It's 7 am Kyoto (东京), Japan, and the taxi company has just called a second time to say they can't find my house.　　1　　I tell him directions. even a blind person can　　2　 , look impatiently at my watch, and wait. Only two hours remain until my　　3　　leavesand it's an hour-and-a-half trip to Osaka airport.

　　The telephone rings　　4　 .“Terribly sorry,”begins the clerk. Then I　　5　　what's happened: flooded with　　6　 , the company is too busy. I've heard this happens when the weather gets　　7　 . I shout into the　　8　　that I have a plane to catchI must be in Seoul　　9　　and I'll meet the　　10　　a few hundred meters away on a bridge over the Kamo River.

　　Standing in the heavy　　11　 , I look up and down. No　　12　　From the other direction a white car comes up, then stops. A young man opens the door, signing to me to　　13　 . Shaking with cold and　　14　 , I climb inside.

　　In the most　　15　　Japanese, the man explains to me that he is the person with whom I have spoken　　16　　this morning. He apologizes again and again, but does not explain why a taxi could　　17　　except to say they are“very, very busy”this morning.

　　A few hours later, seated into my seat as the storm-delayed 727　　18　 , I open the　　19　 . My eyes wander to the headline (标题) of a short article:“Taxi Strike Begins this Morning in　　20　 .”

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Bill Javis took over our village’s news-agency at a time of life when most of us only wanted to relax. He just thought he would like something but not too much to do, and the news-a??gency was ready-made. The business produced little enough for him, but Bill was a man who only wanted the simplicity and order and regularity of the job. He had been a long-serving sailor, and all his life had done everything by the clock.

Every day he opened his shop at 6:00 a. m. to catch the early trade; the papers arrived on his doorstep before that. Many of Bill’s customers were city workers, and the shop was convenient for the station. Business was tailing off by 10 o’clock, so at eleven sharp Bill closed for lunch. It was hard luck on anybody who wanted a paper or magazine in the after??noon, for most likely Bill would be down on the river bank, fishing, and his neatest competitor was five kilometers away. Sometimes in the afternoon-, the evening paper landed on the doorway, and at 4 o’ clock Bill reopened his shop. The evening rush lasted till seven, and it was worthwhile.

He lived in a flat above the ship, alone. Except in the very bad weather, you always knew where to find him in the af??ternoon, as I have said. Once, on a sunny afternoon, I walked home along the river bank from a shopping trip to the village. By my watch it was three minutes past four, so I was aston??ished to see Bill sitting there on his little chair with a line in the, water. He had no luck, I could, see, but he was making no effort to move. “What’s wrong, Bill?” I called out from the path.

For answer, he put a hand in his jacket and took out a big, golden object. For a moment I had no idea what it could be, and then it suddenly went off with a noise like a fire en??gine. Stopping the bell, Bill held the thing up and called back, "Ten to four, you see, and this is dead right. "

I had never known anyone carrying a brass alarm clock round with him before.

5. Bill Javis became a news-agent when ________.

A. he need the money.                         B. he decided to take things easy

C. he was quite an old man                 D. he gave up clock-repairing

6. Bill opened the shop so early in the day because ________.

A. he liked to do as much as possible before he went to work

B. the shop had to be open when the morning papers came

C. he was never sure of time

D. it was then that he did a lot of business

7. On that sunny afternoon, the writer was surprised when he saw Bill because ________.

A. he thought it was late for Bill to be still fishing

B. he thought Bill was ill, since he was not moving at all

C. Bill had not caught anything, and that seemed strange

D. Bill stayed in his flat

8. From the information given in the passage, who or what do you think was wrong?

A. The bell was; it must have gone off at the wrong time.

B. Bill was; he had dropped off to sleep.

C. The writer’s watch was fast.

D. Bill’s clock was wrong; it was old.

完形填空

　It's 7 a．m．in Kyoto, Japan（日本京都）, and the taxi company has just called a second time to say they can't find my house．　　 　1　 I tell him directions even a blind person could 　2 　, looking impatiently at my watch．Only two hours remain before my 　3 　leaves --- and it's an-hour-and-a-half trip to the Osaka（大坂）Airport．

　The telephone rings 　4 　．“Terribly sorry,”begins the clerk．Then I 　5 　what's happened．Flooded with 　6 　, the company is too busy．I've heard this happens when the weather gets 　7 　．I shout into the 　8 　that I have a plane to catch and tell them I must be in Seoul（汉城） 　9 　and that I'll meet the 　10 　a few hundred meters away on a bridge over the Kamo River．

　Standing in the heavy 　11 　, I look up and down．No 　12 　．From the other direction a white car comes up, then stops．A young man throws 　13 　the door, waving to me to get in．Shaking with cold and 　14 　, I climb inside．

　The young man is perhaps one of the most 　15 　Japanese．He explains to me that he is the person with whom I have spoken 　16 　this morning．He apologizes again and again, but he does not explain why a taxi could not 　17 　, except to say they are“very, very busy”this morning．

　A few hours later, seated into my seat as the stormdelayed 727 　18 　, I open the 　19 　．My eyes wander to the headline of a short article：“Taxi Strike Begins This Morning In 　20 　．”