I was a freshman in college when I met the Whites. They were completely different from my own family, yet I felt at home with them immediately. Jane White and I became friends at school, and her family welcomed me like a long-lost cousin.

In my family, it was always important to place blame when anything had happened.

“Who did this?” my mother would scream about a dirty kitchen.

“This is your entire fault, Katherine,” my father would insist when the cat got out or the dishwasher broke.

From the time we were little, my sister, brothers and I told to each other. We set a place for blame at the dinner table.

But the Whites didn’t worry about who had done what. They picked up the pieces and moved on with their lives. The beauty of this was driven home to me the summer Jane died.

In July, the Whites sisters and I decided to take a car trip from their home in Florida to New York. The two older sisters, Sarah and Jane, were college students, and the youngest, Amy, had recently turned sixteen. Proud of having a new drivers license, Amy was excited about practicing her driving on the trip. She showed off her license to everyone she met.

The big sisters shared the driving of Sarah’s new car during the first part of the trip, but when they reached less crowded areas, they let Amy take over. Somewhere in South Carolina, we pulled off the highway to eat. After lunch, Amy got behind the wheel. She came to a crossroads with a stop sign. Whether she was nervous or just didn’t see the sign no one would ever know, but Amy continued into the crossroads without stopping. The driver of a large truck, unable to stop in time, ran into our car.

Jane was killed immediately.

I was slightly injured. The most difficult thing that I had ever done was to call the Whites to tell them about the accident and that Jane had died. Painful as it was for me to lose a good friend, I knew that it was far worse for them to lose a child.

When Mr. and Mrs. White arrived at the hospital, they found their two daughters sharing a room. Sarah had a few cuts on the head; Amy’s leg was broken. They hugged us all and cried tears of sadness and of joy at seeing their daughters. They wiped away the girl’s tears and made a few jokes at Amy as she learned to use her crutches(拐杖).

To both of their daughters, and especially to Amy, over and over they simply said, “We are so glad that you are alive.”

I was astonished. No blame. No accusations.

Later, I asked the Whites why they never talked about the fact that Amy was driving and had run a stop sign.

Mrs. White said, “Jane is gone, and we miss her terribly. Nothing we say or do will bring her back. But Amy has her whole life ahead of her. How can she lead a full and happy life if she feels we blame her for her sister’s death?”

They were right. Amy graduated from the University of California and got married several years ago. She works as a teacher of learning-disabled students. She’s also a mother of two little girls of her own, the oldest named Jane.

How did the author’s parents differ from the Whites?

   A. The author’s parents were less caring.    B. The author’s parents were less loving.

   C. The author’s parents were less friendly   D. The author’s parents were less understanding

How did the accident happen?

   A. Amy didn’t stop at a crossroad and a truck hit their car.

   B. Amy didn’t know what to do when she saw the stop sign.

   C. Amy didn’t slow down so their car ran into a truck.

   D. Amy didn’t get off the highway at a crossroad.

The accident took place in _____.

   A. Florida     B. California       C. South Carolina       D. New York

The Whites did not blame Amy for Jane’s death because _____.

   A. they didn’t want Amy to feel ashamed and sorry for the rest of her life

   B. Amy was badly injured herself and they didn’t want to add to her pain

   C. They didn’t want to blame their children in front of others

   D. Amy was their youngest daughter and they loved her best

From the passage we can learn that _____.

   A. Amy has never recovered from the shock   B. Amy changed her job after the accident

   C. Amy lost her memory after the accident    D. Amy has lived quite a normal life

I was a freshman in college when I met the Whites. They were completely different from my own family, yet I felt at home with them immediately. Jane White and I became friends at school, and her family welcomed me like a long-lost cousin.
In my family, it was always important to place blame when anything had happened.
“Who did this?” my mother would scream about a dirty kitchen.
“This is your entire fault, Katherine,” my father would insist when the cat got out or the dishwasher broke.
From the time we were little, my sister, brothers and I told to each other. We set a place for blame at the dinner table.
But the Whites didn’t worry about who had done what. They picked up the pieces and moved on with their lives. The beauty of this was driven home to me the summer Jane died.
In July, the Whites sisters and I decided to take a car trip from their home in Florida to New York. The two older sisters, Sarah and Jane, were college students, and the youngest, Amy, had recently turned sixteen. Proud of having a new drivers license, Amy was excited about practicing her driving on the trip. She showed off her license to everyone she met.
The big sisters shared the driving of Sarah’s new car during the first part of the trip, but when they reached less crowded areas, they let Amy take over. Somewhere in South Carolina, we pulled off the highway to eat. After lunch, Amy got behind the wheel. She came to a crossroads with a stop sign. Whether she was nervous or just didn’t see the sign no one would ever know, but Amy continued into the crossroads without stopping. The driver of a large truck, unable to stop in time, ran into our car.
Jane was killed immediately.
I was slightly injured. The most difficult thing that I had ever done was to call the Whites to tell them about the accident and that Jane had died. Painful as it was for me to lose a good friend, I knew that it was far worse for them to lose a child.
When Mr. and Mrs. White arrived at the hospital, they found their two daughters sharing a room. Sarah had a few cuts on the head; Amy’s leg was broken. They hugged us all and cried tears of sadness and of joy at seeing their daughters. They wiped away the girl’s tears and made a few jokes at Amy as she learned to use her crutches(拐杖).
To both of their daughters, and especially to Amy, over and over they simply said, “We are so glad that you are alive.”
I was astonished. No blame. No accusations.
Later, I asked the Whites why they never talked about the fact that Amy was driving and had run a stop sign.
Mrs. White said, “Jane is gone, and we miss her terribly. Nothing we say or do will bring her back. But Amy has her whole life ahead of her. How can she lead a full and happy life if she feels we blame her for her sister’s death?”
They were right. Amy graduated from the University of California and got married several years ago. She works as a teacher of learning-disabled students. She’s also a mother of two little girls of her own, the oldest named Jane

1. 1.

   How did the author’s parents differ from the Whites?

   1. A.
      The author’s parents were less caring
   2. B.
      The author’s parents were less loving
   3. C.
      The author’s parents were less friendly
   4. D.
      The author’s parents were less understanding
2. 2.

   How did the accident happen?

   1. A.
      Amy didn’t stop at a crossroad and a truck hit their car
   2. B.
      Amy didn’t know what to do when she saw the stop sign
   3. C.
      Amy didn’t slow down so their car ran into a truck
   4. D.
      Amy didn’t get off the highway at a crossroad
3. 3.

   The accident took place in _____

   1. A.
      Florida
   2. B.
      California
   3. C.
      South Carolina
   4. D.
      New York
4. 4.

   The Whites did not blame Amy for Jane’s death because _____

   1. A.
      they didn’t want Amy to feel ashamed and sorry for the rest of her life
   2. B.
      Amy was badly injured herself and they didn’t want to add to her pain
   3. C.
      They didn’t want to blame their children in front of others
   4. D.
      Amy was their youngest daughter and they loved her best
5. 5.

   From the passage we can learn that _____

   1. A.
      Amy has never recovered from the shock
   2. B.
      Amy changed her job after the accident
   3. C.
      Amy lost her memory after the accident
   4. D.
      Amy has lived quite a normal life

If you have ever gone through a toll booth(收费所), you know that your relationship to the person in the booth is not the most intimate you'll ever have. It is one of life's frequent affairs: You hand over some money; you might get change; you drive off.
　　Late one morning in 1984, headed for lunch in San Francisco, I drove toward a booth. I heard loud music. It sounded like a party. I looked around. No other cars with their windows open. No sound trucks. I looked at the toll booth. Inside it, the man was dancing.
　　"What are you doing?" I asked.
　　"I'm having a party," he said.
　　"What about the rest of the people?" I looked at the other toll booths.
　　He said, "What do those look like to you?" He pointed down the row of toll booths.
　　"They look like……toll booths. What do they look like to you?"
　　He said, "Vertical coffins. At 8:30 every morning, live people get in. Then they die for eight hours. At 4:30, like Lazarus from the dead, they reemerge and go home. For eight hours, brain is on hold, dead on the job. Going through the motions."
　　I was amazed. This guy had developed a philosophy, a mythology about his job. Sixteen people dead on the job, and the seventeenth, in precisely the same situation, figures out a way to live. I could not help asking the next question: "Why is it different for you? You're having a good time."
He looked at me. "I knew you were going to ask that. I don't understand why anybody would think my job is boring. I have a corner office, glass on all sides. I can see the Golden Gate, San Francisco, and the Berkeley hills. Half the Western world vacations here……and I just stroll in every day and practice dancing."
【小题1】According to the first paragraph, in most cases, how do you describe the relationship between drivers and toll booth?

Music is an international language. The songs that are sung or played by instruments are beautiful to all people everywhere.

Popular music in America is what every student likes. Students carry small radios with earphones and listen to music before class, after class, and at lunch. Students with cars buy large speakers and play the music loudly as they drive on the streets.

Adult drivers listen to music on the car radio as they drive to work. They also listen to the news about sports, the weather, politics, and activities of the American people. Most of the radio broadcast is music.

Pop or popular music singers make much money. They make a CD or tape which radio stations use in every state. Once the popular singer is heard throughout the country, young people buy his or her tapes. Some of the money from these tapes comes to the singer. Wherever the singer goes, all the young people want to meet him or her. Now the singer has become a national star. 

There are other kinds of music that are important to Americans. One is called folk music. It tells stories about the common life of Americans. Another is called western or country music. This was started by cowboys who would sing at night to the cows they were watching. Today, any music about country life and the love between a country boy and his girl is called western or country music.

Serious music for the concert halls is called classical music. Music for instruments is called orchestra music (管弦乐), such as the symphonies (交响乐) of Beethoven. There is opera (歌剧) for singers. There is ballet (芭蕾舞剧) for dancers like the story of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai in China?

67. What can we know about music and people in America?

A. Student drivers carry small radios with earphones when they drive on the streets.

　    B. Students always listen to music before class, after class and at lunch.

　    C. Adult drivers only listen to news except music when they drive to work.

D. Adult drivers never listen to music when they drive to work.

68. How many kinds of music are mentioned in the passage?

　　       A. Six.                    B. Eight.     C. Five.                      D. Seven.

69. Country music ______.

　　 A. is a kind of music that is popular in America

　　 B. has nothing to do with folk music        

C. is only sung by cowboys

　　 D. is not played in the concert halls

70. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

　　      A. All people in America like popular music.

　　      B. Pop singers can get all the money from the tapes.

　　      C. Now, western or country music is a little different from its beginning.

　　      D. Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai is a kind of pop music.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Motherhood is a career to respect
　　A WOMAN renewing her driver’s license at the CountyClerk’s office was asked to state her occupation. She hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself.
　　“What I mean is,” explained the recorder, “do you have a job, or are you just a...”
　　“Of course I have a job,” said Emily. “I’m a mother.”
　　“We don’t list ‘mother’ as an occupation... ‘housewife’ covers it,” said the recorder.
　　One day I found myself in the same situation. The Clerk was obviously a career woman, confident and possessed of a high sounding title. “What is your occupation?” she asked.
　　The words simply popped out. “I’m a Research Associate (研究员) in the field of Child Development and Human Relations.”
　　The clerk paused, ballpoint pen frozen in midair.
　　I repeated the title slowly, then I stared with wonder as my pronouncement (声明) was written in bold, black ink on the official questionnaire.
　　“Might I ask,” said the clerk with interest, “just what you do in your field?”
　　Coolly, without any trace of panic in my voice, I heard myself reply, “I have a continuing program of research (what mother doesn’t), in the laboratory and in the field (normally I would have said indoors and out). Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities (any mother care to disagree?), and I often work 14 hours a day (24 is more like it). But the job is more challenging than most careers and the rewards are more of a satisfaction rather than just money.”
　　There was an increasing note of respect in the clerk’s voice as she completed the form, stood up, and showed me out.
　　As I drove into our driveway, buoyed up (激励) by my glamorous new career, I was greeted by my lab assistants – ages 13, 7, and 3.
　　Upstairs I could hear our new experimental model (a 6-month-old baby), in the child-development program, testing out a new vocal pattern.
　　I felt proud! I had gone on the official records as someone more distinguished and indispensable (不可缺少的) to mankind than “just another mother.”
　　Motherhood... What a glorious career! Especially when there’s a title on the door.
【小题1】 How did the female clerk feel at first when the writer told her occupation?