My friend, Emma Daniels, spent the summer of 1974 traveling in Israel. During her month-long stay in Jerusalem she often went to a café called Chocolate Soup. It was run by two men, one of whom—Alex—used to live in Montreal. One morning when Emma went in for coffee, while chatting with her new friend Alex, she mentioned that she had just finished the book she was reading and had nothing else to read. Alex said he had a wonderful book she might like, and that he’d be happy to lend it to her. As he lived just above the café, he quickly ran up to get it. The book he handed to Emma just minutes later was Markings, a book by a former Secretary— General of the United Nations (UN).
Emma had never read it, nor had she ever bought a copy. But, when she opened it up, she was floored to see her own name and address inside the cover in her own handwriting. It turned out that the summer before, at a concert back in Montreal, Emma had met a Californian who was in town visiting friends. They decided to exchange addresses, but neither of them had any paper. The man opened up a book he was carrying in his backpack(背包) and asked Emma to write her name and address inside. When he returned to California, he left the book behind in Montreal, and his friend Alex kept it. When Alex later moved to Jerusalem, he took the book along.
【小题1】Alex lent Emma the book, Markings,         .

A traveler was staying in an Egyptian village. One day, she held up her camera to take pictures of the children. Suddenly the young ones began to shout at her. The traveler's face turned red and she apologized to the head for what she was doing, and told him she had forgotten that people in some places believed a person would lose his soul(灵魂) if his picture was taken. She explained to him the operation of a camera for a long time. Several times the head tried to say something, but he couldn't. When she believed that the head didn't fear any longer, the traveler then let him speak. With a smile, he said, "The children were trying to tell you that you forgot to take off the lens(镜头) cap!"

The children shouted when the traveler was taking pictures of them because _______.

A. they didn't want to stop playing                  

B. the traveler forgot to take off the cap on her head

C. they didn't want to have their pictures taken 

D. the traveler was not doing well with her camera

The traveler explained how to use a camera to the head because _______.

A. the head was very interested in her camera  

B. the head wanted to learn to take pictures

C. she was afraid of the head   

D. she wanted the head not to worry about what she was doing

Which of the following is NOT right?

A. The traveler knew something about people in some countries.

B. The children wouldn't mind if the traveler took pictures of them.

C. The head was afraid that the traveler's camera would hurt the children.

D. The traveler didn't understand why the children shouted.

Beauty has always been regarded as something praiseworthy. Almost everyone thinks attractive people are happier and healthier, have better marriages and have more respectable jobs. Personal advisors give them better advice for finding jobs. Even judges are softer on attractive defendants (被告). But in the executive (行政的；管理的) circle, beauty can become a liability.

    While attractiveness is a positive factor for a man on his way up the executive ladder, it is harmful to a woman.

    Handsome male executives were considered as having more honesty than plainer men; effort and ability were thought to lead to their success.

    Attractive female executives were considered to have less honesty than unattractive ones; their success was connected not with ability but with factors such as luck.

    All unattractive women executives were thought to have more honesty and to be more capable than the attractive female executives. Interestingly, though, the rise of the unattractive overnight successes was connected more to personal relationships and less to ability than that of the attractive overnight successes.

    Why are attractive women not thought to be able? An attractive woman is considered to be more feminine and an attractive man more manly than the less attractive ones. Thus, an attractive woman has an advantage in traditionally female jobs, but an attractive woman in a traditionally manly position appears to lack the "manly" qualities required.

    This is true even in politics. "When the only clue is how he or she looks, people treat men and women differently," says Anne Bowman, who recently published a study on the effects of attractiveness on political candidates. She asked 125 undergraduate students to rank two groups of photographs, one of men and one of women, of attractiveness. The students were told the photographs were of candidates for political offices. They were asked to rank them again, in the order they would vote for them.

    The results showed that attractive males completely defeated unattractive men, but the women who had ranked most attractive unchangeably received the fewest votes.

In traditionally female jobs, attractiveness ______________.       

A. makes women look more honest and capable   

B. strengthens the qualifies required

C. is of no importance to women               

D. often enables women to succeed quickly

Bowman's experiment shows that when it comes to politics, attractiveness ____________.      

A. turns out to be a disadvantage to men  

B. is more of a disadvantage than an advantage to women

C. affects men and women alike        

D. has as little effect on men as on women

It can be inferred from the passage that people's views on beauty are often ______________.      

    A. practical     B. supportive      C. old-fashioned    D. one-sided

Many years ago, when I was fresh out of school and working in Denver, I was driving to my parents' home in Missouri for Christmas. I stopped at a gas station(加油站)about 50 miles from Oklahoma City, where I was planning to stop and visit a friend. While I was standing in line at the cash register(收款台), I said hello to an older couple who were also paying for gas.

I took off, but had gone only a few miles when black smoke poured from the back of my car. I stopped and wondered what I should do. A car pulled up behind me. It was the couple I had spoken to at the gas station. They said they would take me to my friend's. We chatted on the way into the city, and when I got out of the car, the husband gave me his business card.

I wrote him and his wife a thank-you note for helping me. Soon afterward, I received a Christmas present from them. Their note that came with it said that helping me had made their holidays meaningful.

Years later, I drove to a meeting in a nearby town in the morning. In late afternoon I returned to my car and found that I'd left the lights on all day, and the battery(电池)was dead. Then I noticed that the Friendly Ford dealership - a shop selling cars - was right next door. I walked over and found two salesmen in the showroom.

"Just how friendly is Friendly Ford?" I asked and explained my trouble. They quickly drove a pickup truck to my car and started it. They would accept no payment, so when I got home, I wrote them a note to say thanks. I received a letter back from one of the salesmen. No one had ever taken the time to write him and say thank you, and it meant a lot, he said.

"Thank you" - two powerful words. They're easy to say and mean so much.

The author planned to stop at Oklahoma City_________.

A. to visit a friend

B. to see his parents

C. to pay at the cash register

D. to have more gas for his car

The words “took off” underlined in Paragraph 2 mean “______”.

A. turned off   B. moved off   C. put up   D. set up

What happened when the author found smoke coming out of his car?

A. He had it pulled back to the gas station.

B. The couple sent him a business card.

C. The couple offered to help him.    

D. He called his friend for help.

The battery of the author’s car was dead because_______.

A. something went wrong with the lights

B. the meeting lasted a whole day

C. he forgot to turn off the lights

D. he drove too long a distance

By telling his own experiences, the author tries to show______.

A. how to write a thank-you letter

B. how to deal with car problems

C. the kind-heartedness of older people

D. the importance of expressing thanks