He almost didn’t see the old lady, stranded on the side of the road, but even in the dim light of day, he could see she needed help. So he pulled up in front her Mercedes and got out.

Even with the smile on his face, she was worried. No one had stopped to help for the last hour or so. Was he going to hurt her? He didn’t look safe; he looked poor and hungry. He could see that she was frightened, standing out there in the cold. He knew how she felt.

He said, “I am here to help you, ma’am. Why don’t you wait in the car where it’s warm? By the way, my name is Bryan Anderson.”

Well, all she had was a flat tire, but for an old lady, that was bad enough. Bryan crawled under the car looking for a place to put the jack, skinning his knuckles a time or two. Soon he was able to change the tire. But he had to get dirty and his hands hurt.

As he was tightening up the lug nuts, she rolled down the window and began to talk to him. She told him that she was from St. Louis and was just passing through. She couldn’t thank him enough for coming to her aid.

Bryan just smiled as he closed her trunk. The lady asked how much she owed him. Any amount would have been all right with her. She already imagined all the awful things that could have happened, had he not stopped. Bryan never thought twice about being paid. This was not a job to him. This was helping someone in need, and God knows there were many people who had given him a hand in the past. He had lived his whole life that way, and it never occurred to him to act any other way.He told her that if she really wanted to pay him back, the next time she saw someone who needed help, she could give that person the assistance they needed, and Bryan added, “And think of me.”

He waited until she started her car and drove off. It had been a cold and depressing day, but he felt good as he headed for home, disappearing into the twilight.

1.This story most probably took place_______.

A. in a garage   B. on a highway    C. in a busy street    D. near a gas station

2.When the man approached the old lady, the first thing he did was to______.

A. ask what was wrong with her car       

B. get the old lady out of her car

C. change her tire as soon as possible     

D. make her know he wanted to help her

3.The underlined part in Paragraph 6 suggests that________.

A. the old lady had got ready to pay the man

B. the old lady was grateful to the man

C. the man had a lot of difficulty changing the tire

D. the man didn’t stop changing the tire

4.Which of the following words can best describe the man?

A. Warm-hearted and sensitive.  

B. Careful and serious.

C. Thoughtful and helpful.      

D. Generous and open-minded.

5.It can be inferred from the last paragraph that ______________.

A. the man was happy after helping the old lady

B. the man received a lot of money from the old lady

C. the man made the old lady feel cold and depressed 

D. the man felt extremely frustrated all the way home

①Isaac Stern was more than a great violin player. He was one of the most honored musicians in the world. He was an international cultural ambassador. He was a major supporter of the arts in America and in other countries. He was a teacher and activist.
②Issac Stern was born in 1920 in what is now Ukraine. His parents moved to San Francisco, California the following year. His mother began teaching Isaac the piano when he was six. He began taking violin lessons after hearing a friend play the instrument. Later, he began studying music at the San Francisco Conservatory (音乐学院). He progressed quickly. When he was 16, he played with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. The next year, he performed in New York City and was praised by music critics.
③During World War II, Mr Stern played for thousands of American soldiers. It was the first time many of them had heard classical music. After the war, he was the first American violinist to perform in a concert in the Soviet Union. He also supported young musicians and cultural organizations in Israel.
④In 1979, Isaac Stern visited China. He met with Chinese musicians and students. He taught them about classical Western music. His visit was made into a film, which is called From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China. It won an Academy Award for best documentary film.
⑤In 1984, Isaac Stern received the Kennedy Center Honors Award for his gifts to American culture through music. He expressed his thoughts about the part that music plays in life. He said he believed that music makes life better for everyone, especially children.
⑥Mr Stern supported and guided younger classical musicians. They include violinists Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and pianist Yefim Bronfman.
⑦Isaac Stern died in 2001 at eh age of 81. He was a major influence on music in the 20th century. He leaves the world richer with his many recordings.
1. Which of the following is the RIGHT time order for these events in Stern’s life?
a. He began learning music in an institution.
b. He received the Kennedy Center Honors Award.
c. He visited the Soviet Union.
d. He met with Chinese musicians.
e. He performed for American soldiers.
A. a,e,c,d,b     B. a,e,b,c,d     C. e,a,b,c,d     D. e,a,c,d,b
2. Paragraph 2 is mainly about ______.
A. how Stern began to learn music   B. how Stern began his musical career
C. Stern’s early education          D. Stern’s achievement in music
3. Which of the following statements about Stern is TRUE?
A. He was an activist in opposing war.
B. He was active in cultural exchanges between countries.
C. He had an interest in both playing music and making films.
D. He made a lot of money from music.
4. The Underlined word “cellist” in Paragraph 6 may refer to ________.
A. someone who supports young musicians
B. someone who wants to be a musician
C. someone who has a gift for music
D. someone who plays a certain kind of instrument
5. Which of the following shows the RIGHT structure of the text?
A.       ①                              B.       ①
↓                                         ↓
②③④⑤                                ②③④⑤⑥
↓                                         ↓
⑥⑦                                      ⑦
C. ①②③④⑤⑥                            D.    ①②③
↓                                           ↓
⑦                                      ④⑤⑥⑦

It was late in the afternoon, and I was putting the final touch on a piece of writing that I was feeling pretty good about. I wanted to save it, but my cursor(光标) had frozen. I tried to shut the computer down, and it seized up altogether. Unsure of what else to do, I yanked (用力猛拉) the battery out.

Unfortunately, Windows had been in the midst of a crucial（紧要关头） undertaking. The next morning, when I turned my computer back on, it informed me that a file had been corrupted and Windows would not load. Then, it offered to repair itself by using the Windows Setup CD.

I opened the special drawer where I keep CDs. But no Windows CD in there. I was forced to call the computer company's Global Support Centre. My call was answered by a woman in some unnamed, far-off land. I find it annoying to make small talk with someone when I don't know what continent they're standing on. Suppose I were to comment on the beautiful weather we've been having when there was a monsoon(季风) at the other end of the phone? So I got right to the point.

"My computer is telling me a file is corrupted and it wants to fix itself, but I don't have the Windows Setup CD."

"So you're having a problem with your Windows Setup CD." She has apparently been dozing and, having come to just as the sentence ended, was attempting to cover for her inattention.

It quickly became clear that the woman was not a computer technician. Her job was to serve as a gatekeeper. Her only duty, as far as I could tell, was to raise global stress levels.

To make me disappear, the woman gave me the phone number for Windows' creator, Microsoft. This is like giving someone the phone number for, I don't know, North America. Besides, the CD worked; I just didn't have it. No matter how many times I repeated my story, we came back to the same place. She was calm and polite.

When my voice hit a certain decibel (分贝), I was passed along, like a hot, irritable potato, to a technician.

"You don't have the Windows Setup CD, ma'am, because you don't need it," he explained cheerfully.

"Windows came preinstalled on your computer!"

"But I do need it."

"Yes, but you don't have it." We went on like this for a while. Finally, he offered to walk me through the use of a different CD, one that would erase my entire system. "Of course, you'd lose all your e-mail, your documents, your photos." It was like offering to drop a safe on my head to cure my headache. "You might be able to recover them, but it would be expensive." He sounded delighted. "And it's not covered by the warranty (产品保证书)!"  The safe began to seem like a good idea, provided it was full.

I hung up the phone and drove my computer to a small, friendly repair place I'd heard about. A smart, helpful man dug out a Windows CD and told me it wouldn't be a problem. An hour later, he called to let me know it was ready. I thanked him, and we chatted about the weather, which was the same outside my window as it was outside his.

1.Why did the author shut down her computer abruptly?

A．She had saved what she had written.

B．She couldn't move the cursor.

C．The computer refused to work.

D．The computer offered to repair itself.

2.Which of the following is the author's opinion about the woman at the Global Support Centre?

A．She sounded helpful and knowledgeable.

B．She was there to make callers frustrated.

C．She was able to solve her computer problem.

D．She was quick to pass her along to a technician.

3.According to the passage, the solution offered by the technician was_________________.

A．effective          B．economical        C．unpractical        D．unsatisfied

4. "It was like offering to drop a safe on my head to cure my headache" in the last but one paragraph means that_____________________.

A．the technician's proposal would make things even worse

B．the technician's proposal could eventually solve the problem

C．files stored on her computer were like a safe

D．erasing the entire system was like curing a headache

5.It can be inferred from the passage that the differences between the Global Support Centre and the local repair shop lie in all the followings except ________________.

A．efficiency         B．location           C．setup CDs         D．attitude