I have this old clock that belonged to my mom．My dad gave it to me years ago after mom passed away．
I have mixed feelings about having the clock．I love it because it was my mom's, but it also holds some bad memories．
You see, it chimes．It counts out the hour and rings once on the half hour．Or at least it used to．Now you never know what number it will ring．
When my mother was at home dying from cancer, she asked for the clock to be unplugged．Hearing the hours count down really angered and frightened her．
Mom passed away．I decided I wanted to get the clock fixed so I could remember the good hours we had with her．
I took it to a local clock shop the other day．
“I know this has no particular value as a clock, but it was my mom's and I need to get it fixed,” I said to the shop owner．
I went on to describe the problem．
“We get a lot of these in,” he told me．“Here's what I do．We remove the clock works(机件)and replace it with a battery-operated movement(机芯)that chimes electronically,” he told me．
“You can't fix this?”
“No, we don't have the time nor the parts．”
I thanked him and went home．I called a few other places and was told the same thing．
“How incredibly sad,” I told the last one disappointedly．
How incredibly sad that we have become a society that replaces craftsmanship with convenience and easy fixes．We copy the original instead of creating something new．We duplicate(复制); we don't originate(发明)．
Sadly, the same goes for our attitude to life itself．
Each of us is an original, one of a kind．But we find it so much easier to copy another style than to develop our own．
We are wannabes(崇拜别人的人)rather than hey-world-look-at-mes．
We fail to see the real value in who we are, so we spend our lives trying to be someone else．
(1)
Why did the author decide to get the clock fixed?
[ ]
A．
Because it was a really old and valuable clock．
B．
Because it was the only thing that her mother had left her．
C．
Because it brought her memories of being with her mother．
D．
Because it left the author with mixed feelings．
(2)
What did the clock shop owners tell the author?
[ ]
A．
The parts that the clock needed were electronic．
B．
It would cost a lot to repair the clock．
C．
They had never repaired a clock like this before．
D．
They could only make the clock electronic．
(3)
The author intends to ________．
[ ]
A．
criticize the irresponsible clock shop owners
B．
criticize people who do not value things with a history
C．
criticize people who do not have a creative attitude toward life
D．
criticize people's ignorance of traditional craftsmanship
I needed to buy a digital camera, one that was simply good at taking good snaps(快照), maybe occasionally for magazines．Being the cautious type, I fancied a reliable brand．So I went on the net, spent 15 minutes reading product reviews on good websites, wrote down the names of three top recommendations and headed for my nearest big friendly camera store．There in the cupboard was one of the cameras on my list．And it was on special offer．Oh joy．I pointed at it and asked an assistant,“Can I have one of those?”He looked perturbed(不安)．“Do you want to try it first?" he said．It didn't quite sound like a question．"Do I need to?" I replied．"There's nothing wrong with it?" This made him look a bit insulted and I started to feel bad．"No, no．But you should try it," he said encouragingly．" Compare it with the others．"
I looked across at the others：shelves of similar cameras placed along the wall, offering a wide range of slightly different prices and discounts, with each company selling a range of models based around the same basic box．With so many models to choose from, it seemed that I would have to spend hours weighing X against Y, always trying to take Z and possibly H into account at the same time．But when I had finished, I would still have only the same two certainties that I had entered the store with：first, soon after I carried my new camera out of the shop, it would be worth half what I paid for it; and second, my wonderful camera would very quickly be replaced by a new model．
But something in the human soul whispers that you can beat these traps by making the right choice, the clever choice, the wise choice．In the end, I agreed to try the model I had chosen．The assistant seemed a sincere man．So I let him take out my chosen camera from the cupboard, show how it took excellent pictures of my fellow shoppers…and when he started to introduce the special features, I interrupted to ask whether I needed to buy a carry-case and a memory card as well．
Why do we think that new options(选择)still offer us anything new?Perhaps it is because they offer an opportunity to avoid facing the fact that our real choices in this culture are far more limited than we would like to imagine．
(1)
The shop assistant insisted that the writer should ________．
[ ]
A．
try the camera to see if there was anything wrong with it
B．
compare the camera he had chosen with the others
C．
get more information about different companies
D．
trust him and stop asking questions
(2)
What does the writer mean by "it would be worth half what I paid for it"(Paragraph 2)?
[ ]
A．
He should get a 50％ discount．
B．
The price of the camera was unreasonably high．
C．
The quality of the camera was not good．
D．
The camera would soon fall in value．
(3)
The writer decided to try the model he had chosen because he ________．
[ ]
A．
knew very little about it
B．
didn't trust the shop assistant
C．
wanted to make sure the one he chose would be the best
D．
had a special interest in taking pictures of his fellow shoppers
(4)
It can be inferred from the passage that in the writer's opinion, ________
[ ]
A．
people waste too much money on cameras
B．
cameras have become an important part of our daily life
C．
we don't actually need so many choices when buying a product
D．
famous companies care more about profit than quality
阅读理解
I needed to buy a digital camera, one that was simply good at taking good snaps(快照), maybe occasionally for magazines．Being the cautious type, I fancied a reliable brand．So I went on the net, spent 15 minutes reading product reviews on good websites, wrote down the names of three top recommendations and headed for my nearest big friendly camera store．There in the cupboard was one of the cameras on my list．And it was on special offer．Oh joy．I pointed at it and asked an assistant, “Can I have one of those?”? He looked perturbed(不安)．“Do you want to try it first?” he said．It didn’t quite sound like a question．“Do I need to?” I replied ,“There is nothing wrong with it？” This made him look a bit insulted and I started to feel bad．“No, no．But you should try it,” he said encouragingly．“Compare it with the others．”
I looked across at the others：shelves of similar cameras placed along the wall, offering a wide range of slightly different prices and discounts, with each company selling a range of models based around the same basic box．With so many models to choose from, it seemed that I would have to spend hours weighing X against Y, always trying to take Z and possibly H into account at the same time．But when I had finished, I would still have only the same two certainties that I had entered the store with：first, soon after I carried my new camera out of the shop, it would be worth half what I paid for it; and second, my wonderful camera would very quickly be replaced by a new model．
But something in the human soul whispers that you can beat these traps by making the right choice, the clever choice, the wise choice．In the end, I agreed to try the model I had chosen．The assistant seemed a sincere man．So I let him take out of my chosen camera from cupboard, show how it took excellent pictures of my fellow shoppers… and when he started to introduce the special features, I interrupted to ask whether I needed to buy a carry-case and a memory card as well．
Why do we think that new options still offer us anything new? Perhaps it is because they offer an opportunity to avoid facing the fact that our real choices in this culture are far more limited than we would like to imagine．
(1)
The shop assistant insisted that the writer should _________．
[ ]
A．
try the camera to see if there was anything wrong with it．
B．
compare the camera he had chosen with the others．
C．
get more information about different companies．
D．
trust him and stop asking questions．
(2)
What does the writer mean by “it would be worth half what I paid for it ”(paragraph 2)
[ ]
A．
He should get a 50％ discount．
B．
The price of the camera was unreasonably high．
C．
The quality of the camera was not good．
D．
The camera would soon fall in value．
(3)
The writer decided to try the model he had chosen because he _________．
[ ]
A．
knew very little about it．
B．
didn’t trust the shop assistant
C．
wanted to make sure the one he chose would be the best．
D．
had a special interest in taking pictures of his fellow shoppers．
(4)
It can be inferred from the passage that in the writer’s opinion _________．
[ ]
A．
people waste too much money on cameras
B．
cameras have become an important part of our daily life
C．
we don’t actually need so many choices when buying a product
D．
famous companies care more about profit than quality
阅读理解
I needed to buy a digital camera, one that was simply good at taking good snaps(快照), maybe occasionally for magazines．Being the cautious type, I fancied a reliable brand．So I went on the net, spent 15 minutes reading product reviews on good websites, wrote down the names of three top recommendations and headed for my nearest big friendly camera store．There in the cupboard was one of the cameras on my list．And it was on special offer．I pointed at it and asked an assistant, “Can I have one of those?”? He looked perturbed(不安)．“Do you want to try it first?” he said．It didn’t quite sound like a question．“Do I need to?” I replied, “There is nothing wrong with it？” This made him look a bit insulted and I started to feel bad．“No, no．But you should try it,” he said encouragingly．“Compare it with the others．”
I looked across at the others：shelves of similar cameras placed along the wall, offering a wide range of slightly different prices and discounts, with each company selling a range of models based around the same basic box．With so many models to choose from, it seemed that I would have to spend hours weighing X against Y, always trying to take Z and possibly H into account at the same time．But when I had finished, I would still have only the same two certainties that I had entered the store with：first, soon after I carried my new camera out of the shop, it would be worth half what I paid for it; and second, my wonderful camera would very quickly be replaced by a new model．
But something in the human soul whispers that you can beat these traps by making the right choice, the clever choice, the wise choice．In the end, I agreed to try the model I had chosen．The assistant seemed a sincere man．So I let him take out of my chosen camera from cupboard, show how it took excellent pictures of my fellow shoppers… and when he started to introduce the special features, I interrupted to ask whether I needed to buy a carry-case and a memory card as well．
Why do we think that new options still offer us anything new? Perhaps it is because they offer an opportunity to avoid facing the fact that our real choices in this culture are far more limited than we would like to imagine．
(1)
The shop assistant insisted that the writer should ________．
[ ]
A．
try the camera to see if there was anything wrong with it．
B．
compare the camera he had chosen with the others．
C．
get more information about different companies．
D．
trust him and stop asking questions．
(2)
What does the writer mean by “it would be worth half what I paid for it ”(paragraph 2)
[ ]
A．
He should get a 50％ discount．
B．
The price of the camera was unreasonably high．
C．
The quality of the camera was not good．
D．
The camera would soon fall in value．
(3)
The writer decided to try the model he had chosen because he ________．
[ ]
A．
knew very little about it．
B．
didn’t trust the shop assistant
C．
wanted to make sure the one he chose would be the best．
D．
had a special interest in taking pictures of his fellow shoppers．
(4)
It can be inferred from the passage that in the writer’s opinion ________．
[ ]
A．
people waste too much money on cameras
B．
cameras have become an important part of our daily life
C．
we don’t actually need so many choices when buying a product
D．
famous companies care more about profit than quality
阅读理解
It was Satuday．As always, it was the one, for “Six days, shall you labar and all your work”was taken senously back then, Outside, Father and Mr．Patnce ncxt door were bxsy conny tcood lnside the wiel users Mother ane Mrs．Patrick were enpted in seeng cleaning
Somehow the boy s had shipped away to the back lot with their kites．Now, evet at the reis of having Brother caught to beat carpets．they had sent him to the kitchen tox exsre xding, sccmed there was no limt to the heights to which kites would fly today
My mothe looked at the sitting room, its furndign disordered for a tborough sweeting．Again she cast a look toward the window “Come on, girls! Let's take sing to the beer and theem a tutue”
On the way we met Mrs．Patrick, Ianghing guiltily as if she wrig doing woeig wrong
The never was such a day for flying kites! We played all our frsh string into the boys' kites up higher and higher, We could hardly distingwish the orang-coloced sports of the kites Now and then we slowly pullked one kite back, watching it dancing upo and down in the wind and finally bringing it down to earth, just for the joy of sending yt up again
Even out fathers dropped their tools and joined us．Out mothers look their turn, laughing like schoolgirls Ithink we were all beside ourselves Parents forgx their daty and their dignity; children for everyday fights and little jealousies．"Perhaps it's like this in the some of heafer,"I thought confusedly．
It we growing dark before we all walked sleepily back to the housew．Isuppose we had some chean and orderly enough．The strange thing was, we didn't mention that ady afterward Ifelt a little embarrasse．Surely none of the of the others had been as exceted as I Ikxked the memory up in that deepest part of me where we keep “the things that cannot be and yet they are”
The years went on, then one day Iwas hurrying about my kitchen in a city apartment, trying to get some work out of the way while my three-year-old, sisrently cried her desire to go park, see duck
“I can't go!”I said．”“I have this angt and when I'm through I'll be too rired to walk that far
My mother, who was visiting us, go up from the peas she was shelling It's a wllderful day, she offered, really warm, yet there's a fine breeu．Do you remimber that day we flew kites?
I stoppoed in my dash between store and sink．The locked door flew open and with it a rush of memorese Come on, I told my little girl You're right, it's too good d day to miss．
Another decade passed, We were in the aftennath(余波)of a great war, All evening we had been asking our returned soldier, the youngest Patrick Boy, about his experiences as a prisone war, He has ked freely, but now for a long time he had been silent, What was he thinking of-what dark and horrible things?
"Sany!"A smile shpped out frow his jips．"Do you remem-no, of course you wouldn't make the impression on you as it did on me．”
I hardly dared speak,”Remrmber what?
“I used to think of that day a lot in POW camo(战俘营)，when things weren's too good, DO you remember the we flew the kites?
(1)
mrs．patnck was laughing gultily because she thought ________
[ ]
A．
she was too old to fly kites
B．
her husband would make fun of her
C．
she shoule have been doing her how
D．
supposed to the don't game
(2)
by “we were all beside ourselves writer means that they all ________
[ ]
A．
felt confused
B．
went wild with joy
C．
looked on
D．
forfot their fights
(3)
what did the think atfer the kite flying?
[ ]
A．
boys must hace had nore fun than the firls
B．
shoule have finished their work before playing
C．
her parents should spend more time with them
D．
all the others must have forgotten that day
(4)
why did the writer finally agree to jtake her little girl for an outing?
[ ]
A．
she suddenluy renmenbered ther duty as mother
B．
she was reminded of the day thety felw kits
C．
she ha dfinished her
D．
she thought it was a
(5)
the youngest patrick boy iss mentioned to show that ________
[ ]
A．
the write was not alone in treasuring her fond menories h
B．
his expenience in POW camp threw a shadow over his life
C．
childhood friend\ship means so much to the writer
D．
people like him really changed a lot after the war
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