I told my friend Graham that I often cycle the two miles from my house to the town centre but unfortunately there is a big hill on the route. He replied, "You mean fortunately." He explained that I should be glad of the extra exercise that the hill provided.

My attitude to the hill has now changed. I used to grumble as I approached it but now I tell myself the following. This hill will exercise my heart and lungs. It will help me to lose weight and get fit. It will mean that I live longer. This hill is my friend. Finally as I wend my way up the incline I console myself with the thought of all those silly people who pay money to go to a gym and sit on stationery exercise bicycles when I can get the same value for free. I have a smug smile of satisfaction as I reach the top of the hill.

Problems are there to be faced and overcome. Helen Keller was the first deaf and blind person to gain a University degree. Her activism and writing proved inspirational. She wrote, "Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved."

One of the main determinants of success in life is our attitude towards adversity. From time to time we all face hardships, problems, accidents, afflictions and difficulties. Some are of our making but many confront us through no fault of our own. Whilst we cannot choose the adversity we can choose our attitude towards it.

The biographies of great people are littered with examples of how they took these kinds of steps to overcome the difficulties they faced. The common thread is that they did not become defeatist or depressed. They chose their attitude. They chose to be positive. They took on the challenge. They won.

54. Which of the following would be the best title of the passage?

　　 A. Attitude makes difference

　　　 B. Well begun is half done.

　　　 C. The early bird gets the worm.

　　　 D. Easier said than done.

55. From Helen Keller’s example we can infer that__________.

　　　 A. Great people are born to be great and successful

　　　 B. Life is hard and difficult so we have to give up

　　　 C. We cannot achieve anything with an easy life

　　　 D. Practice makes people successful and powerful

56. What do you think the author is most likely to suggest if he/she continues to write?

　　　 A. Some examples of our daily life.

　　　 B. His stories of overcoming difficulties.

　　　 C. Stories of some unlucky great people.

　　　 D. Some examples of his friend Graham.

57. The underlined word “adversity ” in the fourth paragraph probably NOT refers to ______.

　　　 A. problems B. difficulties C. hardships D. advertisements

Bill Javis took over our village news-agency at a time of life when most of us only want to relax. He just thought he would like something but not too much to do, and the news-agency 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 six a.m. to catch the early trade; the papers arrived on his door-step 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 afternoon, for most likely Bill would be down on the river bank, fishing, and his nearest competitor was five kilometers away. Sometime in the afternoon, the evening paper landed on the doormat, and at 4 o’clock Bill reopened. The evening rush lasted till seven, and it was worthwhile.

He lived in a flat above the shop, alone. Except in the very bad weather, you always knew where to find him in the afternoon, 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 astonished to see Bill sitting there on his little chair with a line in the water. He had 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 engine. 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.

1．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 the time

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

2．You might say “hard luck” to someone who __________.

A．has just heard some very good news

B．is less fortunate than he or she ought to be

C．puts great effort into whatever he or she tries

D．fails through his or her own fault entirely

3．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

4．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 very old.

阅读理解

　　Bill Javis took over our village news-agency at a time of life when most of us only want to relax. He just thought he would like something but not too much to do, and the news-agency was readymade. 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 six a. m. to catch the early trade; the papers arrived on his door-step 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 afternoon , for most likely Bill would be down on the river bank, fishing, and his nearest competitor was five kilometers away. Sometime in the afternoon, the evening paper landed on the doormat, and at 4 o'clock Bill reopened. The evening rush lasted till seven, and it was worth while.

　　He lived in a flat above the shop, alone, except in the very bad weather, you always knew where to find him in the afternoon, 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 was three minutes past four, so I was astonished to see Bill sitting there on his little chair with a line in the water. He had 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 engine. 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.

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

[　　]

A．he needed the money

B．he decided to take things easy

C．he was quite an old man

D．he gave up clock-repairing

2．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 the time

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

3．You might say “Hand luck” to someone who ________.

[　　]

A．has just heard some very good news

B．is less fortunate than he or she ought to be

C．puts great effort into whatever he or she tries

D．fails through his or her own fault entirely

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

[　　]

A．he thought is 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

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

[　　]

A．Bill opened his shop and read the papers every morning.

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

C．The writer's watch was fast.

D．Bill's clock was wrong; it was very old.

In the more and more competitive service industry , it is no longer enough to promise customer satisfaction. Today , customer “delight” is what companies are trying to achieve in  order to keep and increase market share.
It is accepted in the marketing industry , and confirmed by a number of researches, that customers receiving good service will promote business by telling up to 12 other people : those treated badly will tell their tales of woe to up to 20 people, 80 percent of people who feel their complaints are handled fairly will stay loyal
New challenges for customer care have come when people can obtain  goods and services through  telephone call centers and the Internet. For example , many companies now have to invest(投资)a lot of money in information technology and staff training in order to cope with the “phone rage”—caused by delays in answering calls ,being cut off in mid-conversation or left waiting for long periods.
“Many people do not like talking to machines ,”says Dr . Storey Senior Lecturer in Marketing at City University Business School. “Banks, for example, encourage staff at call centers to use customer data to establish instant and good relationship with them .The aim is to make the customer feel they know you and that you can trust— the sort of comfortable feelings people have during face-to-face chats with their local branch manager.”
Recommended ways of creating customer delight include: under-promising and over-delivering  (saying that a repair will be carried out within five hours ,but getting it done within two );replacing a faulty product immediately : throwing in a gift voucher(购物礼卷)as an unexpected “thank you” to regular customers ;and always returning calls ,even when they are complaints.
Aiming for customer delight is all very well , but if services do not reach the high level promised , disappointment or worse will be the result . This can be eased by offering an apology and an explanation of why the service did not meet usual standards with empathy (for example, “I know how you must feel”) , and possible solutions (replacement , compensation or whatever fairness suggests best meets the case).
Airlines face some of the toughest challenges over customer care . Fierce competition has convinced them that delighting passengers is an important marketing tool, while there is great potential for customer anger over delays caused by weather , unclaimed luggage and technical problems .
For British Airways staff , a winning telephone style is considered vital in handling the large volume of calls about bookings and flight times. They are trained to answer quickly , with their name , job title and a “we are here to help” attitude. The company has invested heavily in information technology to make sure that information is available instantly on screen.
British Airways also says its customer care policies are applied within the company and staff  are taught to regard each other as customers requiring the highest standards of service.
Customer care is obviously here to stay and it would be a foolish company that used slogans such as "we do as we please”. On the other hand , the more customers are promised, the greater the risk of  disappointment.
【小题1】We can learn from Paragraph 2 that       .