I’m seventeen. I worked as a box boy at a supermarket in Los Angeles. People came to the counter (柜台) and I put things in their bags for them and carried things to their cars. It was hard work.
While working, I wore a plate with my name on it. I once met someone I knew years ago. I remembered his name and said, “Mr. Castle, how are you?” We talked about this and that. As he left, he said, “It was nice talking to you, Brett.” I felt great, he remembered me. Then I looked down at my name plate. Oh, no. He didn’t remember me at all, he just read the name plate. I wish I had put “Irving” down on my name plate. If he’d have said, “Oh yes, Irving, how could I forget you?” I’d have been ready for him. There’s nothing personal here.
The manager and everyone else who were a step above the box boys often shouted orders. One of these was: you couldn’t accept tips(小费). Okay, I’m outside and I put the bags in the car. For a lot of people, the natural reaction(反应)is to take a quarter and give it to me. I’d say, “I’m sorry, I can’t.” They’d get angry. When you give someone a tip, you’re sort of being polite. You take a quarter and you put it in their hand and you expect them to say, “Oh, thanks a lot.” When you say, “I’m sorry, I can’t.” they feel a little put down. They say, “No one will know.” And they put it in your pocket. You say, “I really can’t.” It gets to a point where you almost have to hurt a person physically to prevent him from tipping you. It was not in agreement with the store’s belief in being friendly. Accepting tips was a friendly thing and made the customer feel good. I just couldn’t understand the strangeness of some people’s ideas. One lady actually put a tip in my pocket, got in the car, and drove away. I was puzzled and didn’t know what to do. Should I d have had to throw the quarter at her or eaten it or something?
I decided that one year had been enough. Some people needed the job to stay alive and fed. I guess I had the means and could afford to hate it and give it up.
【小题1】. From the second paragraph, we can infer (推断) that ________.

My 14-year-old brother John dreamed of having a black woolen coat, for at that time this kind of coat was   31   with teenagers, but it could cost several hundred dollars. One day my brother and I went into a shop and saw a black woolen coat at the same time. The coat felt very soft, and it cost only ＄28. It was   32   but so nice. We looked at each other, saying nothing, but John’s eyes shone.

         John tried on the coat and   33   it at once. John wore the coat to school the next day happily and came home with a big   34  . “How do the kids like your coat?” I asked. “They love it,” he said. I started to call him “Lord (老爷) John”.

         Over the next few weeks, there seemed to be a   35   in John. He became more polite, more confident and more pleasing. He would   36   his classmates his pens; he would bring his father a cup of tea when he got home; he would   37   a blind man cross the road.

         When my mother talked about her son’s change with one of his teachers and wondered what caused it, he said, “It must be his  38  !” One day, in the library, my brother and I happened to meet a friend of my father’s, who had not seen us for a long time. John came up and shook hands with him like a   39  ! The friend said in surprise, “Are you John? You have changed so much!”

         What really changed John was his own attitude(态度).   40   you think you are a gentleman or a lady, you can become a perfect one.

1.A. busy                      B. careful                         C. popular                  D. good

2.A. dear                   B. cheap                          C. hard                   D. light

3.A. sold                           B. kept                      C. held                           D. bought

4.A. present                  B. smile                    C. problem                        D. cry

5.A. message                  B. pain                              C. change                   D. fashion

6.A. lend                      B. rent                      C. leave                     D. borrow

7.A. make                          B. watch                    C. let                       D. help

8.A. coat                       B. classmate              C. friend                    D. brother

9.A. businessman            B. woman                  C. gentleman              D. boy

10.A. Until                       B. If                             C. Before                         D. Unless