When I was young, my parents ran a snack bar in our small town.

   One evening in early April, my mother told me to fill in at the snack bar   1   a worker who had the flu. I told her I would mess it up,   2   I had never worked at the bar before. I   3   that instead of making money, I would end up owing it.

   “You can do it,” said my mother, “  4  , you won’t get much business until lunch.”

   “But I’ll never remember the orders, and I’m no good   5   money. Please, Mom, don’t   6   me.

   “Then I’ll help you,” she said.

   I shrugged my shoulders. I thought my mother’s   7   was a bad one, but I   8  .

   When I got to the bar the next day, I found my mother was   9  . Because the weather that day was rainy and cold, people wanted hot snacks and drinks.   10  , I was really slow at taking the orders and making change. The line of people grew, and everybody seemed   11  , I was so nervous that my hands shook, and I   12   a cup into pieces. What a mess! Then my mother came to   13   me, and she also showed me how to make   14  . If someone gave me $ 5 for something that cost $ 3.25, I handed over   15   quarters and a dollar and said, “75 cents makes four dollars, plus one dollar makes five.” Things went more   16   after that.

   By the end of the day, I could remember orders,   17   the bill, and make change quickly with a smile. I was even a little   18   when the sun came out and dried up business. My mother said she was proud of me, and when she   19   that I work at the snack bar again next year, I did not even shrug. I was too busy   20   the restaurant I would open one day.

1.

A. to

B. for

C. after

D. over

2.

A. because

B. though

C. until

D. while

3.

A. promised

B. noticed

C. worried

D. hoped

4.

A. Therefore

B. However

C. Besides

D. Yet

5.

A. of

B. on

C. about

D. with

6.

A. blame

B. fool

C. frighten

D. make

7.

A. idea

B. bar

C. day

D. answer

8.

A. guessed

B. obeyed

C. begged

D. admitted

9.

A. angry

B. sad

C. worry

D. ashamed

10.

A. At least

B. At last

C. At most

D. At first

11.

A. surprised

B. impolite

C. pleased

D. impatient

12.

A. damaged

B. destroyed

C. broke

D. ruined

13.

A. scold

B. help

C. beat

D. save

14.

A. money

B. lunch

C. coffee

D. change

15.

A. two

B. three

C. four

D. five

16.

A. smoothly

B. fairly

C. simply

D. conveniently

17.

A. turn in

B. count out

C. take over

D. add up

18.

A. discouraged

B. disturbed

C. disappointed

D. distrusted

19.

A. thought

B. stated

C. announced

D. suggested

20.

A. imagining

B. preparing

C. examining

D. describing

   Welcome to my Message Board!

Subject: Slimming down classics?

Mr.

Handsome

2007-5-12

8: 24 AM

Orion Books, which decides there is a market in creating cut-down classics (经典著作), is slimming down some novels by such great writers as L. Tolstoy, M. Mitchell and C. Bronte. Now, each of them has been whittled down to about 400 pages by cutting 30 to 40 pages per cent of original, with words, sentences, paragraphs and, in a few cases, chapters removed. The first six shortened editions, all priced at £6.99 and advertised as great reads “in half the time”, will go on sale next month, with plans for 50 to 100 more to follow. The publishing house believes that modern readers will welcome the shorter versions.

Mr.

Edwards

2007-5-12

9: 40 AM

Well, I’m publisher of Orion Group. Thanks for your attention, Mr. Handsome.

I must say, the idea developed from a game of “shame” in my office. Each of us was required to confess (承认) to the most embarrassing blanks in his or her reading. I admitted that I had never read Anna Karenina and tried but failed to get through Gone with the Wind several times. One of my colleagues acknowledged skipping (跳读) Jane Eyre. We realized that life is too short to read all the books you want to and we never were going to read these ones.

   As a leading publishing house, we are trying to make classics convenient for readers but it’s not as if we’re withdrawing the original versions. They are still there if you want to read them.

Ms. Weir

2007-5-12

11:35 AM

I’m director of the online bookclub www.lovereading.co.uk

   Mr. Edwards, I think your shortened editions is a breath of fresh air. I’m guilty of never having read Anna Karenina, because it’s just so long. I’d much rather read two 300-page books than one 600-page book. I am looking forward to more shortened classics!

Mr.

Crockatt

2007-5-12

4:38 PM

I’m from the London independent bookshop Crockatt & Powell.

   In my opinion, the practice is completely ridiculous. How can you edit the classics? I’m afraid reading some of these books is hard work, and that is why you have to develop as a reader. If people don’t have time to read Anna Karenina, then fine. But don’t read a shortened version and kid yourself it’s the real thing.

1. According to the message board, Orion Books ___________.

A. opposes the reading of original classics         

B. is embarrassed for cutting down classics

C. thinks cut-down classics have a bright future     

D. is cautions in its decision to cut down classics

2. In Mr. Edwards’ opinion, Orion Group is shortening classics to _________.

A. make them easier to read                   

B. meet a large demand in the market

C. increase the sales of literary books            

D. compete with their original versions

3. By describing the shortened classics as “a breath of fresh air”, Ms. Weir ________.

A. speaks highly of the cut-down classics         

B. shows her love for original classics

C. feels guilty of not reading the classics          

D. disapprove of shortening the classics

4. Mr. Crockatt seems to imply that _________.

A. reading the classic works is a confusing attempt      

B. shortening the classics does harm to the original

C. publishing the cut-down classics is a difficult job

D. editing the classic works satisfies children’s needs

   Photos that you might have found down the back of your sofa are now big business!

   In 2005, the American artist Richard Prince’s photograph of a photograph, Untitled (Cowboy), was sold for $ 1, 248, 000.

   Prince is certainly not the only contemporary artist to have worked with so-called “found photographs”—a loose term given to everything from discarded(丢弃的) prints discovered in a junk shop to old advertisements or amateur photographs from a stranger’s family album. The German artist Joachim Schmid, who believes “basically everything is worth looking at”, has gathered discarded photographs, postcards and newspaper images since 1982. In his on-going project, Archiv, he groups photographs of family life according to themes: people with dogs; teams; new cars; dinner with the family; and so on.

   Like Schmid, the editors of several self-published art magazines also champion (捍卫) found photographs. One of them, called simply Found, was born one snowy night in Chicago, when Davy Rothbard returned to his car to find under his wiper(雨刷) an angry note intended for Someone else: “Why’s your car HERE at HER place?” The note became the starting point for Rothbard’s addictive publication, which features found photographs sent in by readers, such a poster discovered in our drawer.

   The whole found-photograph phenomenon has raised some questions. Perhaps one of the most difficult is: can these images really be considered as art? And if so, whose art? Yet found photographs produced by artists, such Richard Prince, may riding his horse hurriedly to meet someone? Or how did Prince create this photograph? It’s anyone’s guess. In addition, as we imagine the back-story to the people in the found photographs artists, like Schmid, have collated (整理), we also turn toward our own photographic albums. Why is memory so important to us? Why do we all seek to freeze in time the faces of our children, our parents, our lovers, and ourselves? Will they mean anything to anyone after we’ve gone?

     In the absence of established facts, the vast collections of found photographs give our minds an opportunity to wanders freely. That, above all, is why they are so fascinating.

1. The first paragraph of the passage is used to _________.

A. remind readers of found photographs      

B. advise reader to start a new kind of business

C. ask readers to find photographs behind sofa       

D. show readers the value of found photographs

2. According to the passage, Joachim Schmid _________.

A. is fond of collecting family life photographs      

B. found a complaining not under his car wiper

C. is working for several self-published magazines   

D. wondered at the artistic nature of found photographs

3. The underlined word “them” in Para 4 refers to __________.

A. the readers                B. the editors         

C. the found photographs       D. the self-published magazines

4. By asking a series of questions in Para 5, the author mainly intends to indicate that ________.

A. memory of the past is very important to people

B. found photographs allow people to think freely

C. the back-story of found photographs is puzzling

D. the real value of found photographs is questionable

5. The author’s attitude towards found photographs can be described as _________.

A. critical         B. doubtful           C. optimistic         D. satisfied

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