My uncle has a very beautiful umbrella. He has had it   16   and he is very careful with it. It still looks as good as new. ‘That umbrella must have   17   you a great deal of money, Uncle,’ I said to him one day. ‘No,’ he replied, ‘  18  .’ ‘Was it a present?’ I asked again. ‘No,’ said he. ‘Then how did you get it?’ I asked.

   ‘Well,’ he answered, ‘it is a strange true story. About ten years ago I was walking along a quiet London street one evening   19  it suddenly rained. I had no  20   and no umbrella. No buses   21    that street and there were no taxis in sight. As I was on my way to a party I didn’t want to get   22    . So I stood in a doorway and waited for the rain to stop. By and by it grew quite    23    , there wasn’t a person around, and still it rained and rained.    24     a young man came to the place where I was standing,    25   a large umbrella over his head. As I hoped he would   26     me to walk to the next corner with him,    27   I could have got a taxi, I stepped    28    the dark doorway where I had been standing, and said,   29     , where are you going with that umbrella?

        30     by my sudden appearance, the young man    31  the umbrella which I am afraid, he had just stolen, ran away, and    32   into the darkness. I picked up the umbrella and    33   my walk. I knew it would be   34   in this big city to try and discover the owner and so I’ve kept it   35 .’

1.

A. for months    B. for years    C. since childhood    D. since then

2.

 A. used         B. cost        C. taken            D. spent

3.

A. very little  B. only a few pounds  C. not a penny D. not a great deal

4.

A. when        B. then        C. before            D. as

5.

 A. car          B. hat         C. raincoat          D. friend

6.

 A. moved through   B. ran through   C. went across  D. passed across

7.

 A. tired         B. back        C. wet           D. away

8.

  A. dark         B. wet        C. late             D. helpless

9.

 A. At once      B. At last      C. Strangely        D. Secretly

10.

A. raising       B. carrying     C. holding         D. lifting

11.

A. allow        B. let         C. agree           D. promise

12.

  A. there        B. where      C. from which       D. in which

13.

A. into         B. out of      C. towards          D. from behind

14.

A. By the way   B. Pardon     C. Excuse me        D. Sorry

15.

  A. Encouraged   B. Forced     C. Warmed         D. Frightened

16.

A. shut         B. took       C. dropped         D. forgot

17.

 A. disappeared   B. wandered   C. marched        D. came

18.

 A. stopped      B. started      C. continued       D. delayed

19.

  A. endless      B. interesting    C. exciting       D. hopeless

20.

A. ever since    B. forever     C. long enough     D. in the end

When I was fourteen, I earned money in the summer by cutting lawns（草坪）, and within a few weeks I had built up a body of customers. I got to know people by the flowers they planted that I had to remember not to cut down, by the things they lost in the grass or struck in the ground on purpose. I reached the point with most of them when I knew in advance what complaint was about to be spoken, which request was most important. And I learned something about the measure of my neighbors by their preferred method of payment: by the job, by the month—or not at all.

Mr. Ballou fell into the last category, and he always had a reason why. On one day, he had no change for a fifty, on another he was flat out of checks, on another, he was simply out when I knocked on his door. Still, except for the money apart, he was a nice enough guy, always waving or tipping his hat when he’d seen me from a distance. I figured him for a thin retirement check, maybe a work-related injury that kept him from doing his own yard work. Sure, I kept track of the total, but I didn’t worry about the amount too much. Grass was grass, and the little that Mr. Ballou’s property comprised didn’t take long to trim (修剪).

Then, one late afternoon in mid-July, the hottest time of the year, I was walking by his house and he opened the door, mentioned me to come inside. The hall was cool, shaded, and it took my eyes a minute to adjust to the dim light. 

“I owe you,” Mr Ballou said, “but…”

I thought I’d save him the trouble of thinking of a new excuse. “No problem. Don’t worry about it.”

“The bank made a mistake in my account,” he continued, ignoring my words. “It will be cleared up in a day or two. But in the meantime I thought perhaps you could choose one or two volumes for a down payment.

He gestured toward the walls and I saw that books were stacked (堆放) everywhere. It was like a library, except with no order to the arrangement.

“Take your time,” Mr. Ballou encouraged. “Read, borrow, keep, or find something you like. What do you read?”

“I don’t know.” And I didn’t. I generally read what was in front of me, what I could get from the paperback stack at the drugstore, what I found at the library, magazines, the back of cereal boxes, comics. The idea of consciously seeking out a special title was new to me, but, I realized, not without appeal--- so I started to look through the piles of books.

“You actually read all of these?”

“This isn’t much,” Mr. Ballou said. “This is nothing, just what I’ve kept, the ones worth looking at a second time.”

“Pick for me, then.”

He raised his eyebrows, cocked his head, and regarded me as though measuring me for a suit. After a moment, he nodded, searched through a stack, and handed me a dark red hardbound book, fairly thick.

“The Last of the Just,” I read. “By Andre Schwarz-Bart. What’s it about?”

“You tell me,” he said. “Next week.”

I started after supper, sitting outdoors on an uncomfortable kitchen chair. Within a few pages, the yard, the summer, disappeared, and I was plunged into the aching tragedy of the Holocaust, the extraordinary clash of good, represented by one decent man, and evil. Translated from French, the language was elegant, simple, impossible to resist. When the evening light finally failed I moved inside, read all through the night.

To this day, thirty years later, I vividly remember the experience. It was my first voluntary encounter with world literature, and I was amazed by the concentrated power a novel could contain. I lacked the vocabulary, however, to translate my feelings into words, so the next week. When Mr. Ballou asked, “Well?” I only replied, “It was good?”

“Keep it, then,” he said. “Shall I suggest another?”

I nodded, and was presented with the paperback edition of Margaret Mead’s Coming of Age in Samoa (a very important book on the study of the social and cultural development of peoples—anthropology (人类学) ).

To make two long stories short, Mr. Ballou never paid me a cent for cutting his grass that year or the next, but for fifteen years I taught anthropology at Dartmouth College. Summer reading was not the innocent entertainment I had assumed it to be, not a light-hearted, instantly forgettable escape in a hammock (吊床) (though I have since enjoyed many of those, too). A book, if it arrives before you at the right moment, in the proper season, at an internal in the daily business of things, will change the course of all that follows.

1.Before his encounter with Mr. Ballou, the author used to read _____________.

A．anything and everything                  B．only what was given to him

C．only serious novels                      D．nothing in the summer

2.The author found the first book Mr. Ballou gave him _____________.

A．light-hearted and enjoyable               B．dull but well written

C．impossible to put down                   D．difficult to understand

3.From what he said to the author we can guess that Mr. Ballou _______________.

A．read all books twice                     B．did not do much reading

C．read more books than he kept             D．preferred to read hardbound books

4.The following year the author _______________.

A．started studying anthropology at college

B．continued to cut Mr. Ballou’s lawn

C．spent most of his time lazing away in a hammock

D．had forgotten what he had read the summer before

5.The author’s main point is that _____________.

A．summer jobs are really good for young people

B．you should insist on being paid before you do a job

C．a good book can change the direction of your life

D．books are human beings’ best friends

My uncle has a very beautiful umbrella. He has had it  36  and as he is very  37  it, it still looks as good as new.?
“That umbrella must have   38  you a great deal of money, Uncle.” I said to him one day.
“No,” he replied, “ 39 ”
“Was it a present?” I asked again.
“No,” said he.
“Then how did you get it?” I asked.
“Well,” he answered, “it is a strange true story. About ten years ago, I was walking along a quiet London street one evening   40  it suddenly rained. I had no raincoat and no umbrella. No buses ran through that street and there were no   41  in sight. As I was on my way to a party, I didn't want to get  42 . So I stood at a doorway and waited for the rain to stop. By and by it grew quite  43 .There wasn't a person around, and  44  it rained and rained.  45  a young man came to the place where I was standing,  46   a large umbrella over his head.  47  I hoped he would   48  me to walk to the next corner with him in order that I could get a taxi, I stepped   49  the dark doorway where I had been standing, and said: “ 50 , where are you going with that umbrella?”
 51  by my sudden appearance, the young man  52   the umbrella, which, I'm afraid, he had just stolen, ran away, and  53  into the darkness. I picked up the umbrella and continued my walk. I knew it would be  54  in this big city to try and discover the owner and so I've kept it   55 .”

【小题1】

A．for months B． for years? C．since childhood D．for a few days?

When I was fourteen, I earned money in the summer by cutting lawns（草坪）, and within a few weeks I had built up a body of customers. I got to know people by the flowers they planted that I had to remember not to cut down, by the things they lost in the grass or struck in the ground on purpose. I reached the point with most of them when I knew in advance what complaint was about to be spoken, which particular request was most important. And I learned something about the measure of my neighbors by their preferred method of payment: by the job, by the month--- or not at all.
Mr. Ballou fell into the last category, and he always had a reason why. On one day, he had no  change for a fifty, on another he was flat out of checks, on another, he was simply out when I knocked on his door. Still, except for the money apart, he was a nice enough guy, always waving or tipping his hat when he’d see me from a distance. I figured him for a thin retirement check, maybe a work-relayed injury that kept him from doing his own yard work. Sure, I kept track of the total, but I didn’t worry about the amount too much. Grass was grass, and the little that Mr. Ballou’s property comprised didn’t take long to trim (修剪).
Then, one late afternoon in mid-July, the hottest time of the year, I was walking by his house and he opened the door, mentioned me to come inside. The hall was cool, shaded, and it took my eyes a minute to adjust to the dim light. 
“ I owe you,” Mr Ballou, “ but…”
I thought I’d save him the trouble of thinking of a new excuse. “ No problem. Don’t worry about it.”
“ The bank made a mistake in my account,” he continued, ignoring my words. “ It will be cleared up in a day or two . But in the meantime I thought perhaps you could choose one or two volumes for a down payment.
He gestured toward the walls and I saw that books were stacked (堆放) everywhere. It was like a library, except with no order to the arrangement.
“ Take your time,” Mr. Ballou encouraged. “Read, borrow, keep. Find something you like. What do you read?”
“ I don’t know.” And I didn’t. I generally read what was in front of me, what I could get from the paperback stack at the drugstore, what I found at the library, magazines, the back of cereal boxes, comics. The idea of consciously seeking out a special title was new to me, but, I realized, not without appeal--- so I started to look through the piles of books.
“ You actually read all of these?”
“ This isn’t much,” Mr. Ballou said. “ This is nothing, just what I’ve kept, the ones worth looking at a second time.”
“ Pick for me, then.”
He raised his eyebrows, cocked his head, and regarded me as though measuring me for a suit. After a moment, he nodded, searched through a stack, and handed me a dark red hardbound book, fairly thick.
“ The Last of the Just,” I read. “ By Andre Schwarz-Bart. What’s it about?” “ You tell me,” he said. “ Next week.”
I started after supper, sitting outdoors on an uncomfortable kitchen chair. Within a few pages, the yard, the summer, disappeared, and I was plunged into the aching tragedy of the Holocaust, the extraordinary clash of good, represented by one decent man, and evil. Translated from French, the language was elegant, simple, impossible to resist. When the evening light finally failed I moved inside, read all through the night,
To this day, thirty years later, I vividly remember the experience. It was my first voluntary encounter with world literature, and I was stunned (震惊) by the concentrated power a novel could contain. I lacked the vocabulary, however, to translate my feelings into words, so the next week. When Mr. Ballou asked, “ Well?” I only replied, “ It was good?”
“ Keep it, then,” he said. “ Shall I suggest another?”
I nodded, and was presented with the paperback edition of Margaret Mead’s Coming of Age in Samoa ( a very important book on the study of the social and cultural development of peoples--- anthropology (人类学) ).
To make two long stories short, Mr. Ballou never paid me a cent for cutting his grass that year or the next, but for fifteen years I taught anthropology at Dartmouth College. Summer reading was not the innocent entertainment I had assumed it to be, not a light-hearted, instantly forgettable escape in a hammock (吊床) ( though I have since enjoyed many of those, too). A book, if it arrives before you at the right moment, in the proper season, at an internal in the daily business of things, will change the course of all that follows.
【小题1】.The author thought that Mr. Ballou was ______________.

My uncle has a very beautiful umbrella. He has had it  36  and as he is very  37  it, it still looks as good as new.?

“That umbrella must have   38  you a great deal of money, Uncle.” I said to him one day.

“No,” he replied, “ 39 ”

“Was it a present?” I asked again.

“No,” said he.

“Then how did you get it?” I asked.

“Well,” he answered, “it is a strange true story. About ten years ago, I was walking along a quiet London street one evening   40   it suddenly rained. I had no raincoat and no umbrella. No buses ran through that street and there were no   41   in sight. As I was on my way to a party, I didn't want to get  42  . So I stood at a doorway and waited for the rain to stop. By and by it grew quite  43  .There wasn't a person around, and  44   it rained and rained.  45   a young man came to the place where I was standing,  46    a large umbrella over his head.  47  I hoped he would   48   me to walk to the next corner with him in order that I could get a taxi, I stepped   49   the dark doorway where I had been standing, and said: “  50  , where are you going with that umbrella?”

 51   by my sudden appearance, the young man  52   the umbrella, which, I'm afraid, he had just stolen, ran away, and  53  into the darkness. I picked up the umbrella and continued my walk. I knew it would be  54  in this big city to try and discover the owner and so I've kept it   55  .”

A. for months                B. for years?           C. since childhood                D. for a few days?

A. satisfied with         B. afraid of     ?           C. proud of                          D. careful with?

A. given                          B. cost                         C. saved                              D. made?

A. very little                    B. I don't know             C. not a penny                            D. quite a lot?

A. when                          B. though                            C. because                           D. after?

A. bicycles                      B. policemen?             C. friends                                   D. taxis?

A. tired                           B. back                        C. wet                                 D. away?

A. dark                      B. fine                         C. dirty                               D. dangerous?

A. naturally                     B. suddenly?               C. always                                   D. still?

A. At once                        B. At last                      C. As usual                          D. As well

A. selling                          B. carrying?                C. moving                           D. showing?

A. As                              B. Although                  C. While                             D. If

A. order                          B. persuade                   C. allow                                    D. promise?

A. into                            B. out of                      C. towards                           D. along?

A. By the way                   B. Help                        C. Excuse me                       D. Stop?

A. Punished                     B. Discouraged?          C. Warned                           D. Frightened?

A. raised                         B. took                         C. dropped                          D. forgot?

A. disappeared                 B. lost                          C. pulled                             D. turned?

A. endless                       B. interesting               C. exciting                           D. hopeless?

A. ever since                   B. for a while?            C. for you                           D. forever?