阅读理解

　　An English traveler found himself in Norway with only enough money in his pocket to buy the ticket for his trip back home. As he knew that it would take him two days to get to England, he decided he could easily do without food. So he bought a ticket and got on the ship.

　　He closed his ears to the sound of the lunch bell. When dinner time came, he refused (拒绝) to go to the dinning hall. He told others he didn't feel well. The next morning, he didn't go to breakfast and at lunch time he again stayed in the room. At dinner time he was very hungry, he said, “I'm going to eat. ”

　　At the dinner table he ate everything the waiter put in front of him.

　　“Bring me the bill,” he said.

　　“The bill, sir?” said the waiter.

　　“Yes,” answered the traveler.

　　“There isn't any bill,” he said, “On the ship meals are included (包括) in the money for the ticket. ”

A．True or False?

1．The story happened on a ship from Norway to England.

2．The English traveler got on the ship in the afternoon.

3．The Englishman refused to go the dining hall to eat at first because he didn't feel well.

4．He went to eat the next evening because he knew there wasn't any bill on the ship.

5．He knew at last the travelers on the ship had free meals.

B．Fill in the blanks.

6．The English traveler found himself with ________ money to pay for the food.

7．He was so ________ that he went to ________ at the dinner time.

8．He didn't need to pay for his ________ on the ship.

On Nov.18th, 1908, three men went up in a balloon. They started early in London. The headman was Auguste Gaudron, and the other two men were Tannar and Maitland. They had a big balloon and they were ready for a long way.

Soon they heard the sea. They were carrying the usual rope, and it was hanging down from the basket of the balloon. At the end of the rope they had tied a metal box. This could hold water, or it could be empty. So they were able to use the box to change the weight of the balloon. The three people were also carrying some bags of sand.

After the sun rose, the balloon went higher. It went up to 3,000 metres, and the air was very cold. The water in the balloon became ice. Snow fell past the men's basket, and they could see more snow on the ground. The men tried to throw out some more sand; but it was hard. They tried to break the icy sand with their knives, but it was not easy. The work was slow and they were still falling, so they had to drop some whole bags of sand. One of them fell on an icy lake and made a black hole in the ice.

　　At last they pulled the box into the basket. It was still snowing; so they climbed to get away from the snow. They rose to 5,100 metres! Everything became icy. They were very cold and  they decided to land. They came down in Poland　heavily but safely. They had travelled 1,797 kilometres from London!

1.Where did they start their travel on Nov.18th, 1908?

2.What was the metal box used for?

3. Why did they have to drop some whole bags of sand during the travel?

4. How long did they travel in the end?

5.

What do you think of the three people and their travel? (请自拟一句话作答)

When my family moved to America from a small village in Guangdong, China, we brought not only our luggage, but also our village rules, customs and culture. One of the rules is that young people should always respect(尊敬) elders. Unluckily, this rule led to my very first embarrassment in the United States.
I had a part-time job as a waiter in a Chinese restaurant. One time, when I was serving food to a middle-aged couple, the wife asked me how the food could be served so quickly. I told her that I had made sure they got their food quickly because I always respect the elderly. As soon as I said that, her face showed great displeasure. My manager, who happened to hear what I said, took me aside and gave me a long lecture about how sensitive(敏感) Americans are and how they dislike the description “old”. I then walked back to the table and apologized to the wife. After the couple heard my reason, they understood that the problem was caused by cultural differences, so they laughed and were no longer angry.
In my village in China, people are proud of being old. Not so many people live to be seventy or eighty, and people who reach such an age have the most knowledge and experience. Young people always respect older people because they know they can learn from their rich experience.
However, in the United States, people think “growing old” is a problem since “old” shows that a person is going to retire(退休) or that the body is not working well. Here many people try to keep themselves away from growing old by doing exercises or jogging, and women put on makeup, hoping to look young. When I told the couple in the restaurant that I respect the elderly, they got angry because this caused them to feel they had failed to stay young. I had told them something they didn’t want to hear.
After that, I changed the way I had been with older people. It is not that I don’t respect them any more; I still respect them, but now I don’t show my feelings through words.
【小题1】Jack brought the couple their food very fast because______.