Some time ago, I discovered that one of my chairs had a broken leg. I didn’t think there would be any difficulty in getting it mended , as there are a whole lot of antique (古董) shops near my home . So I left home one morning carrying the chair with me. I went into the first shop expecting a friendly reception. I was quite wrong. The man wouldn’t even look at my chair.

The second shop, though slightly more polite, was just the same, and the third and, the fourth-so I decided that my approach must be wrong.

I went into the fifth shop with a plan in my mind. I placed the chair on the floor and said to the shopkeeper, “Would you like to buy a chair?” He looked it over carefully and said, “Yes, not a bad chair. How much do you want for it, sir?” “Twenty pounds,” I said. “OK,” he said, “I’ll give you twenty pounds.” “It’s got a slightly broken leg,” I said. “Yes I saw that, it’s nothing.”

Everything was going according to plan and I was getting excited. “What will you do with it?” I asked. “Oh, it will be easy to sell once the repair is done.” “I’ll buy it,” I said. “What do you mean? You’ve just sold it to me,” he said.  “Yes, I know but I’ve changed my mind. I’m sorry. I’ll give you twenty-seven pounds for it.” “You must be crazy,” he said. Then, suddenly the penny dropped. “I know what you want. You want me to repair your chair.” “You’re right,” I said. “And what would you have done if I had walked in and said, ‘Would you mend this chair for me’?” “I wouldn’t have agreed to do it,” he said. “We don’t do repairs, not enough money in it and too much trouble. But I’ll mend this for you, shall we say for a five?” He was a very nice man and was greatly amused by the whole thing.

1.We can learn from the text that in the first shop the writer     .

A．was rather impolite                      B．was warmly received

C．asked the shopkeeper to buy his chair        D．asked the shopkeeper to repair his chair

2.The expression “the penny dropped” in the last paragraph means the shopkeeper     .

A．changed his mind                       B．saw the writer’s purpose

C．accepted the offer                      D．decided to help the writer

3.How much did the writer pay?

A．£5               B．£7               C．£20              D．£27

4.From the text, we can learn that the writer was         .

A．smart             B．careful            C．honest            D．funny

Dear Mom and Dad,
I'm afraid I have some very bad news for you. I have been very naughty and the school master is very angry with me. She is going to write to you. You must come and take me away from here. She does not want me in the school any longer. The trouble started last night when I was smoking a cigarette in bed. As I was smoking, I heard footsteps coming towards the room .I did not want a teacher to catch me smoking, so I threw the cigarette away. Unfortunately, the cigarette fell into the waste-paper basket. It caught fire.
There was a curtain near the waste-paper basket. It caught fire too. Soon the whole room was burning. The master phoned the fire brigade. The school is a long way from the town and before the fire brigade arrived, the whole school was on fire. The master said that the fire was all my fault and I must pay for the damage. She will send you a bill for about a million dollars.
I'm very sorry for this.
Much love   
Sarah     
【小题1】Why did Sarah write to his parents?

A．He missed them very much for they hadn’t seen each other for a long time.

B．He told his parents what he had done in school.

C．He was tired of studying, and wanted to leave school.

D．He thought he was old enough to help them do something.

Molly信箱是一个报刊栏目，主持人Molly回答读者提出的各种问题。第61至65题是五位读者的来信。请从A、B、C、D、E和F中为每封来信选出最合适的回复，并在答题纸上将该选项桔号涂黑。选项中一项是多余选项。

Dear Molly,

      I have a problem. My parents are always talking to me about studying. They want me to study harder so I can go to a good school. I know studying is very important, but my parents put too much pressure on me. How can I explain to my parents that I need some free time?

                                                             ------ Overworked

Dear Molly,

       My best friend Tony is a nice young man, but he has a bad habit. He is always late. No matter where he is going to what he is doing, he is never on time. Once he turned up thirty minutes late for a meeting! What can I do to break him of this bad habit?

                                                         ------ Worried

Dear Molly,

       I have a new roommate named Louis. He is a good friend of mine, but he is driving me crazy because he is very untidy. He leaves his dirty clothes everywhere, and he never makes his bed. I am extremely neat. What can I do?

                                                                  ----Unhappy

Dear Molly,

      My cousin plays computer games a lot and he keeps on talking to me about various games. I don’t have any interest at all, but I find it difficult to stop him without hurting his feelings. Would you kindly give me some advice?

                                                                 --- Shy

Dear Molly,

      I’m feeling upset these days because the result of my last English exam was not as good as I had expected. My teacher comforted me, saying “Don’t worry. You can do better next time.” But I’m still feeling bad. I need your help.  

                                                         ----Disappointed

A

B

C

D

E

F

Lose-Win is weak. It’s easy to get stepped on. It’s easy to be the nice guy. It’s easy to give in, all in the name of being a peacemaker.

     A girl named Jenny once told me about her  16  in the world of Lose-Win during her eighth-grade year before she finally broke  17 :

     My  18  with my mom all started one day  19  she said to me sarcastically (讽刺地) “Wow, you’re surely lively today.” I  20  it so literally (字面地) that then and there I decided to close off from her and never  21  back to her. So every time she would say something  22  I disagreed with her I would just say. “Okay, 23 you want, Mom.” But I really got cold quickly. And my 24 began to build. One night I talked to my mom about the school homework and she said, “Oh, that’s  25 ” and then went back to mop the floor.

     “Don’t you ever  26 ?” I thought. But I didn’t say anything and stormed off. She had no idea I was  27 upset. She would have been willing to talk to me had I  28  her bow important it was to me.

     At last I just blew up. “Mom, this has got to  29 . You tell me everything you want me to do and I just do it because it’s  30  than if fighting. Well, I’m sick of it.” This all came as a  31  to her.

     After my blow up, we felt like we were  32  all over in our relationship. But it’s getting better all the lime. We discuss things now and I always  33  my feelings with her.

     If you adopt Lose-Win as your basic  34  toward life, then people will wipe their dirty feet on you. You’ll also be  35  your true feelings deep inside. And that’s not healthy.

16. A. wanderings       B. disappointment         C. lessons            D. helplessness

17. A. out              B. down                       C. up             D. free

18. A. relationship       B. problems                  C. quarrels         D. improvement

19. A. as              B. since                        C. when           D. before

20. A. regarded         B. treated                  C. received        D. took

21. A. fight          B. struggle                    C. talk            D. turn

22. A. even if          B. only if                            C. which          D. as though

23. A. however         B. whatever                  C. so much        D. too much

24. A. coldness         B. anger                       C. disagreement     D. hope

25. A. true            B. impossible                C. nice           D. important

26. A. care            B. see                           C. say            D. listen

27. A. also            B. still                          C. even           D. already

28. A. warned              B. shown                      C. asked          D. told

29. A. end             B. change                            C. last             D. stop

30. A. worse           B. easier                       C. more           D. less

31. A. surprise          B. pleasure                   C. gift          D. harm

32. A. going           B. starting                    C. thinking          D. reviewing

33. A. share           B. have                        C. discuss          D. improve

34. A. way                  B. method                    C. attitude          D. theory

35. A. hurting           B. waking                     C. storing          D. hiding

61. Dear Molly,

      I have a problem. My parents are always talking to me about studying. They want me to study harder so I can go to a good school. I know studying is very important, but my parents put too much pressure on me. How can I explain to my parents that I need some free time?

                                                             ------ Overworked

62. Dear Molly,

       My best friend Tony is a nice young man, but he has a bad habit. He is always late. No matter where he is going to what he is doing, he is never on time. Once he turned up thirty minutes late for a meeting! What can I do to break him of this bad habit?

                                                         ------ Worried

63. Dear Molly,

       I have a new roommate named Louis. He is a good friend of mine, but he is driving me crazy because he is very untidy. He leaves his dirty clothes everywhere, and he never makes his bed. I am extremely neat. What can I do?

                                                                  ----Unhappy

64. Dear Molly,

      My cousin plays computer games a lot and he keeps on talking to me about various games. I don’t have any interest at all, but I find it difficult to stop him without hurting his feelings. Would you kindly give me some advice?

                                                                 --- Shy

65. Dear Molly,

      I’m feeling upset these days because the result of my last English exam was not as good as I had expected. My teacher comforted me, saying “Don’t worry. You can do better next time.” But I’m still feeling bad. I need your help.  

                                                         ----Disappointed

A

B

C.