day to sell water – at very high prices.

“A lot of people can’t afford it,” she said.

The average person in Yemen uses 100 to 200 cubic meters of water per year. That is far below the international water poverty line of 1,000 cubic meters.

The government is thinking of making use of seawater. But it will cost a lot and it may not happen soon enough to help the people of Yemen.

The purpose of the text is to _______.

A. tell us what life is like in Yemen

B. draw our attention to water shortage

C. remind us how important water is

D. show us ways of solving problems

The underlined word “that” in Paragraph 2 refers to _____.

A. buying water from shops

B. drinking dirty water

C. suffering from water shortage

D. washing clothes with used water

Hannan described _____.

A. what her life is like

B. how beautiful Lahej is

C. how people use water fully

D. how heavy the traffic in Lahej is

The Yemen Government _____.

A. has found a practical solution

B. only cares about rich people

C. may try to make use of seawater

D. can do nothing about the water supply

We can infer from the text that _____.

A. Sanaa will run out of water in 10 years

B. Hannan is a teenager from a rich family

C. the capital of Yemen is developing fast

D. private companies make a lot of money

The American newspaper has been around for about three hundred years. In 1721, the printer James Franklin, Benjamin’s older brother, started the New England Courant, and that was what we might recognize today as a real newspaper. He filled his paper with stories of adventure, articles on art, on famous people, and on all sorts of political subjects.
Three centuries after the appearance of Franklin’s Courant, few believe that newspapers in their present printed from will remain alive for long. Newspaper companies are losing advertisers(广告商)，readers, market value, and in some cases, their sense of purpose at a speed that would not have been imaginable just several years ago. The chief editor(主编) of the Times said recently, “At places where they gather, editors ask one another, ‘How are you?’, as if they have just come out of the hospital or a lost law case.” An article about the newspaper appeared on the website of the Guandian, under the headline “NOT DEAD YET.”
Perhaps not, but the rise of the Internet, which has made the daily newspaper look slow and out of step with the world, has brought about a real sense of death. Some American newspapers have lost 42% of their market value in the past three years. The New York Times Company has seen its stock(股票) drop by 54% since the end of 2004, with much of the loss coming in the past year. A manager at Deutsche Bank suggested that stock-holders sell off their Times stock. The Washington Post Company has prevented the trouble only by changing part of its business to education; its testing and test-preparation service now brings in at least half the company’s income.
【小题1】What can we learn about the New England Courant?