–Thank you for the present you sent me. It’s so nice.
--________________.

The story behind the shopping cart

Characters

Sylvan Goldman – owner of a grocery shop

Fred Young – Sylvan’s friend, a mechanic(机械师)

One night in 1936, in an American city. Inside Fred’s workshop, Sylvan sits next to Fred, who is making adjustments(调试) to their new i? 1. – a shopping cart.

Sylvan:????????????? My customers don’t like our shopping cart.

Fred:????????????? Really? So they p? 2. shopping with those heavy baskets?

Sylvan:????????????? (nods) I’ve got a huge crowd of customers every day, b 3. none of them wants to use the cart.

Fred:????????????? I don’t understand. We invented the cart so that people don’t need to carry a basket around the shop.

Sylvan:????????????? (laughs) And so that they will buy more groceries!

Fred:????????????? So why don’t they like the shopping cart?

Sylvan:????????????? Young men think that pushing a cart around makes them look w 4. and slow, and young women think it’s unfashionable.

Fred:????????????? Of course it isn’t fashionable right now. It’s only just been invented! But I’m sure older people will appreciate it.

Sylvan:????????????? Um…

Fred:????????????? What? They don’t like the cart e? 5.? ?

Sylvan:????????????? Well, they think pushing it makes them look helpless!

Fred:????????????? Oh no. We need to do something, Fred. We can’t just g? 6. up on this invention!

Sylvan:????????????? We won’t. (He gets up and walks around the room. Suddenly, he stops.) Aha! I’ve got an idea.

Fred:????????????? What is it?

Sylvan:????????????? I’ll hire(雇佣) some good-looking guys and girls to push the carts around and pretend they’re shopping.

Fred:????????????? Oh! So the real shoppers will see these attractive people using the carts and think, “Hey, if it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for me!”

Sylvan:????????????? E 7. .

Fred:????????????? Hey! Maybe you could get one of the girls to greet your customers and encourage them to use the cart.

Sylvan:????????????? Great idea!

Dear David,

How are you ? I’m fine. I’m in London, at the International School of English. I’m in Class 3 with eight students . They are from different countries---Spain, Japan, Argentina, Switzerland and Thailand. Our teacher’s name is Henry . He’s very nice. He’s a very good teacher.

I’m living with an English family. Mr and Mrs Brown have three children. Thomas is fourteen, Catharine is twelve, and Andrew is seven. They are all very friendly, but it isn’t easy to understand them !

London is very big and very interesting. The weather is cold but sunny and the parks are beautiful! Hyde Park , Green Park and ST.Jame’s Park are all in the city centre(中心）.

English food is OK, but the coffee is horrible!

Write to me soon .

                                                            Love,

                                                            Paula

1.The letter is from ___________ .

A. David   B. Paula   C. Paula’s classmate  D. Paula’s teacher

2.The writer’s class has ________.

A. many students         B. eight students

C. nine students         D. eight girls

3.The writer（作者） lives ____________.

A. at school             B. in a hotel 

C. with her classmates    D. at Mr Brown’s home

4.Hyde Park is __________.

A. in a school B. in London  C. next to London D. Small

5.The letter is NOT about ____________.

A. the writer’s classmates        B. the writer’s teacher

C. the writer’s dinner            D. London

I watched a little girl playing basketball every day from my bedroom window. One day, I asked her why she practiced so much. She said, “I want to go to college. The only way I can go is to get a scholarship(奖学金). I like basketball and I want to be the best player in college. My dad told me, “If the dream is big enough, the facts don’t count.” She never changed her mind. Whenever she was in junior high school or senior high school. One day, before she graduate from senior high school, I saw her sitting on the grass sadly. I asked her what was wrong. She told me that her coach said she was too short to be a good basketball player, so she should stop dreaming about going to college. She was heartbroken and it made me feel bad, too. Then she smiled and told me her father said to her, “If you really want to play for the scholarship of a good college, nothing but yourself can stop your dream.” The next year, she and her team went to a big game she was seen by a coach of a famous college team and was offered a scholarship to the women’s basketball team of their college. She was getting the college education that she had dreamed of. “If the dream is big enough, the facts don’t count.” It is true.
【小题1】What’ s the girl’s dream!