Twenty years ago, I drove a taxi for a living. One night I went to pick up a passenger at 2:30 a.m. When I arrived to collect, I found the building was dark exvept for a single light in a ground floor window.

I walked to the door and knocked, “Just a minute,” answered a weak, elderly voice.

After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her eighties stood before me. By her side was a small suitcase.

I took the suitcase to the car, and then returned to help the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the car.

She kept thanking me for my kindness. “It’s nothing,” I told her. “I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated. ”

“Oh, you’re such a good man.”  She said. When we got into the taxi, she gave me an address, and then asked, “ Could you drive through downtown?”

“It’s not the shortest way,” I answered quickly.

“ Oh, I’m in no hurry.” She said, “I’m on my way to a hospice (临终医院)。 I don’t have any family left. The doctor says I don’t have very long.”

I quietly reached over and shut off the meter(计价器)

For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked, the neighborhood where she had lived, and the furniture shop that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.

Sometimes she’d ask me to slow down in front of a particular building and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.

At down, she suddenly said, “I’m tired. Let’s go now.”

We drove in silence to the address she had given me.

“How much do I owe you?” She asked.

“Nothing.” I said.

“You have to make a living,” she answered. “Oh, there are other passengers,” I answered.

Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly. Our hug ended with her remark, “You gave an old woman a little moment joy.”

1.The old woman chose to ride through the city in order to           .

   A. Show she was familiar with the city

   B. reach the destination on time

   C. let the driver earn more money

   D. see some places for the last time.

2.The taxi driver did not charge the old woman because he             

   A. wanted to do her a favor

   B. shut off the meter by mistake

   C. had received her payment in advance

   D. was in a hurry to take other passenhers

3.What can we learn from the story?

   A. Giving is always a pleasure

   B. People should respect each other

   C. An act of kindness can bring people great joy.

   D. People should learn to appreciate others’ concern.

I am a writer. I spend a great deal of my time thinking about the power of language — the way it can evoke（唤起） an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth. Language is the tool of my trade. And I use them all—all the Englishes I grew up with.
Born into a Chinese family that had recently arrived in California, I’ve been giving more thought to the kind of English my mother speaks. Like others, I have described it to people as “broken” English. But feel embarrassed to say that. It has always bothered me that I can think of no way to describe it other than “broken”, as if it were damaged and needed to be fixed, as if it lacked a certain wholeness. I’ve heard other terms used, “limited English,” for example. But they seem just as bad, as if everything is limited, including people’s perceptions（认识）of the limited English speaker.
I know this for a fact, because when I was growing up, my mother’s “limited” English limited my perception of her. I was ashamed of her English. I believed that her English reflected the quality of what she had to say. That is, because she expressed them imperfectly her thoughts were imperfect. And I had plenty of evidence to support me: the fact that people in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretended not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her.
I started writing fiction in 1985. And for reasons I won’t get into today, I began to write stories using all the Englishes I grew up with: the English she used with me, which for lack of a better term might be described as “broken”, and what I imagine to be her translation of her Chinese, her internal（内在的）language, and for that I sought to preserve the essence, but neither an English nor a Chinese structure: I wanted to catch what language ability tests can never show; her intention, her feelings, the rhythms of her speech and the nature of her thoughts.
【小题1】By saying “Language is the tool of my trade”, the author means that ______.

                     When I recall my experiences of feeling heard and deeply understood by someone, I know how much the experiences helped me to cope with whatever I was dealing with at the time. Caring people who I have turned to in difficult times helped me the most by listening and asking about my feelings.

     During one of my volunteer jobs at a  local HIV and cancer clinic, I found the helpfulness of empathic（感情移入的） listening. As a volunteer I was providing emotional support for people with health related problems. Empathic listening really made a difference on how patients felt about their health problems. By sharing about their pain and suffering and may willingness to listen, they felt less alone.

We can make life easier for each other by becoming a better listener and encouraging each other to share our feelings. We can become a better listener by avoiding giving advice and trying to solve problems unless we are asked to do so. Pressuring others to solve their life problems--"our ways"--is not helpful. Most people intuitively(凭直觉地） know how to solve their own problems. As a listener it's important to be patient and not to interrupt the speaker. Let them know it's OK to talk about their feelings and support them in feeling their feelings.

      When one neither shares nor reaches out for support, he or she can remain a lonely mystery. Life can feel lonely when one keeps everything inside. Feeling alone with life problems can be worse than the problem itself. When we let a caring person listen to our life struggle, we will no longer feel alone with our struggle. Don't be afraid to ask your loved ones to take time to hear you out. Sometimes you have to ask for it. People cannot read your mind. Confiding in others can have a positive effect on our mood.

59.What made the author comfortable in difficult times?

   A. Persuading      B. Sharing     C. Apologizing     D. Complaining

60.According to the second paragraph, we can know that ____.

   A. The patients enjoyed listening to the author

   B. The author found empathic listening was helpless

   C. The patients didn't get on well with the author

   D. The author did a good job at a cancer clinic

61.What does the underlined part "Confiding in others" in the last paragraph mean?

   A. Telling others your secrets.      B. Reading others' mind

   C. Listening to others.        D. Leaving others alone.

62.What's the main idea of this passage?

   A. Listening and sharing can make you happier.

   B. People know how to solve their own problems.

   C. It is wrong to give advice to solve problems.

   D. You should learn to believe in other people.

 “How are you?” is a nice question. It’s a friendly way that people in the United States greet each other. But “How are you?” is also a very unusual question. It’s a question that often doesn’t have an answer. The person who asks “How are you?” hopes to hear the answer “Fine.”, even if the person’s friend isn’t fine. The reason is that “How are you?” isn’t really a question and “Fine.” isn’t really an answer. They are simply other ways of saying “Hello!” or “Hi!”.

Sometimes, people also don’t say exactly what they mean. For example, when someone asks, “Do you agree?”, the other person might be thinking, “No, I disagree. I think you’re wrong …” But it isn’t very polite to disagree strongly, so the other person might say “I’m not sure …”. It’s a nice way to say that you don’t agree with someone.

People also don’t say exactly what they are thinking when they finish talking with other people. For example, many talks over the phone finish when one person says “I’ve to go now.” Often, the person who wants to hang up gives an excuse, “Someone is at the door.” “Something is burning on the stove.” The excuses might be real, or it might not. Perhaps the person who wants to hang up simply doesn’t want to talk any more, but it isn’t polite to say that. The excuse is more polite, and it doesn’t hurt the other person.

When they are greeting each other, talking about an idea, or finishing a talk, people often don’t say exactly what they are thinking. It’s an important way that people try to be nice to each other, and it’s also a part of the game of language.

60. When a person in the United States asks “How are you?”, he or she wants to hear “___________”

A. How are you?      B. Hello!       C. I don’t know.        D. Fine.

61. When a person wants to disagree with someone, it is polite to say “___________”

A. You’re wrong. I disagree.           B. I’m not sure.

C. I’m sure I disagree.                D. No, I disagree.

62. When a person says “I’ve to go now. Someone is at the door.”, he or she may be __________.

A. giving an excuse                  B. hurting someone’s feeling

C. talking to a person at the door        D. going to another place

63. One of the rules of the game of language is probably “_________”

A. Always say what you mean.               B. Don’t disagree with people.

C. Never say exactly what you’re thinking.     D. Be polite.

In this age of Internet chat，videogames and reality television，there is no shortage of mindless activities to keep a child occupied．Yet，despite the competition，my 8-year-old daughter Rebecca wants to spend her leisure time writing short stories．She wants to enter one of her stories into a writing contest，a competition she won last year．

    As a writer I know about winning contests，and about losing them．I know what it is like to work hard on a story only to receive a rejection slip from the publisher．I also know the pressure of trying to live up to a reputation created by previous victories．What if she doesn.t win the contest again？That’s the strange thing about being a parent．So many of our own past scars and dashed hopes can surface．

A revelation（启示）came last week when l asked her，”Don’t you want to win again？” “No,” she replied，“I just want to tell the story of an angel（天使）going to first grade．”

I had just spent weeks correcting her stories as she spontaneously（自发地）told them．Telling myself that l was merely an experienced writer guiding the young writer across the hall. I offered suggestions for characters，conflicts and endings for her tales．The story about a fearful angel starting first grade was quickly“guided”by me into the tale of a little girl with a wild imagination taking her first music lesson．I had turned her contest into my contest without even realizing it．

Staying back and giving kids space to grow is not as easy as it looks．Because I know very little about farm animals who use tools or angels who go to first grade，I had to accept the fact that I was co-opting（借用）my daughter’s experience．

While stepping back was difficult for me，it was certainly a good first step that l will quickly follow with more steps，putting myself far enough away to give her room but close enough to help if asked．All the while I will be reminding myself that children need room to experiment，grow and find their own voices．

1.What did the author say about her own writing experience？

    A．Most of her stories had been rejected by publishers．

    B．She did not quite live up to her reputation as a writer．

    C．Her way to success was full of pains and frustrations．

    D．She was constantly under pressure of writing more．

2.Why did Rebecca want to enter this year’s writing contest？

    A．She wanted to share her stories with readers．

    B．She was sure of winning with her mother’s help．

    C．She believed she possessed real talent for writing．

    D．She had won a prize in the previous contest．

3.The author took great pains to refine her daughter’s stories because       ．

    A．she was afraid Rebecca’s imagination might run wild while writing

    B．she did not want to disappoint Rebecca who needed her help so much

    C．she believed she had the knowledge and experience to offer guidance

    D．she wanted to help Rebecca realize her dreams of becoming a writer

4.What’s the author’s advice for parents？

    A．Parents should keep an eye on the activities their kids engage in．

    B．Children should be allowed freedom to grow through experience．

    C．A writing career，though attractive，is not for every child to pursue．

    D．Children should be given every chance to voice their opinions．