Young people and older people do not always agree. They sometimes have different ideas about living, working and playing. But in one special program in New York State, adults and teenagers live together in a friendly way.
　　Each summer 200 teenagers and 50 adults live together for eight weeks as members of a special work group. Everyone works several hours each day. They do so not just to keep busy but to find meaning and fun in work. Some teenagers work in the forests or on the farms near the village. Some learn to make things like tables and chairs and to build houses. The adults teach them these skills.
　　There are several free hours each day. Weekends are free, too. During the free hours some of the teenagers learn photo-taking or drawing. Others sit around and talk or sing. Each teenager chooses his own way to pass his free time.
　　When people live together, they should have rules. In this program the teenagers and the adults make the rules together. If someone breaks a rule, the problem goes before the whole group. They talk about it and ask, “Why did it happen? What should we do about it?”
　　One of the teenagers has said something about it, “You have to stop thinking only about yourself. You learn how to think about the group.”
【小题1】In one special program in New York State, young and older people_______.

He would rather ________ his life than ________ damage done to state property．

1. A.
   lost; to see
2. B.
   to lose; use
3. C.
   to lose; to see
4. D.
   lose; see

      Compassion is a desire within us to help others. With effort, we can translate compassion into actions. An experience last weekend showed me this is true. I work part-time in a supermarket across from a building for the elderly. These old people are our main customers, and it’s not hard to lose patience over their slowness. But last Sunday, one aged gentleman appeared to teach me a valuable lesson. This untidy man walked up to my register（收款机）with a box of biscuits. He said he was out of cash（现金）, had just moved into his room, and had nothing in his cupboards. He asked if we could let him have the food on trust. He promised to repay me the next day.

      I couldn’t help staring at him. I wondered what kind of person he had been ten or twenty years before, and what he would be like if luck had gone his way. I had a hurt in my heart for this kind of human soul, all alone in the world. I told him that I was sorry, but store rules didn’t allow me to do so. I felt stupid and unkind saying this, but I valued my job.

     Just then, another man, standing behind the first, spoke up. If anything, he looked more pitiable. “Charge it to me,” was all he said.

      What had been feeling was pity. Pity is soft and safe and easy. Compassion, on the other hand, is caring in action. I thanked the second man but told him that was not allowed either. Then I reached into my pocket and paid for the biscuits myself. I reached into my pocket because these two men had reached into my heart and taught me compassion.

41. The aged gentleman who wanted to buy the biscuits______.

A. promised to obey the store rules                    B. forgot to take any money with him

C. hoped to have the food first and pay later       D. could not afford anything more expensive

42. Which of the following best describes the old gentleman?

A. kind and lucky                                                   B. poor and lonely

C. friendly and helpful                                            D. hurt and disappointed

43. The writer acted upon the store rules because___________.

A. he wanted to keep his present job                   B. he felt no pity for the old gentleman

C. he considered the old man dishonest       

D. he expected someone else to pay for the old man

44. What does the writer learn from his experience?

A. Wealth is more important than anything else.  B. Helping others is easier said than done.

C. Experience is better gained through practice.

D. Obeying the rules means more than compassion.

Both my parents came from towns in Mexico. Then I was born in E1 Paso，Texas and when I was four, my family moved to a housing project in East Los Angeles.

Even though we struggled to make ends meet, my parents stressed to me and my four brothers and sisters how fortunate we were to live in a great country with limitless opportunities. They influenced us with the concepts of family, faith and nationalism.

I got my first real job when I was ten. My dad injured his back working in a cardboard??box factory and was retrained as a hairstylist. He rented space in a little shopping mall and gave his shop the fancy name of Mr.Ben’s Coiffure.

The owner of the shopping center gave Dad a discount on his rent for cleaning the parking lot three nights a week，which meant getting up at 3 a．m..To pick up rubbish, Dad used a little machine that looked like a lawn mower. Mom and I emptied garbage cans and picked up litter by hand. It took two to three hours to clean the lot. I’d sleep in the car on the way home.

I did this for two years，but the lessons I learned have lasted a lifetime. I acquired discipline and a strong work ethic(道德), and learned at an early age the importance of balancing life’s competing interests－in my case，school，homework and a job. This really helped during my senior year of a high school, when I worked 40 hours a week flipping burgers at a fast??food joint while taking a full load of college preparation courses.

The hard work paid off. I attended the U．S.Military Academy and went on to receive graduate degrees in law and business from Harvard. Later, I joined a big Los Angeles law firm and was elected to the California State Assembly(州议会)．In these jobs and in everything else I’ve done, I have never forgotten those nights in the parking lot. The experience taught me that there is dignity in all work and that if people are working to provide for themselves and their families that is something we should honor.

Before my father got injured，we________.

A. didn’t like living in the USA                    B. lived a poor but happy life

C. were lucky to move to the USA                  D. had many ways to make money

When he recovered，to make a living my father________.

A. ran a small shopping mall                   B. did a part??time job

C. worked as a barber                         D. became a street cleaner

Working in the parking lot for two years had taught me________.

A. how to obey school discipline              B. how to do two things well at a time

C. that discipline and work were of equal value 

D. that I must do as many things as possible at a time

The author tells us in the last paragraph that we should be proud of those who________.

A. have done all kinds of jobs                       B. are cleaning the parking lot

C. have achieved a lot in their lives                D. are bearing their responsibilities