An unemployed man is desperate to support his family. His wife watches TV all day and his three teenage kids have dropped out of high school to hang around with the local toughs. He applies for a cleaner’s job at a large firm and easily passes an aptitude test. The human resources manager tells him, “You will be hired at minimum wage, $5.15 an hour. Let me have your e-mail address so that we can contact you easily. Our system will automatically e-mail you all the forms and advise you when to start and where to report on your first day.” Greatly surprised, the man protests that he has neither a computer nor an e-mail address. To this, the manager replies, “You must understand that to a company like ours that means you virtually do not exist. Without an e-mail address you can hardly expect to be employed by a high tech firm. Good day.”

Unable to believe what he heard, the man leaves. Not knowing where to turn and having $10 in his wallet, he walks past a farmers’ market and sees a stand selling beautiful tomatoes. He buys a crate (柳条箱), carries it to a busy corner and displays the tomatoes. In less than two hours he sells all the tomatoes and makes 100% profit. From that day on, he repeats the tomato business and becomes increasingly successful as time goes on. By the end of the fifth year he owns a fleet of nice trucks and a warehouse. The tomato company has put hundreds of homeless and jobless people to work and the business grossed a million dollars.

Planning for the future, he decides to buy some life insurance. The insurance adviser asks him for his e-mail address in order to send the final documents electronically. When the man replies that he doesn’t have time to mess with a computer and has no e-mail address, the insurance salesman is surprised, “ No computer? No Internet? Just think where you would be if you’d had all of that five years ago!” “Ha! If I’d had all of that five years ago, I would be sweeping floors at Microsoft and making $5.15 an hour!” the man replies.

1. The man’s kids drop out of school because ______.

   A. they want to hang around with the local toughs

   B. their mother watches TV all day

   C. their father is only a cleaner

   D. their family is very poor

2. The man applies for a cleaner’s job ______.

   A. but he can’t accept it because the pay is too low

   B. and he gets it though the pay is only $5.15 an hour

   C. but he was turned down because he doesn’t have an e-mail address

   D. but he misses the chance because they fail to contact him

3. The man’s tomatoes sell well because ______.

   A. the tomatoes look very beautiful

   B. he has chosen the right place to sell them

   C. many jobless people help him

   D. the tomatoes are contained in beautiful crates

4. From the conversation between the man and the insurance salesman in the last paragraph we can infer that ______.

   A. the man will buy a computer soon

   B. it’s very easy to do tomato business

   C. one does not necessarily have an e-mail address to be successful

   D. the man is not able to buy any life insurance without an e-mail address

An unemployed man is desperate to support his family. His wife watches TV all day and his three teenage kids have dropped out of high school to hang around with the local toughs. He applies for a cleaner’s job at a large firm and easily passes an aptitude test. The human resources manager tells him, “You will be hired at minimum wage, $5.15 an hour. Let me have your e-mail address so that we can contact you easily. Our system will automatically e-mail you all the forms and advise you when to start and where to report on your first day.” Greatly surprised, the man protests that he has neither a computer nor an e-mail address. To this, the manager replies, “You must understand that to a company like ours that means you virtually do not exist. Without an e-mail address you can hardly expect to be employed by a high tech firm. Good day.”

Unable to believe what he heard, the man leaves. Not knowing where to turn and having $10 in his wallet, he walks past a farmers’ market and sees a stand selling beautiful tomatoes. He buys a crate (柳条箱), carries it to a busy corner and displays the tomatoes. In less than two hours he sells all the tomatoes and makes 100% profit. From that day on, he repeats the tomato business and becomes increasingly successful as time goes on. By the end of the fifth year he owns a fleet of nice trucks and a warehouse. The tomato company has put hundreds of homeless and jobless people to work and the business grossed a million dollars.

Planning for the future, he decides to buy some life insurance. The insurance adviser asks him for his e-mail address in order to send the final documents electronically. When the man replies that he doesn’t have time to mess with a computer and has no e-mail address, the insurance salesman is surprised, “ No computer? No Internet? Just think where you would be if you’d had all of that five years ago!” “Ha! If I’d had all of that five years ago, I would be sweeping floors at Microsoft and making $5.15 an hour!” the man replies.

41. The man’s kids drop out of school because ______.

   A. they want to hang around with the local toughs

   B. their mother watches TV all day

   C. their father is only a cleaner

   D. their family is very poor

42. The man applies for a cleaner’s job ______.

   A. but he can’t accept it because the pay is too low

   B. and he gets it though the pay is only $5.15 an hour

   C. but he was turned down because he doesn’t have an e-mail address

   D. but he misses the chance because they fail to contact him

43. The man’s tomatoes sell well because ______.

   A. the tomatoes look very beautiful

   B. he has chosen the right place to sell them

   C. many jobless people help him

   D. the tomatoes are contained in beautiful crates

44. From the conversation between the man and the insurance salesman in the last paragraph we can infer that ______.

   A. the man will buy a computer soon

   B. it’s very easy to do tomato business

   C. one does not necessarily have an e-mail address to be successful

   D. the man is not able to buy any life insurance without an e-mail address