After Mom died, l began visiting Dad every morning before I went to work. He was frail and moved slowly, but he always had a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice on the kitchen table for me, along with an unsigned note reading," Drink your juice." Such a gesture, l knew, was as far as Dad had ever been able to go in expressing his love. In fact, l remember, as a kid I had questioned Mom "Why doesn't Dad love me?" Mom frowned, "Who said he doesn’t love you?" "Well, he never tells me, "I complained." He never tells me either," she said, smiling. " But look how hard he works to take care of us, to buy us food and clothes, and to pay for this house. That's how your father tells us he loves us. "
I nodded slowly. I understood in my head, but not in my heart. l still wanted my father to put his arms around me and tell me he loved me. Dad owned and operated a small scrap (片) metal business, and after school I often hung around while he worked. Dad handled scrap steel into a device that chopped it as cleanly as a butcher chops a rack of ribs. The machine looked like a giant pair of scissors, with blades thicker than my father's body. If he didn’t feed those terrifying blades just right, he risked serious injury. "Why don' t you hire someone to do that for you?" Mom asked Dad one night as she bent over him and rubbed his aching shoulders with a strong smelling liniment. "Why don’t you hire a cook?" Dad asked, giving her one of his rare smiles.
Many years later, during my first daily visit, after drinking the juice my father had squeezed for me. l walked over, hugged him and said, "I love you, Dad." From then on I did this every morning. My father never told me how he felt about my hugs, and there was never any expression on his face when I gave them.
【小题1】What would be the best title for the passage?

A．My father never loved me	B．I just couldn't understand my father
C．My hard-working father	D．Silent fatherly love

【小题2】The author’s father always prepared a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice for him because____.

A．that was the author's favorite

B．that was a gesture of love

C．the author was always complaining

D．he was sure the author would be thirsty

【小题3】The author’s father didn’t hire a helper because________.              .

A．he wanted to save money

B．his job required high skills

C．his job was too dangerous

D．he was not good at communicating with others

【小题4】We may infer from the passage that _______.

A．the author's father lacked a sense of humor

B．the author's-father didn't love him very much

C．the author quite understood his father as time went on

D．the author's father was too strict with him

“I don’t believe in Santa Claus!” Trogmire announced.

Tremor looked shocked. “Why not?” he asked.

“Because he never leaves me any gifts at all,” Trogmire growled.

Tremor thought about the evidence for a few seconds. “Maybe,” he suggested, “it’s because when Santa checked his list, your name wasn’t in the ‘nice’ column.”

“So, he could at least bring me a lump of coal!” Trogmire replied. “And,” he went on, “Troubled doesn’t believe in Santa, either.”

“Right,” Tremor said, “because he saw his parents putting the ‘From Santa’ presents under the tree. But I know the truth about that. My mother found out from Troubled’s mother. When Troubled’s parents got an e-mail from Santa, saying that he would never bring Troubled another gift, they didn’t want to tell him the truth. So now they buy presents and pretend they’re from Santa.”

“What did Troubled do to get Santa so mad?” Trogmire questioned.

“I think it had something to do with the time he put glue paper all over the living room floor on Christmas Eve, and left a sign that said, ‘Trapped like a rat!’ hanging over the fireplace.” said Tremor.

“I guess Santa doesn’t have a sense of humour,” sighed Trogmire. “Well, at least I’m not the only one who Santa scratched off his name list.”

1.Why doesn’t Santa leave presents for Trogmire or Troubled?

    A．Their parents won’t let him leave gifts.          B．He can’t find their homes.

    C．He often forgets their names.    D．They have behaved badly.

2.Trogmire and Troubled don’t believe in Santa because ________.

    A．Santa has no sense of humor      B．Santa doesn’t give them anything

    C．they are too naughty to believe  D．Tremor convinced them he wasn’t real

3.Troubled’s parents never ________.

    A．told him about the message from Santa              B．loved him very much

    C．cared about how he behaved                   D．bought him anything

4.Trogmire’s last comment could be an example of the saying _______.

    A．Misery(苦难,不幸) loves company        B．Easy come, easy go

    C．Beauty is only skin deep             D．Love me, love my dog

 

—Dick has a bad cough because of smoking.

—Why doesn’t he      ？

A．give it up   B．give it in   C．give it out  D．give it away

 

 

Why I Don’t Spare “Spare Change”

“Poor but honest.” “The deserving (值得帮助的) poor.” These words always come to my mind when I think of “the poor.” But I also think of people who, perhaps through alcohol (酒) or drugs, have ruined not only their own lives but also the lives of others in order to give way to their own pleasure. Perhaps alcoholism and drug addiction (上瘾) really are “diseases,” as many people say, but my own feeling --- based. Of course, not on any serious study --- is that most alcoholics and drug addicts belong to the “undeserving poor.” And that is largely why I don’t give spare change to beggars.

But surely among the street people there are also some who can rightly be called “deserving.” Deserving what? My spare change? Or simply the government’s assistance? It happens that I have been brought up to believe that it is proper to make contributions to charity (慈善机构), but if I give some change to a beggar, am I making a contribution to charity and thereby helping someone, or, am I perhaps simply encouraging someone not to get help? Or, maybe even worse, am I supporting a cheat?

If one believes in the value of private charity, one can either give to needy people or to charitable organizations. In giving to a beggar one may indeed be helping a person who badly needs help, but one cannot be certain that one is giving to a needy person. In giving to an organization, on the other hand, one can feel that one’s money is likely to be used wisely. True, facing a beggar one may feel that this particular unfortunate person needs help at this moment --- a cup of coffee or a sandwich --- and the need will not be met unless I put my hand in my pocket right now. But I have come to think that the beggars whom I meet can get along without my spare change, and indeed perhaps they are actually better off for not having money to buy alcohol or drugs.

I know nothing about these beggars, but it’s my impression that they simply prefer begging to working. I am not generalizing about street people. I am talking about the about whom I actually meet. That’s why I do not give “spare change,” and I don’t think I will in the future.

1.What does the author think of beggars who take drugs?

   A. They should be given a check-up.

   B. They really need money to live.

   C. They have no pleasure in life.

   D. They are not worth helping.

2.Why doesn’t the author give money to street people?

   A. He doesn’t think they need help.

   B. He doesn’t have enough money to give.

   C. He is not convinced they will use it rightly.

   D. He believes they can get help from the government.

3.In the second paragraph, the author presents his idea by _______.

   A. asking questions for people to think about

   B. giving examples to support his argument

   C. raising questions and answering them

   D. expressing his opinions directly

4.Which of the following opinions does the author accept?

   A. Drug addiction is a disease.

   B. Some street people are poor and needy.

   C. Most beggars have received enough help.

   D. Charitable organizations handle money properly.

 

　　Why doesn’t the unemployment rate ever reach zero? Economists, who generally believe that supply tends to meet demand, have long thought about this question. Even in good times, i.e. not now, there are people who can’t find work. And even in bad times, i.e. now, there are job openings. With over 14 million people out of work and looking for a job, you would think every available job would be filled. But that’s not the case. Not now and not ever.
　　On Monday, the Nobel Prize committee awarded the prize for economics to the three scholars who have done the most to explain this phenomenon. Two of the winners are Americans, Peter Diamond of MIT and Dale Mortensen of Northwestern. The third winner is Christopher Pissarides, who teaches at the London School of Economics and was born on Cyprus.
　　Like most of economics, what they have found about why the jobless and ready-employers don’t find each other seems obvious. You have to find out there is job opening you are interested in. Employers need to get resumes （简历）. It takes a while for both employers and employees to make the decision that this is what they want. And these guys came up with a frame-work to study the problem of why people stay unemployed longer than they should and what can be done about it.
　　So what would today’s Nobel Prize winners do to solve the current problem of the unemployed? And does the awarding of the prize contribute to the politicians’ lowering joblessness?
　　Speaking from his north London home, Pissarides told The Associated Press the announcement came as “a complete surprise” though his work had already helped shape thinking on both sides of the Atlantic.
　　For example, the New Deal for Young People, a British government policy aimed at getting 18-24-year-olds back on the job market after long periods of unemployment, “is very much based on our work,” he said.
　　“One of the key things we found is that it is important to make sure that people do not stay unemployed too long so they don’t lose their feel for the labor force,” Pissarides told reporters in London. “The ways of dealing with this need not be expensive training – it could be as simple as providing work experience.”
【小题1】According to the writer, which is true about finding jobs?

A．It is always difficult to find a job.

B．Everyone can find a job in good times.

C．Contrary to popular belief, it is easier to find a job in bad times.

D．It is possible to find a job even in times as bad as now.

【小题2】 What is it that leads to their winning the prize?

A．They have found the reason for unemployment.

B．They have put forward a set of ideas to deal with unemployment.

C．They have found out why people don’t want to be employed.

D．They have long studied the problem of unemployment.

【小题3】Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

A．Pissarides thinks his work surprising.

B．The work of Pissarides has influenced many economists.

C．Some of the winners’ ideas have been put into practice.

D．It is probable that unemployed young people in Britain benefit from Pissarides’ work.

【小题4】 According to Pissarides, _________ is effrctive in dealing with unemployment.

A．spending large sums of money on training

B．teaching some knowledge of economics

C．providing work experience

D．keeping people unemployed for some time