Though I tried to reason with them, I was ________ in chains and thrown to ________ prison.

1. A.
   worn; the
2. B.
   kept; a
3. C.
   put;/
4. D.
   set; that

One of the qualities that most people admire in others is the willingness to admit one’s mistakes. It is extremely hard sometimes to say a simple thing like “I was wrong about that,” and it is even harder to say, “I was wrong, and you were right about that. ” I had an experience recently with someone admitting to me that he had made a mistake fifteen years ago. He told me he had been the manager of a certain grocery store in the neighborhood where I grew up, and he asked me if I remembered the egg cartons（纸箱）. Then he talked of an accident and I began to remember the incident he was describing.

I was about eight years old at the time, and I had gone into the store with my mother to do the weekly grocery shopping. On that particular day, I must have found my way to the food department where the accident took place.

There must have been a special sale on eggs that day because there was a big show of eggs in dozen and half-dozen cartons. The cartons were put three or four feet high. I must have stopped in front of them to admire the show. Just then a woman came by pushing her grocery cart(推车) and knocked off the pile of cartons. For some reason, I decided it was up to me to put the cartons back together, so I went to work.

The manager heard the noise and came pushing over to see what had happened. When he appeared, I was on my knees checking some of the cartons to see if any of the eggs were broken, but to him it looked as though I was the person who was to blame(应负责任). He scolded(责备)me loudly and wanted me to pay for those broken eggs. My face turned red and I tried to explain, but it did no good. Even though I quickly forgot the incident, the manager did not.

69. How old was the author when he wrote this article?

A. About 8 years old.           B. About 18 years old.

C. About 23 years old.          D. About 15 years old.

70. Who was to blame for knocking off the pile of cartons?

A. A woman.            B. The manager.        

C. The author.           D. The author’s mother.

71. Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A. The author was loudly scolded by the manager.

B. The woman who knocked off the pile of cartons was seriously scolded by the manager.

C. The author didn’t remember the incident until the manager talked of it.

D. It was the author who put the cartons back together.

72. The tone of the article expresses the author’s _____.

A. admiration for the manager’s willingness to admit his mistake

B. anger to the manager for his wrong doing

C. dissatisfaction with the woman who knocked off the pile of cartons

D. regret for the mistake he had made in the store

 A few months ago as I wandered through my parents’ house, the same house I grew up in, I had a sudden, scary realization. When my parents bought the house, in 1982, they were only two years older than I am now. I tried to imagine myself in two years, ready to settle down and buy the house I’d still be living in almost 30 years later.

It seemed ridiculous. On a practical level, there’s no way I could afford to buy a house anytime soon. More importantly, I wouldn’t want to. I’m not sure where I’ll be living in two years, or what kind of job I’ll have. And I don’t think I’ll be ready to settle down and stay in one place.

So this is probably the generation gap that divides my friends and me from our parents. When our parents were our age, they’d gotten their education, chosen a career, and were starting to settle into responsible adult lives.

My friends and I – “Generation Y” – still aren’t sure what we want to do with our lives. Whatever we end up doing, we want to make sure we’re happy doing it. We’d rather take risks first, try out different jobs, and move from one city to another until we find our favorite place. We’d rather spend our money on travel than put it in a savings account.

This casual attitude toward responsibility has caused some critics to call my generation “arrogant”, “impatient”, and “overprotected”. Some of these complaints have a point. As children we were encouraged to succeed in school, but also to have fun. We grew up in a world full of technological innovation: cellphones, the Internet, instant messaging, and video games.

Our parents looked to rise vertically(垂直的)--starting at the bottom of the ladder and slowly making their way to the top, on the same track, often for the same company. That doesn’t apply to my generation.

Because of that, it may take us longer than our parents to arrive at responsible, stable adulthood. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In our desire to find satisfaction, we will work harder, strive for ways to keep life interesting, and gain a broader set of experiences and knowledge than our parents’ generation did.                                                                              

By Ariel Lewiton

1.When the author walked through her parents’ house, she _______.

2.What is the main “generation gap” between the author and her friends and their parents according to the article?

3.Which of the following might the author agree with?

4.What can we conclude from the article?

5.What is the main theme of the article?

When Mike told me he was leaving I felt like a vase which had just broken. There were pieces of me all over the tidy floor. He kept talking, telling me why he was leaving,   31   it was for the best, I could do better, it was his   32   and not mine. I had heard it before many times and yet somehow was still hurt; perhaps one cannot   33   such pain.

He left and I tried to   34   my life. I filled the kettle (水壶), put it on to boil, took out my old red cup and   35   the coffee powder falling into the bone china. Somehow when the kettle piped its finishing warning, I   36   not to hear it. That’s what Mike’s leaving had been like, sudden and with a(n)   37   end. I would rather just   38   in uncertainty than have things finished. I laughed at myself. Just about a cup of coffee, I must be getting   39  .

And yet it was a young woman who   40   back at me from the mirror, a young woman full of   41   and hope, a young woman with bright eyes just waiting to see the world.  42  , there are more important things. More important than   43  , I insist to myself firmly. The lid goes back on the coffee just like closing on the whole Mike experience.

This year I decided to do something to regain my good name as a kindly uncle. My  36   Tony,had never forgiven me for the dictionary I had bought him as a birthday present last year. His 37  had no reason to be thankful to me either,because the year before, I had   38  their dear son with a pot of paste(浆糊) and some funny pictures. Instead of   39   them into a book, Tony had naturally covered every wall in the house with them. This year,   40 , I decided to let him  41  for himself.
We went into a big shop,but Tony was very particular about   42  . Although I tried to show him toy after toy,he was not to be   43 . Then I saw he suddenly became  44 ; he had discovered something he really liked: a large tin dram. I was quite happy too   45    I thought what Tony’s mother would say when she saw it. Nobody would get any    46   for weeks! I led Tony away   47 , saying that the dram was too expensive.
Tony asked for permission to go off    48    and I made the most of my chance to sit down end    49   my aching feet. Fifteen minutes passed but there was still no sign of Tony. I began to get   50   and got up to look for him. I asked a young lady if she had seen a little boy in a grey suit. She looked    51   her helplessly and pointed out that there were so many   52
in grey suits. I was just going to call the police for help,when I saw a strange   53  dressed in strange orange clothes. He was wearing a false beard and had a caveman’s axe(斧子)in one hand,and a space gun in the other. It was, of course,Tony, who informed me  54   that he was the first   55  to fly into space.