A year after graduation, I was offered a position teaching a writing class. Teaching was a profession I had never seriously considered, though several of my stories had been published. I accepted the job without hesitation, as it would allow me to wear a tie and go by the name of Mr. Davis. My father went by the same name, and I liked to imagine people getting the two of us confused. “Wait a minute,” someone might say, “are you talking about Mr. Davis the retired man, or Mr. Davis the respectable scholar?”
The position was offered at the last minute, and I was given two weeks to prepare, a period I spent searching for briefcase (公文包) and standing before my full-length mirror, repeating the words, “Hello, class. I’m Mr. Davis.” Sometimes I would give myself an aggressive voice. Sometimes I would sound experienced. But when the day eventually came, my nerves kicked in and the true Mr. Davis was there. I sounded not like a thoughtful professor, but rather a 12-year-old boy.
I arrived in the classroom with paper cards designed in the shape of maple leaves. I had cut them myself out of orange construction paper. I saw nine students along a long table. I handed out the cards, and the students wrote down their names and fastened them to their breast pockets as I required.
“All right then,” I said. “Okay, here we go.” Then I opened my briefcase and realized that I had never thought beyond this moment. I had been thinking that the students would be the first to talk, offering their thoughts and opinions on the events of the day. I had imagined that I would sit at the edge of the desk, overlooking a forests of hands. Every student would yell. “Calm down, you’ll all get your turn. One at a time, one at a time!”
A terrible silence ruled the room, and seeing no other opinions, I inspected the students to pull out their notebooks and write a brief essay related to the theme of deep disappointment.
【小题1】The author took the job to teach writing because ______.

A long time ago, there was an emperor. One day he told his horseman that if he could ride on his horse and 1  as much land area as he liked, he would give him the area of land he had covered.  2 enough, the horseman quickly jumped onto his horse and 3  as fast as possible to cover as much land area as he could. He 4  riding and riding, whipping the horse to go as fast as possible. Even when he was 5  and tired, he did not stop 6  he wanted to cover as much area as possible. When he at last covered a large amount of land, he was exhausted and was  7 . Then he asked himself, “Why did I 8  myself so hard to cover so much land area? Now I am dying and I only 9  a very small area to 10  myself.”

The above story is 11  to the journey of our 12 . We push ourselves very hard every day to make more  13 , to gain power or recognition. We neglect our 14 , time with our family and to appreciate the surrounding 15  and the things we love to do. One day 16  we look back, we will 17  that we don’t really need that much, 18  then we cannot turn back time for what we have 19 .

Life is not about making money. Life is definitely not about work! Work is only 20  to keep us living so as to enjoy the beauty and pleasures of life.

1.                A．use            B．cover          C．work D．get

2.                A．Good          B．Strange         C．Sure D．Interesting

3.                A．rode           B．ran            C．expanded D．struggled

4.                A．kept on         B．asked for        C．gave up   D．succeeded in

5.                A．sad            B．excited         C．confused D．hungry

6.                A．but            B．so             C．because  D．if

7.                A．sleeping        B．arguing         C．dying D．smiling

8.                A．push           B．make           C．destroy   D．prove

9.                A．need           B．have           C．find  D．show

10.               A．live            B．bury           C．support   D．sleep

11.               A．useful          B．certain         C．similar D．special

12.               A．future         B．past           C．history    D．life

13.               A．friends         B．progress        C．discoveries D．money

14.               A．health         B．career         C．honor D．freedom

15.               A．things          B．condition       C．people    D．beauty

16.               A．before         B．when          C．unless D．since

17.               A．realize         B．regret          C．apologize  D．explain

18.               A．or             B．until           C．however  D．but

19.               A．saved          B．missed         C．reduced   D．won

20.               A．possible        B．probable       C．necessary  D．suitable

A year after graduation, I was offered a position teaching a writing class. Teaching was a profession I had never seriously considered, though several of my stories had been published. I accepted the job without hesitation, as it would allow me to wear a tie and go by the name of Mr. Davis. My father went by the same name, and I liked to imagine people getting the two of us confused. “Wait a minute,” someone might say, “are you talking about Mr. Davis the retired man, or Mr. Davis the respectable scholar?”

   The position was offered at the last minute, and I was given two weeks to prepare, a period I spent searching for briefcase (公文包) and standing before my full-length mirror, repeating the words, “Hello, class. I’m Mr. Davis.” Sometimes I would give myself an aggressive voice. Sometimes I would sound experienced. But when the day eventually came, my nerves kicked in and the true Mr. Davis was there. I sounded not like a thoughtful professor, but rather a 12-year-old boy.

   I arrived in the classroom with paper cards designed in the shape of maple leaves. I had cut them myself out of orange construction paper. I saw nine students along a long table. I handed out the cards, and the students wrote down their names and fastened them to their breast pockets as I required.

   “All right then,” I said. “Okay, here we go.” Then I opened my briefcase and realized that I had never thought beyond this moment. I had been thinking that the students would be the first to talk, offering their thoughts and opinions on the events of the day. I had imagined that I would sit at the edge of the desk, overlooking a forests of hands. Every student would yell. “Calm down, you’ll all get your turn. One at a time, one at a time!”

   A terrible silence ruled the room, and seeing no other opinions, I inspected the students to pull out their notebooks and write a brief essay related to the theme of deep disappointment.

1.The author took the job to teach writing because ______.

   A. he wanted to be expected

   B. he had written some storied

   C. he wanted to please his father

   D. he had dreamed of being a teacher

2.What can we learn about the author from Paragraph 2 ?

   A. He would be aggressive in his first class.

   B. He was well-prepared for his first class.

   C. He got nervous upon the arrival of his first class.

   D. He waited long for the arrival of his first class.

3.Before he started his class, the author asked the students to ______.

   A. write down their suggestions on the paper cards

   B. cut maple leaves out of the construction paper

   C. cut some cards out of the construction paper

   D. write down their names on the paper cards

4.What did the students do when the author started his class?

   A. They began to talk.        B. They stayed silent.

   C. They raised their hands.     D. They shouted to be heard.

5.The author chose the composition topic probably because ______.

   A. he got disappointed with his first class

   B. he had prepared the topic before class

   C. he wanted to calm down the students

   D. he thought it was an easy topic

A year after graduation, I was offered a position teaching a writing class. Teaching was a profession I had never seriously considered, though several of my stories had been published. I accepted the job without hesitation, as it would allow me to wear a tie and go by the name of Mr. Davis. My father went by the same name, and I liked to imagine people getting the two of us confused. “Wait a minute,” someone might say, “are you talking about Mr. Davis the retired man, or Mr. Davis the respectable scholar?”
The position was offered at the last minute, and I was given two weeks to prepare, a period I spent searching for briefcase (公文包) and standing before my full-length mirror, repeating the words, “Hello, class. I’m Mr. Davis.” Sometimes I would give myself an aggressive voice. Sometimes I would sound experienced. But when the day eventually came, my nerves kicked in and the true Mr. Davis was there. I sounded not like a thoughtful professor, but rather a 12-year-old boy.
I arrived in the classroom with paper cards designed in the shape of maple leaves. I had cut them myself out of orange construction paper. I saw nine students along a long table. I handed out the cards, and the students wrote down their names and fastened them to their breast pockets as I required.
“All right then,” I said. “Okay, here we go.” Then I opened my briefcase and realized that I had never thought beyond this moment. I had been thinking that the students would be the first to talk, offering their thoughts and opinions on the events of the day. I had imagined that I would sit at the edge of the desk, overlooking a forests of hands. Every student would yell. “Calm down, you’ll all get your turn. One at a time, one at a time!”
A terrible silence ruled the room, and seeing no other opinions, I inspected the students to pull out their notebooks and write a brief essay related to the theme of deep disappointment.

1. 1.

   The author took the job to teach writing because ______.

   1. A.
      he wanted to be expected
   2. B.
      he had written some storied
   3. C.
      he wanted to please his father
   4. D.
      he had dreamed of being a teacher
2. 2.

   What can we learn about the author from Paragraph 2 ?

   1. A.
      He would be aggressive in his first class.
   2. B.
      He was well-prepared for his first class.
   3. C.
      He got nervous upon the arrival of his first class.
   4. D.
      He waited long for the arrival of his first class.
3. 3.

   Before he started his class, the author asked the students to ______.

   1. A.
      write down their suggestions on the paper cards
   2. B.
      cut maple leaves out of the construction paper
   3. C.
      cut some cards out of the construction paper
   4. D.
      write down their names on the paper cards
4. 4.

   What did the students do when the author started his class?

   1. A.
      They began to talk.
   2. B.
      They stayed silent.
   3. C.
      They raised their hands.
   4. D.
      They shouted to be heard.
5. 5.

   The author chose the composition topic probably because ______.

   1. A.
      he got disappointed with his first class
   2. B.
      he had prepared the topic before class
   3. C.
      he wanted to calm down the students
   4. D.
      he thought it was an easy topic

A well-dressed man came into a famous jeweler shop. He explained that he wished to buy a pearl （珍珠） for his wife's birthday and that the price didn't matter since business had been very good for him that year. After examining a number of beautiful and valuable pearls, he chose a nice black one that cost $ 5,000. He paid for the pearl, shook hands with the jeweler and left.

A few days later the man returned and said his wife had liked the pearl so much that she wanted another one just like it. It had to be exactly the same size and quality（质地） as she wanted a pair of earrings （耳环） made. "Can you give me any advice on how to get such a pearl?" said the man. The jeweler replied,   "I would say it's nearly impossible to find an exact one like that pearl.”

    The rich man asked the jeweler to advertise（登广告） in the newspapers, and offered $25,000 for the  matching pearl. Many people answered the ad（广告）, but nobody had a pearl that was just right. Just when the jeweler had given up hope, a little old lady came in. To his surprise, she pulled the wonderful pearl from her handbag. "I don't like to sell it," she said sadly. "I inherited（继承） it from my mother, and my mother inherited from hers. But now I really need the money. "

    The jeweler was quick to pay her before she changed her mind．Then he called the rich man’s hotel to tell him the good news. The rich man, however, was nowhere to be found.

1. He paid$ 5,000 for the pearl without bargaining（讨价还价）______________.

A．because he loved his wife very much  

B．in order to get it as quickly as possible

C．since his business had been successful

D．so as to make the jeweler believe him

2. Which of the following is true?

A．The people who answered the ad wanted to sell their pearls at a high price.

B．The woman was the well-dressed man's wife.

C．The jeweler was lucky enough to buy the little old lady's pearl.

D．The rich man didn't know the little old lady.

3. The jeweler could not find the rich man anywhere because he__________.

A．had moved to another hotel            B．was busy doing business with others

C．had escaped with $ 20,000                   D．had told the wrong telephone number