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______.

Not many years ago， a wealthy and rather strange old man named Johnson lived a__1___ in a village in the south of England. He had m___2___a lot of money in trading with foreign countries. When he was seventy-five， he gave ￡ 12，000 to the village s____3___ to buy land and equipment for a children’s playground。

As a result of his kindness， many people came to visit him. A__4_____them was a newspaperman. During their talk， Johnson remarked that he was seventy-five and expected to live to be a h___5___. The newspaperman asked him how he managed to be healthy at seventy—five. Johnson had a sense of h__6___.  He liked whisky and drank some each day. “I have an injection （注射） in my neck e___7__ evening.”he told the newspaperman， thinking of his evening glass of whisky.

The newspaperman did not understand what Johnson m__8___. In his newspaper he r____9___that Johnson was seventy-five and had a daily injection in his neck. Within a week Johnson received thousands of letters from all over Britain， asking him for the s__10___ of his daily injection.

There have been many great inventions or things that changed the way we live. The first great invention was the one that is still very important today——the wheel. This made it easier to carry heavy things and to travel long distance.
For hundreds of years after that there were few inventions that as much effect as the wheel . Then in the early 1800s the world started to change. There was little unknown land left in the world. People didn’t have to explore much any more. They began to work instead to make life better.
In the second half of the 19^th century many great inventions were made. Among them were the camera, the light and the radio. These all play a big part in our daily life today.
The first part of the 20^th century saw more great inventions. The helicopter in 1909, movies with sound in 1926, the computer in 1928, jet planes in 1930. This was also a time when a new material was first made. Nylon came out in 1935. It changed the kind of clothes people wore.
The middle part of the 20^th century brought new ways to help people get over diseases. They worked very well. They made people healthier and allowed them to live longer. By the 1960s most people could expect to live to be at least 60.
By this time most people in developed countries had a very good life. Of course new inventions continued to be made. But man now had a desire(渴望) to explore again. The earth was known to man but the stars were not. Man began looking for ways to go into space. Russia made the first step. Then United States took a step. Since then other countries , including China and Japan, have made their own steps into space.
In 1969 man took his biggest step away from earth. Americans first walked on the moon. This is certainly just a beginning, though. New inventions will some day allow us to do things we have never yet dreamed of.
【小题1】This passage talks mainly about         .

Not many years ago， a wealthy and rather strange old man named Johnson lived a__1___ in a village in the south of England. He had m___2___a lot of money in trading with foreign countries. When he was seventy-five， he gave ￡ 12，000 to the village s____3___ to buy land and equipment for a children’s playground。
As a result of his kindness， many people came to visit him. A__4_____them was a newspaperman. During their talk， Johnson remarked that he was seventy-five and expected to live to be a h___5___. The newspaperman asked him how he managed to be healthy at seventy—five. Johnson had a sense of h__6___.  He liked whisky and drank some each day. “I have an injection （注射） in my neck e___7__ evening.”he told the newspaperman， thinking of his evening glass of whisky.
The newspaperman did not understand what Johnson m__8___. In his newspaper he r____9___that Johnson was seventy-five and had a daily injection in his neck. Within a week Johnson received thousands of letters from all over Britain， asking him for the s__10___ of his daily injection.

There have been many great inventions or things that changed the way we live. The first great invention was the one that is still very important today——the wheel. This made it easier to carry heavy things and to travel long distance.

For hundreds of years after that there were few inventions that as much effect as the wheel . Then in the early 1800s the world started to change. There was little unknown land left in the world. People didn’t have to explore much any more. They began to work instead to make life better.

In the second half of the 19^th century many great inventions were made. Among them were the camera, the light and the radio. These all play a big part in our daily life today.

The first part of the 20^th century saw more great inventions. The helicopter in 1909, movies with sound in 1926, the computer in 1928, jet planes in 1930. This was also a time when a new material was first made. Nylon came out in 1935. It changed the kind of clothes people wore.

The middle part of the 20^th century brought new ways to help people get over diseases. They worked very well. They made people healthier and allowed them to live longer. By the 1960s most people could expect to live to be at least 60.

By this time most people in developed countries had a very good life. Of course new inventions continued to be made. But man now had a desire(渴望) to explore again. The earth was known to man but the stars were not. Man began looking for ways to go into space. Russia made the first step. Then United States took a step. Since then other countries , including China and Japan, have made their own steps into space.

In 1969 man took his biggest step away from earth. Americans first walked on the moon. This is certainly just a beginning, though. New inventions will some day allow us to do things we have never yet dreamed of.

1. This passage talks mainly about         .

   A. why cars were very important

   B. when light was invented

   C. how inventions affect people’s daily life

   D. which country made the first step into space

2.According to the passage man didn’t have a desire to explore a lot         .

   A. at the beginning of 1800s             B. in the 1960s 

   C. since the 1900s                     D. from the 1800s to 1960s

3.In the 1800s, people began to work in order to make      

   A. explorations    B. their life better     C. discoveries      D. a trip to space

4. Nylon came out of five years later than        .

   A. radio          B. camera           C. jet planes          D. movies

5.People can live longer lives because        that help cure diseases have worked very well.

   A. doctors        B. new ways         C. medicines       D. new hospitals