My friends and I had just finished lunch at a hotel when it started to pour  1  . When it became lighter, I decided to get my car, which was  2  at my office three streets away.
My friends argued that I shouldn’t go, mainly because I was seven months pregnant then. I assured them that I’d be very  3 .
I walked out of the  4 and started making my way to the car. At the traffic junction, a van stopped and the passenger got off with an umbrella. Before I knew what was happening, he walked right beside me and told me he’d escort(护送) me to my  5  . I was very embarrassed and declined(辞谢), but he was very  6 .
During our  7  , he kept telling me to walk slower, as the ground was  8  . When we got to the car park, I  9  him and we parted ways. I did not get his  10  and may not even recognise him now. Did he  11  stop for me? I’ll never know.
So how did I pay it forward? I was at home when I  12  two Indian construction workers walking in the heavy rain. They were probably on their way to the construction  13  near my estate, which was a long walk in. I went out and passed them an umbrella. I told them they should take the umbrella and  14  it. They were very grateful and like me, probably wondered why a  15  was offering such kindness.

A few years ago I had an “aha!” moment regarding handwriting.

I had in my hand a sheet of paper with handwritten instructions on it for some sort of editorial task. It occurred at first that I did not recognize the handwriting，and then I realized whose it must be. I finally became aware of the fact that I had been working with this colleague for at least a year，maybe two，and yet I did not recognize her handwriting at that point.

It was a very important event in the computerization of life—a sign that the informal. Friendly communication of people working together in an office had changed from notes in pen to instant messages and emails. There was a time when our workdays were filled with little letters，and we recognized one another's handwriting the way we knew voices or faces.

As a child visiting my father’s office，1 was pleased to recognize，in little notes on the desks of his staff，the same handwriting 1 would see at home in the notes he would leave on the fridge—except that those notes were signed “dad” instead of “RFW”.

All this has been on my mind because of the talk about The Rise and Fall of Handwriting，a book by Florey. Sire shows in her book a deep concern about the fall of handwriting and the failure of schools to teach children to write well，but many others argue that people in a digital age can’t be expected to learn to hold a pen.

I don’t buy it.

I don’t want to see anyone cut off from the expressive，personal associations that a pen still promotes better than a digital keyboard does. For many a biographer，part of really getting to know their subjects is learning to read their handwriting.

What some people advocate is teaching one of the many attractive handwritings based on the handwriting of 16^th-century Italy. That may sound impossibly grand—as if they want kids to learn to draw by copying classical paintings. However，they have worked in many school systems.

1.Why was the author surprised at not recognizing his colleague’s handwriting?

A. He had worked with his colleague long enough.

B. His colleague’s handwriting was SO beautiful.

C. His colleague’s handwriting was SO terrible.

D. He still had a 1ot of Work to do.

2.People working together in an office used to ____________.

A. talk more about handwriting

B. take more notes on workdays

C. know better one another's handwriting

D. communicate better with one another

3.The author’s father wrote notes in pen _________.

A. to both his family and his staff

B. to his family in small letters

C. to his family on the fridge

D. to his staff on the desk

4.According to the author，handwritten notes _______.

A. are harder to teach in schools

B. attract more attention

C. are used only between friends

D. carry more message

5.We can learn from the passage that the author __________.

A. thinks it impossible to teach handwriting

B. does not want to lose handwriting

C. puts the blame on the computer

D. does not agree with Florey

本文是一篇夹叙夹议的文章，通过一时辨认不出一位老同事的字迹及其回顾，对在电脑冲击下，书法受忽视感到惋惜，并认为中小学应当加强书法教学。

An 80-year-old man was sitting in his house beside his 45-year-old son. Suddenly a crow landed in front of the window. The father 16 his son, "What is that?" The son replied, "It is a crow."17 a few minutes, the father asked his son a second time, "What is that?" The son said "I just 18 you that it’s a crow." After a little 19 , the father again asked his son, "What is that?" That time a(n) 20 tone could be heard in the son’s 21 . "It’s a crow, a crow!"
A little later, the father went to his room and 22 with an old diary which he had 23 for many years. After opening the right page, he asked his son to 24 it. When the son read it, tears came to his eyes." Today my 25 was sitting with me on the sofa.
When a crow was 26 by the window, my son asked me 23 times what it was, and I 27 to him all 23 times that it was a crow. I hugged him 28 each time he asked me the same question. I did not feel 29 answering the same question." If your 30 become old, don’t treat them or look 31 them as a burden(累赘). Instead be warm and 32 to them. From today on say this to yourself, "I want to 33 my parents happy forever, for they have 34 for me ever since I was born, and they have always showed their 35 love to me."

The professor’s house, big and untidy, stood alone at one end of a huge garden. The place was totally uncared for, quite __36__ and overgrown with all sorts of useless things. I __37__ my way through bushes and tall weeds to the front door and rang the bell.
I was glad that I found him. In twenty minutes he put me right on all the __38__ that had puzzled me. I was on the __39__ of leaving when I looked out of his study window and said, “You’re very fond of gardening, I see”
“No, I’m not,” he said. “__40__, I love this garden, though. It’s __41__ I always wanted it to be. I never touch it __42__ all.”
“It could be made lovely. It seems a pity to let all this ground go to __43__. But perhaps you don’t _ 44__ that way?” said I.
“I don’t. I lived here when I was a child, and I had   45  of gardening then. It was my father’s hobby, you see. Unfortunately, he wasn’t   46  _ enough to do it himself. My brother and I did all of it between us year after year. There was one right way and many wrong ways. Each blade (叶片) of grass was an enemy to be _ _47__ out by hand, not just cut off. I’ve spent a good part of life at work here.”
“I see. You took a dislike to it, and now you’re getting even！”
“I dislike it. Then, of course, I didn’t understand the effect it had. It used to __48__ me. It appeared in my __49__ ——— a mistake here, something not quite straight here, the enemy showing its head in a place I was __50__ to have cleaned. The work was too much. It seemed endless. The size of the place was itself a fight to a boy.”
“And now it’s yours, you’re just letting it go to ...”
“__51__?” he said. “No, I don’t agree with that. This garden and I are now the best friends. I like  _52__ it grow in its own way. I make no __53__ on it. I never disturb it, and it never disturbs me. It has _ 54__ at last, and so have I.”
“But the path is over grown. It’s __55__ for you, isn’t it?”
“That’s part of my pleasure，” he laughed. “You can go out the back way. The weeds are shorter there because they don’t get the sun.”                             

I live in a very over populated beach area in the Los Angeles, and I love the beautiful scenery! But because of many people, lots of things are easy to be out of order, and sometimes it’s also easy to lose your cool. Today was a day I wish I did not get out of bed. I mean that if I did not have to wake up and deal with all the things that I deal with on a daily basis, it would have been wonderful.

I had a cup of coffee this morning and that was my meal for breakfast, not healthy I know. Anyway, my stomach was sounding like a truck. So, I jumped in my car and decided to buy some food.

I was in line at Taco Bell (一家墨西哥速食店) and the line was like a long snake! Finally I got to place my order, but a young girl in nice clothes pulled in and was stuck in such a way that unless I moved for her, she wouldn’t be able to get out. So I backed up and waved her into my place in the front of the line.

To my surprise, this young girl did not say thanks. I was cool with it because I thought that I had done something nice for a change. After the girl received her food and pulled away, I pulled into the ordering spot, not mad, but hungry, and the employee said, “Hi, that girl just paid for your food.”

That food was the most satisfying nourishment (营养品) my body had ever taken! If just by chance you are that person who bought my food, I should say “Thank you!”

1.The underlined part in the first paragraph probably means “_____”.

A．be friendly to others                     B．become angry

C．get warmer                            D．remain calm

2.What happened to the author according to the passage?

A．He remained lying in bed all the morning.

B．He didn’t feel well after drinking a cup of coffee.

C．He made room for a girl who jumped the queue.

D．He had a quarrel with a girl who didn’t stand in line.

3.How did the young girl show her thanks to the author?

A．She got out of her car and said thanks.

B．She drove away with her own food.

C．She received her food and waved goodbye.

D．She paid for the author’s food without him knowing.

4.The best title for the passage might be _____.

A．Kindness is spreading

B．Being patient wins respect

C．Being calm is important in accidents

D．Being polite can change the world