Cheerful Charlie was a very special boy. When he was still in his mother’s tummy (肚子), she had had an accident, which 　36 that Charlie couldn’t walk. But that had never been a(n) 　37 for him; he had always been happy. When he became older, they had started calling him Cheerful Charlie because of his joyful and 　38 nature. He really brightened everything up for those around him.

There wasn’t a postman, or a taxi driver who wasn’t 　39 to see Charlie. “Cheer up, Mr. Postman, that way you’ll 　40 more letters today!” he would say, or “That was great, Mr. Taxi Driver. You 　41 that thing better than anyone else.” He also had great ideas and 　42 for everything; and he shared them so 　43 that, just about every day in that town, someone did a great job, or 　44 something new, thanks to Charlie’s ideas.

　　　 One day, though, he came up against a real 　45 . A young boy came to town on his holidays. He was known as Waterworks and was a real crybaby. No matter what Charlie said to him, Waterworks would always find some 　46 to be sad: “I don’t have many sweets…my parents didn’t buy me that toy…” Everything seemed so bad to him. But Cheerful Charlie wasn’t going to be 　47 , and he kept spending more time with Waterworks, 　48 trying to cheer him up, just as he did with everyone.

　　　 Then, one day, when they were together in the street, someone 　49 a pie from a window above by chance, and it landed 　50 on Charlie’s head. He got such a fright that he couldn’t even move his lips. He was speechless, and 　51 Waterworks was just about to cry, he 　52 Charlie’s happy words so much that he finally said, “Wow, Charlie, that’s a nice clown mask (小丑面具) you just 　53 !”

　　　 On saying those words, Waterworks felt so 　54 that he finally understood why Charlie was always so happy and cheerful. He realized that he was so used to Charlie’s enthusiasm that he couldn’t help but see the fun 　55 of everything.

36. A. reflected　　 　　　 B. meant 　 　　　 C. told　　 　　　　　　 D. predicted

37. A. problem　　　 　　　 　 B. mistake　　 　 C. excuse　　　 　 　　　 D. topic

38. A. sensitive　　　 　　　 B. humorous　 　　　 C. responsible 　 D. enthusiastic

39. A. surprised　　 　　　 B. moved 　　　 　 C. pleased　　　 　　 D. disappointed

40. A. send　　　　　 　　　 B. write　　　　 　　　 C. print　　　　 　　　 D. find

41. A. paint　　　　　 　　　 B. play　　　　　 　　　 C. park　　　　　 　　　 D. repair

42. A. theories 　　　 　 B. solutions　　 　　　 C. comments 　　　 D. impressions

43. A. eagerly 　　　　　　 B. carefully　　 　　　 C. quickly　　　 　　　 D. generously

44. A. cleared 　　　　　　 B. noticed　　　 　　　 C. enjoyed　　 　 D. invented

45. A. difficulty　　 　　　 B. surprise　　 　　 C. risk　　 　　　　　　 D. disaster

46. A. means　 　　　　　　 B. reason 　 　　　 C. method　　 　 D. value

47. A. let down　　 　　　 B. taken up　　 　 C. set free　　 　 D. driven away

48. A. hardly　　　　 　　　 B. quickly　　　　　　 C. constantly 　　　 D. specially

49. A. aimed　　　　 　　　 B. moved 　　　 　 C. threw　　　　　　　 D. dropped

50. A. ahead　　　　　 　　　 B. right　　　　　　　　 C. almost　　　 　 D. even

51. A. because　　　 　 　　　 B. but　　　　　　　　　 C. therefore　　　　　 D. although

52. A. missed 　　　　　　 B. loved　　　　　　　　 C. envied　　　 　 D. disliked

53. A. set on　　　　 　　　 B. put on　　　 　　　 C. build up　　　　　　 D. make up

54. A. ordinary　　　 　　　 B. sorry　　　　　　　　 C. good　　　　　　　　 D. curious

55. A. result　　　　　 　　　 B. wonder　　　　　　 C. side　　　　　　　　 D. influence

My husband and son took a New York-to-Milwaukee flight that was supposed to leave Friday at 11:29 am. The flight boarded after 4 pm and didn’t leave the gate until 4:40, and half an hour later the pilot announced it would be another hour until takeoff. At that point a Jewish family, worried about violating the Sabbath （安息日）, asked to get off. Going back to the gate cost the plane its place in line for takeoff, and the flight was eventually cancelled. Was the airline right to grant that request?
M. W, Norwalk, CONN.
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Situations like that can bring out the worst in people. But despite the increasing resentment（怨恨） of a plane full of people, the pilot tried to do the right thing. He went out of his way to satisfy one family’s urgent need. He should not have done so.
Passengers bought tickets in the belief that the airline’s primary goal was to get them to their destination as close to the schedule as possible. Once they got on the plane and the doors are locked, it’s not correct to announce that the rules have changed and that a personal (as opposed to medical) emergency —no matter how urgent — might take precedence（优先）.
That would be just as true if turning back to the gate had merely cost a few minutes rather than doomed the flight entirely, since on a plane, even a slight delay can spread outward, from the people in the cabin to those meeting them to the passengers waiting to board the plane for the next leg of its journey and so on. It would also be true if the personal emergency were not religious — if someone suddenly realized she’d made a professional mistake that might cost her millions, and she had to race back to the office to fix it.
If a religious practice does nothing to harm others, then airlines should make a reasonable effort to accommodate it. Though that family has every right to observe the Sabbath, it has no right to enlist an airplane full of captive bystanders to help them do so. By boarding a flight on a Friday afternoon, the family knowingly risked running into trouble. The risk was theirs alone to bear.
【小题1】M. W. wrote the letter to ask whether ______.

My husband and son took a New York-to-Milwaukee flight that was supposed to leave Friday at 11:29 am. The flight boarded after 4 pm and didn’t leave the gate until 4:40, and half an hour later the pilot announced it would be another hour until takeoff. At that point a Jewish family, worried about violating the Sabbath （安息日）, asked to get off. Going back to the gate cost the plane its place in line for takeoff, and the flight was eventually cancelled. Was the airline right to grant that request?

M. W, Norwalk, CONN.

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Situations like that can bring out the worst in people. But despite the increasing resentment（怨恨） of a plane full of people, the pilot tried to do the right thing. He went out of his way to satisfy one family’s urgent need. He should not have done so.

Passengers bought tickets in the belief that the airline’s primary goal was to get them to their destination as close to the schedule as possible. Once they got on the plane and the doors are locked, it’s not correct to announce that the rules have changed and that a personal (as opposed to medical) emergency —no matter how urgent — might take precedence（优先）.

That would be just as true if turning back to the gate had merely cost a few minutes rather than doomed the flight entirely, since on a plane, even a slight delay can spread outward, from the people in the cabin to those meeting them to the passengers waiting to board the plane for the next leg of its journey and so on. It would also be true if the personal emergency were not religious — if someone suddenly realized she’d made a professional mistake that might cost her millions, and she had to race back to the office to fix it.

If a religious practice does nothing to harm others, then airlines should make a reasonable effort to accommodate it. Though that family has every right to observe the Sabbath, it has no right to enlist an airplane full of captive bystanders to help them do so. By boarding a flight on a Friday afternoon, the family knowingly risked running into trouble. The risk was theirs alone to bear.

1.M. W. wrote the letter to ask whether ______.

A．Any religious passenger has the right to ask the pilot to take off

B．The airline has the right to cancel the flight without any reason

C．A flight should meet any passenger’s need despite others’ benefit

D．A plane which has left the gate should give up taking off

2.What do we know from the reply letter?

A．The pilot did the right thing in spite of the fierce resentment.

B．The plane should turn back if anyone aboard is seriously ill.

C．Anybody who has boarded has no chance to get off the plane.

D．Any flight shouldn’t change its schedule no matter what has happened.

3.What does the underlined part in Paragraph 4 mean?

A．Turning back to the gate usually takes a plane quite a long time.

B．Nobody should take precedence to require the plane to turn back to the gate.

C．Even if it had taken a few minutes it was not right to turn back to the gate.

D．It was OK if turning back to the gate hadn’t caused the flight to be cancelled.

4.The author of the reply letter thinks that _________.

A．It’s right for the plane to turn back to the gate to save a passenger’s treasure

B．The Jewish family should give up observing the Sabbath after boarding

C．The biggest problem of turning back is to bring trouble to the pilot

D．The Jewish family had better avoid boarding on Friday afternoon

When you’re an employee of a company, no matter the size, it’s common to see co-workers promoted, or transferred to a different department. But there is another way to move around—by creating a new position for yourself. I did this several years ago, though I wasn’t actively looking for a different job.
In 2007, I was hired at the Transamerica Life Insurance Company, as a customer service representative in the distributions services department. I processed requests for distributions from our annuity(养老金)policy holders around the country. Someone might have forgotten to sign a form, for example, or might have omitted security information. To solve the problem, I’d mail the person a letter.
The company had been through several combinations, so in our department alone we had a collection of about 140 templates(模板) for letters related to distributions. The longer I worked with the letters, the more I saw how they could be improved. Some had overlapping information and could be combined. Some had incorrect grammar or needed updating. I also noticed that industry terminology(专业术语) wasn’t standard across all the versions.
When I told my department supervisor about this in 2008, she agreed that the letters needed revamping. She said I should stop what I’d been doing and start the new work. In a relatively short time, I was able to make numerous improvements and reduce the number of letters to 70. It was an informal job change until a managers’ meeting several months later.
At that meeting, a vice president who was unaware of my new work mentioned that the division’s entire stock of 1,700 letters should be reviewed. My manager told her that she knew the perfect person for the job—me. The position was still considered temporary when I took on the extra tasks, but I was able to show that the work had value, and I was officially promoted and given a raise in November 2009.
【小题1】According to Paragraph 1, which of the following statements is true?    

When you’re an employee of a company, no matter the size, it’s common to see co-workers promoted, or transferred to a different department. But there is another way to move around—by creating a new position for yourself. I did this several years ago, though I wasn’t actively looking for a different job.
In 2007, I was hired at the Transamerica Life Insurance Company, as a customer service representative in the distributions services department. I processed requests for distributions from our annuity(养老金)policy holders around the country. Someone might have forgotten to sign a form, for example, or might have omitted security information. To solve the problem, I’d mail the person a letter.
The company had been through several combinations, so in our department alone we had a collection of about 140 templates(模板) for letters related to distributions. The longer I worked with the letters, the more I saw how they could be improved. Some had overlapping information and could be combined. Some had incorrect grammar or needed updating. I also noticed that industry terminology(专业术语) wasn’t standard across all the versions.
When I told my department supervisor about this in 2008, she agreed that the letters needed revamping. She said I should stop what I’d been doing and start the new work. In a relatively short time, I was able to make numerous improvements and reduce the number of letters to 70. It was an informal job change until a managers’ meeting several months later.
At that meeting, a vice president who was unaware of my new work mentioned that the division’s entire stock of 1,700 letters should be reviewed. My manager told her that she knew the perfect person for the job—me. The position was still considered temporary when I took on the extra tasks, but I was able to show that the work had value, and I was officially promoted and given a raise in November 2009.
【小题1】According to Paragraph 1, which of the following statements is true?