They were going to Fort Lauderdale — three boys and three girls — and when they boarded the bus, they were carrying sandwiches and wine in paper bags, dreaming of golden beaches and sea tides as the gray, cold spring of New York went behind them.

As the bus passed through New Jersey, they began to notice Vingo. He sat in front of them, completely in silence.

Deep into the night, outside Washington, the bus pulled into Howard Johnson’s, and everybody got off except Vingo. The young people began to wonder about him. When they went back to the bus, one of the girls sat beside him and introduced herself.

    “Want some wine?” she said. He smiled and took a swig from the bottle. He thanked her and became silent again. After a while, she went back to the others, and Vingo nodded in sleep.

In the morning, they awoke outside another Howard Johnson’s, and this time Vingo went in. The girl insisted that he join them. He ordered black coffee and some cookies as the young people talked about sleeping on beaches. When they returned to the bus, the girl sat with Vingo again, and after a while, slowly and painfully, he began to tell his story. He had been in prison in New York for the past four years, and now he was going home.

“Are you married?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” she said.

“Well, when I was in prison I wrote to my wife,” he said, “I told her that I was going to be away for a long time, and that if she couldn’t stand it, if the kids kept asking questions, and if it hurt her too much, well, she could jus forget me. I’d understand. Get a new man, I said — she’s a wonderful woman. I told her she didn’t have to write me. And she didn’t. Not for three and a half years.”

“And you’re going home now, not knowing?”

“Yeah. Well, last week, when I was sure the parole (假释) was coming through, I wrote her again. We used to live in Brunswick, just before Jacksonville, and there’s a big oak (橡树) just as you come into town. I told her that if she didn’t have a new man and if she’d take me back, she should put a yellow handkerchief on the tree, and I’d get off and come home. If she didn’t want me, forget it — no handkerchief and I’d go on through.”

“Wow,” the girl exclaimed, “Wow.”

She told the others, and soon all of them were in it, looking at the pictures Vingo showed them of his wife and three children.

Now they were 20 miles from Brunswick, and the young people took over window seats on the right side, waiting for the approach of the great oak. Vingo stopped looking, tightening his face, as if protecting himself against still another disappointment.

Then Brunswick was ten miles, and then five. Then, suddenly, all of the young people were up out of their seats, shouting and crying.

Vingo sat there astonished, looking at the oak. It was covered with yellow handkerchiefs — 20 of them, 30 of them, maybe hundreds, flying in the wind. As the young people shouted, Vingo slowly rose from his seat and made his way to the front of the bus to go home.

1.At the beginning of the story, the young boys and girls ______.

A. showed a great interest in Vingo     B. didn’t notice Vingo at all

C. wanted to offer help to Vingo        D. didn’t like Vingo at all

2.The underlined part “Howard Johnson’s” is most probably a(n) ______.

A. bus station  B. apartment      C. hospital   D. restaurant

3.How did Vingo feel on the way home?

A. Ashamed.     B. Relaxed.     C. Nervous.     D. Disappointed.

4.The paragraphs following this passage would most probably talk about ______.

A. Vingo’s experience in prison

B. the young people’s travel to Fort Lauderdale

C. Vingo’s three lovely children

D. the dialogue between Vingo and his family

请认真阅读下列短文，并根据短文的内容要点完成文章后的表格。注意：补全填空应符合语法和搭配要求，每空只填一个单词。

Happiness is U-shaped, for we are happier at the start and end of our lives but hit a slump when we are middle-aged, British and US researchers say.

Economists from the University of Warwick, central England, and from Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, looked at data on the mental health of two million people from 80 countries.

In Britain, the probability of depression for men and women peaks at around 44 years of age, Warwick University said in a press release.

In the United States, though, there was a big difference between men and women.

Among women, unhappiness peaked at around the age of 40, whereas among men, it was about 50.

But the U-shape of happiness is constant around the world, and mid-life depression takes place  regardless of marital status, changes in job or income.

The study appears in Social Science & Medicine, published by the Dutch publishing house Elsevier.

"It happens to men and women ,to single and married people, to rich and poor and to those with and without children." said co-author Andrew Oswald.

One possibility may be that people realize they  won't achieve many of their aspirations at middle age, the researchers said.

Another reason could be that after seeing their fellow middle-aged peers begin to die, people begin to value their own remaining years and embrace life once more.

But the good news is that if people make it to aged 70 and are still physically fit, they are on average as happy and mentally healthy as a 20-year old.

"For the average persons in the modern world, the dip in mental health and happiness comes on slowly, not suddenly in a single year," Oswald said. "Only in their fifties do people emerge from this low period,"

Title: People happiest at start and end of lives, but slump in middle

子女和父母之间的代沟（generation gap）一直是困扰着父母和孩子双方的一个大问题。请你以儿子（女儿）的身份, 根据下表内容, 用英语写一篇文章, 谈谈子女如何做才能消除与父母间的隔阂。

注意：

1．字数150左右。

2．可适当增加细节, 以使行文连贯。

3．参考词汇：消除bridge

Each member country of WTO must          its laws and regulations and complete on the principle of fairness and cooperation.

         A. cater to                        B. correspond to             C. relate to                       D. submit to

All of us have the desire to visit the three main temples in Athens, especially _______ contains a gold and ivory statue of Athena.

    A. the one that    B. one that        C. the one         D. one

An explosion blew the roof off an unstable reactor north of Tokyo, ____ fears of a disaster at a nuclear plant ____ in the massive earthquake that hit Japan.

    A. to raise; to be damaged           B. raising; damaging 

    C. raising; damaged                   D. raised; being damaged

Managers in excellent companies have a strong _____ for doing things rather than talking about situations.

A. opinion         B. feeling         C. idea            D. preference

With your help, there is no doubt ______ our plan is meant for will work out successfully.

    A. that what       B. whether that    C. what that       D. that whether

The children went home from the grammar school, their lessons ______ for the day.

A. finishing   B. finished    C. had finished    D. had been finished

— ____ visited the Shanghai World Expo is sure to tell you the place is worthy ____ twice．

    — You can say that again．

    A. Those who have; visiting           B. Whoever has; visiting

    C. Those who have; to be visited       D. Whoever has; to be visited