The only way to travel is on foot

The past ages of man have all been carefully labeled（标记）by anthropologists（人类学家）. Descriptions like ‘Palaeolithic(旧石器时代) Man’, ‘Neolithic Man’, etc., neatly（干净地；整洁地） sum up whole periods. When the time comes for anthropologists to turn their attention to the twentieth century, they will surely choose the label ‘Legless Man’. Histories of the time will go something like this: ‘in the twentieth century, people forgot how to use their legs. Men and women moved about in cars, buses and trains from a very early age. There were lifts and escalators（自动电梯，自动扶梯）in all large buildings to prevent people from walking. This situation was forced upon earth dwellers（居民） of that time because of miles each day. But the surprising thing is that they didn’t use their legs even when they went on holiday. They built cable railways, ski-lifts and roads to the top of every huge mountain. All the beauty spots on earth were marred （糟蹋）by the presence of large car parks. ’

The future history books might also record that we were deprived（剥夺） of the use of our eyes. In our hurry to get from one place to another, we failed to see anything on the way. Air travel gives you a bird’s-eye view of the world – or even less if the wing of the aircraft happens to get in your way. When you travel by car or train a blurred image of the countryside constantly smears the windows. Car drivers, in particular, are forever obsessed with the urge to go on and on: they never want to stop.

Is it the lure of the great motorways, or what? And as for sea travel, it hardly deserves mention. It is perfectly summed up in the words of the old song: ‘I joined the navy to see the world, and what did I see? I saw the sea.’ The typical twentieth-century traveler is the man who always says ‘I’ve been there. ’ You mention the remotest, most evocative place-names in the world like El Dorado, Kabul, Irkutsk and someone is bound to say ‘I’ve been there’ – meaning, ‘I drove through it at 100 miles an hour on the way to somewhere else. ’

When you travel at high speeds, the present means nothing: you live mainly in the future because you spend most of your time looking forward to arriving at some other place. But actual arrival, when it is achieved, is meaningless. You want to move on again. By traveling like this, you suspend all experience; the present ceases to be a reality: you might just as well be dead. The traveler on foot, on the other hand, lives constantly in the present. For him traveling and arriving are one and the same thing: he arrives somewhere with every step he makes. He experiences the present moment with his eyes, his ears and the whole of his body. At the end of his journey he feels a delicious physical weariness. He knows that sound. Satisfying sleep will be his: the just reward of all true travellers.

1. Anthropologists label nowadays’ men ‘Legless’ because

       A . people forget how to use his legs.            B  people prefer cars, buses and trains.

       C  lifts and escalators prevent people from walking. D  there are a lot of transportation devices.

2. Travelling at high speed means

       A people’s focus on the future.   B a pleasure.

C satisfying drivers’ great thrill.  D a necessity y of life.

3. Why does the author say ‘we are deprived of the use of our eyes’ ?

       A  People won’t use their eyes.     B In traveling at high speed, eyes become useless.

       C  People can’t see anything on his way of travel.   D  People want to sleep during travelling.

4. What is the purpose of the author in writing this passage?

       A Legs become weaker.   B Modern means of transportation make the world a small place.

       C There is no need to use eyes.    D The best way to travel is on foot.

5. What does ‘a bird’s-eye view’ mean?

       A  See view with bird’s eyes.    B  A bird looks at a beautiful view.

C It is a general view from a high position looking down.   D  A scenic place.

I am an advocate for my son. I made it my responsibility to inform all of his high school teachers and principals that our family goal was for him to attend college. When you, the parent, inform a teacher that the family had high expectations for your child, then that teacher takes on a whole different attitude to him or her.

       When Chris started high school, I started my habit of keeping track of his absences and tardiness(上学迟到) on my calendar at home. In a way, it pleased him that I cared so much.

       One semester in his junior year, he came home with a report card that showed three times as many days absent from school as I had on y calendar. When I asked him about it, he looked at the report card and his eyes got very wide.

       “That must be a mistake, Mom,”he said. “Maybe there was an error in the computer.”He assured me that he had not been skipping school.

       While I was prepared to believe him, I also needed to check with the school to make sure. The next morning, I went with Chris before school to the vice principal’s office and showed him the report card with the excessive(过度的) number of absences. He spoke up immediately.

       “Oh, Ms. Chandler, I’m so sorry. We are planning to inform all the parents that there was a glitch in the reporting of the days absent for all the kids. I don’t think any of them went out correct.”Chris was here when he says he was here.

       I was relieved that everything was all right, and as I left his office the vice principal said to me, “Hundreds of report cards went out with the wrong number of absences, but you’re the only parent who has called or stopped in to check up on it.”

1．When Chris saw the report card, he felt         .

       A．ashamed              B．surprised             C．frightened            D．angry

2．Why did the author go to her son’s school with the report card?

       A．To prove Chris innocent.                      B．To correct the mistake.

       C．To find out the truth                             D．To expose Chris as a liar.

3．The underlined word “glitch” in Paragraph 6 can be best replaced by “     ”.

       A．problem              B．correction            C．statement            D．change

4．It can be inferred from the passage that the author          .

       A．changed all teachers’ attitudes to her son

       B．had high expectations for her son’s school

       C．was dissatisfied with her son’s school

       D．kept in touch with her son’s school

5．By saying “Chris was here when he says he was here”, what did the vice principal mean?

       A．Chris was seldom absent from school.   B．Chris was telling the truth.

       C．Chris never broke his promise.              D．Chris was well-disciplined.

-----Oh, Tom, what did you do this summer vacation?

-----Guess what? I had _____ great fun in _______ show performance “the voice of China”.

A. a, the    B. the, the          C. /,a          D./, the

 

I have only once been in trouble with the law．The whole process of being arrested and taken to court was a rather unpleasant experience at the time, but it makes a good story now． What makes it rather disturbing was the arbitrary （随意的） circumstances both of my arrest and my subsequent （随后的） fate in court．

It happened in February about twelve years ago．I had left school a couple of months before that and was not due to go to university until the following October．I was still living at home at the time．

One morning I was in Richmond, a suburb of London near where I lived．I was looking for a temporary job so that I could save up some money to go traveling．As it was a fine day and I was in no hurry, I was taking my time, looking in shop windows, strolling in the park, and sometimes just stopping and looking around me．It must have been this obvious ainilessness that led to my downfall．

It was about half past eleven when it happened．I was just walking out of the local library, having unsuccessfully sought employment there, when I saw a man walking across the road with the obvious intention of talking to me．I thought he was going to ask me the time．Instead, he said he was a police officer and he was arresting me．At first I thought it was some kind of joke．

But then another policeman appeared, this time in uniform, and I was left in no doubt．

'But what for? " I asked．

‘Wandering with intent to commit an arrestable offence,' he said．

‘What offence?' I asked．

'Theft,' he said．

'Theft of what?' I asked．

'Milk bottles,' he said, and with a perfectly straight face too!

'Oh,' I said．

It turned out there had been a lot of petty thefts in the area, particularly that of stealing milk bottles from doorsteps．

Then I made my big mistake．At the time I was nineteen, had long untidy hair, and regarded myself as pan of the sixties' 'youth counterculture'．As a result, I wanted to appear cool and unconcerned with the incident, so I said, 'How long have you been following me?  in the most casual and conversational tone I could manage．I thus appeared to them to be quite familiar with this sort of situation, and it confirmed them in their belief that I was a thoroughly disreputable （品行不端的） character．

         A few minutes later a police car arrived．

         'Get in the back,' they said．'Put your hands on the back of the front seat and don't move them．'

         They got in on either side of me．It wasn't funny any more．

         At the police station they questioned me for several hours．I continued to try to look worldly and familiar with the situation．When they asked me what I had been doing, I told them I'd been looking for a job．'Aha,' I could see them thinking, 'unemployed'．

Eventually, I was officially charged and told to report to Richmond Magistrates' Court the following Monday．Then they let me go．

I wanted to conduct my own defense in court, but as soon as my father found out what had happened, he hired a very good solicitor （律师） ．We went along that Monday armed with all kinds of witnesses, including my English teacher from school as a character witness．But he was never called on to give evidence．My 'trial' didn't get that far．The magistrate （法官） dismissed the case after fifteen minutes．1 was free．The poor police had never stood a chance．The solicitor even succeeded in getting costs awarded against the police．

And so I do not have a criminal record．But what was most shocking at the time was the things my release from the charge so clearly depended on．I had the 'right' accent, respectable middle-class parents in court, reliable witnesses, and I could obviously afford a very good solicitor．Given the obscure nature of the charge．I feel sure that if I had come from a different background, and had really been unemployed, there is every chance that I would have been found guilty．While asking for costs to be awarded, my solicitor's case quite obviously revolved （回转） around the fact that I had a 'brilliant academic record'．

Meanwhile, just outside the courtroom, one of the policemen who had arrested me was gloomily complaining to my mother that another youngster had been turned against the police． 'You could have been a bit more helpful when we arrested you,' he said to me reproachfully （责备地） ．

What did he mean? Probably that I should have looked outraged （暴怒）and said something like, 'Look here, do you know who you're talking to? I am a highly successful student with a brilliant academic record．How dare you arrest me!' Then they, probably, would have apologized perhaps even taken off their caps, and let me on my way．

1.Judging from the first paragraph, the writer's attitude towards his story is _______．

A．angry                                          B．sad      

C．amused                                      D．more than just one of the above

2.The first man who came up to him was ______．

A．a uniformed policeman                 B．a policeman in plainclothes

C．not a policeman                          D．a good joker

3.The court never asked the author's English teacher to give evidence because _______．

A．the time for the trial was limited to fifteen minutes only

B． the author wanted to conduct his own defense in court

C．the case was dismissed before the trial reached that stage

D．he was found to be unqualified as a character witness

4.The author believes that he would most probably have been declared guilty if _______．

A．the magistrate had been less gentle

B．he had really been out of work

C．he had been born in a lower—class family

D．both B and C

5.In the opinion of one of the policeman who had arrested the author, the whole thing might not have occurred if ______．

A．he had protested strongly at the time

B．he had begged to be allowed to go home

C．he hadn't wandered aimlessly

D．he had tried to look cool

6.We can see from the passage that the author ______．

A．has broken the law only once

B．has never broken the law

C．has broken the law on more than one occasion

D．once broke the law without knowing it