阅读理解

　　A man and his wife wanted to move to a new house. They searched for a long time and finally found an advertisement for a nice one. They looked at the house together and almost decided to buy it, but they wanted to learn more about the neighborhood first. Would the neighbors be nice or not? An old man was walking in front of the house, so they went to him to get some information.

　　“Sir,” said the husband, “my wife and I are looking at this house. It seems excellent and we may buy it. But first, before our final decision, could you please give us some information about the neighborhood? What are the people around here like? We want to avoid trouble if we can.”

　　The old man looked at the couple, and then replied with a question. “What type of people live near you in your present home?”

　　“They're terrible,” the husband replied. “They're always causing arguments (争论) and making trouble. We decided to move mainly to avoid them.”

　　“Well, don't move here”, warned the old man, “You'll find the same type of people here.”

　　The couple thanked the old man for his warning and drove off to continue their search (寻找). Just then a second couple drove up.

　　“Sir,” the second husband said, “could you please give us some information about the neighbors here? We may want to buy this house.”

　　“How are the neighbors around your present home?”

　　“They're excellent,” was the husband's reply. “Everybody is helpful, friendly and cheerful. We never have any trouble. It will be terrible to have to move away from them.”

　　“They're cheerful, eh?” said the old man. “Well, you'll find the same type of people here.”

1．The old man was ________.

[　　]

2．Why did the first couple want to buy a new house?

[　　]

A．To have an excellent house.

B．To learn from the neighborhood.

C．To get away from their neighbors.

D．To have a permanent (永久的) home.

3． The second man and his wife were ________.

[　　]

4．What is the main idea of this passage?

A．People should not ask questions.

B．Do not rely on old men.

C．Nice people can be happy in any place.

D．It is hard to find good neighbors.

A lady in an old cotton dress and her husband, dressed in an old suit, stepped off the train in Boston, and walked into the president of Harvard’s outer office. The secretary could tell in a moment that such country people had no business at Harvard. She frowned. “We want to see the president,” the man said softly.  “He’ll be busy all day,” the secretary said coldly. “We’ll wait,” the lady replied.

For hours, the secretary didn’t talk to them, hoping that the couple would finally become tired and go away. They didn’t. And the secretary finally decided to disturb the president. “Maybe if they just see you for a few minutes, they’ll leave,” she told him. He frowned too. Someone of his importance didn’t have the time to spend with nobodies.

The president walked toward them unwillingly. The lady told him, “We had a son that attended Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard, and was very happy here. But he was accidentally killed. And my husband and I would like to set up a memorial(纪念碑) to him somewhere on campus. ” The president was so surprised that he shouted sharply, “We can’t put up a statue(塑像) for every person who attended Harvard and died, this place would look like a cemetery.

“Oh, no” the lady explained, “We don’t want to build a statue. We thought we would give a building to Harvard.” The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at their plain clothes, and said with surprise, “A building! Do you have any idea how much a building costs? The physical building at Harvard cost seven million and a half.”

For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased. He could get rid of them now. The lady turned to her husband and said quietly. “Is that all it costs to start a university?” Her husband nodded(点头). Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford walked away, traveling to Palo Alto, California where they set up the university with their name -------a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.

You can easily judge(判断) others by how they treat those who can do nothing for them or to them.

46. What did the old couple go to Harvard for?

A. They wanted to see their son.

B. They had an important meeting

C. They went to Harvard just to see start a university

D. They wanted to meet the president of Harvard.

47. Why didn’t the president come out to meet the couple?

A. He was really busy at that time.

B. The secretary didn’t allow the couple to meet the president.

C. He was important and didn’t have time for unimportant people.

D. He had an important friend to meet and had to spend some time together.

48. From the passage, we can know ______.

A. the old couple were in fact rich people

B. the secretary was afraid of the old couple

C. the old couple’s son was killed in Harvard

D. the president of Harvard was kind and patient to anyone

49. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A. the old couple set up their own university.

B. the old couple set up a memorial to their son

C. the old couple gave a building to Harvard.

D. Giving a building to Harvard was easy and cheap at that time.

50. The best title of the passage is “______”.

A. Never Judge a Book by Its Cover     B. How the Stanford Was Built 

C.A Visit to Harvard University        D. A Strange Old Couple

A lady in an old cotton dress and her husband, dressed in an old suit, stepped off the train in Boston, and walked into the president of Harvard’s outer office. The secretary could tell in a moment that such country people had no business at Harvard. She frowned(皱眉). “We want to see the president,” the man said softly. “He’ll be busy all day,” the secretary said coldly. “We’ll wait,” the lady replied.

For hours, the secretary didn’t talk to them, hoping that the couple would finally become tired and go away. They didn’t. And the secretary finally decided to disturb the president. “Maybe if they just see you for a few minutes, they’ll leave,” she told him. He frowned too. Someone of his importance obviously didn’t have the time to spend with them.

The president walked toward them unwillingly. The lady told him, “We had a son that attended Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard, and was very happy here. But he was accidentally killed. And my husband and I would like to set up a memorial(纪念碑) to him somewhere on campus. ” The president was so surprised that he shouted sharply, “We can’t put up a statue(塑像) for every person who attended Harvard and died. This place would look like a cemetery (墓地).

“Oh, no” the lady explained, “We don’t want to build a statue. We thought we would give a building to Harvard.” The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at their plain clothes, and said with surprise, “A building! Do you have any idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars in the physical buildings here at Harvard.”

For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased. He could get rid of them now. The lady turned to her husband and said quietly. “Is that all it costs to start a university? Why don't we just start our own?” Her husband nodded. Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford walked away, traveling to Palo Alto, California where they set up the university with their name, Stanford University, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.

1.What did the old couple go to Harvard for?

A．They wanted to see their son.

B．They had an important meeting

C．They went to Harvard just to start a university

D．They wanted to meet the president of Harvard.

2.Why didn’t the president come out to meet the couple?

A．He was really busy at that time.

B．The secretary didn’t allow the couple to meet the president.

C．He was important and didn’t have time for unimportant people.

D．He had an important friend to meet and had to spend some time together.

3.From the passage, we can know ______.

A．the old couple were in fact rich people

B．the secretary was afraid of the old couple

C．the old couple’s son was killed in Harvard

D．the president of Harvard was kind and patient to anyone

4.The best title of the passage is “______”.

A．A Statue or A Building                    B．How Stanford University Was Built

C．A Visit to Harvard University               D．A Strange Old Couple