阅读理解

　　She was only about five feet tall and probably never weighed more than 110 pounds, but Miss Bessie was a towering presence in the classroom．She was the only woman tough enough to make me read Beowulf and think for a few stupid days that I liked it．From 1938 to 1942, she taught me English, history－and a lot more than I realized．

　　I shall never forget the day she scolded(批评)me into reading Beowulf．“But Miss Bessie, ” I complained, “I ain’t much interested in it．”

　　Her large brown eyes became sharp．“Boy, ” she said, “how dare you say ‘ain’t’ to me! I’ve taught you better than that．”

　　“Miss Bessie, ” I said, “I’m trying to join the football team, and if I go around saying ‘it isn’t’ and ‘they aren’t, ’ the guys are gonna laugh me off the team．”

　　“Boy,” she replied, “you’ll play football because you have guts(勇气)．But do you know what really takes guts? Refusing to lower your standards to those of the crowd．It takes guts to say you’ve got to live and be somebody fifty years after all the football games are over．”

　　I started saying “it isn’t” and “they aren’t, ” and I still joined the team without losing my friends’ respect．

　　Negroes, as we were called then, were not allowed in the town library, except to sweep floors or clean tables．But with the help of some nice whites, Miss Bessie kept getting books out of the white library．That is how she introduced me to the Bront?s, Byron and Keats．“If you don’t read, you can’t write, and if you can’t write, you might as well stop dreaming, ” Miss Bessie once told me．

　　So I read whatever Miss Bessie told me to, and tried to remember the things she insisted that I store away．It could be embarrassing to be unprepared when Miss Bessie said, “Get up and tell the class who Frances Perkins is and what you think about her．” Forty-five years later, I can still recite her “truths to live by”．

　　Miss Bessie noticed things that had nothing to do with schoolwork, but were essential to a youngster’s development．Once a few classmates made fun of my worn-out hand-me-down overcoat．As I was leaving school, Miss Bessie patted me on the back of that old overcoat and said, “Carl, never worry about what you don’t have．Just make the most of what you do have － a brain．”

　　No child can get all the necessary support at home, and millions of poor children get no support at all．This is what makes a wise, educated, warm-hearted teacher like Miss Bessie so essential to the minds, hearts and souls of this country’s children．

阅读下面短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出最佳选项。

　　It's easy to make you embarrassed(窘迫的)．You may run into the wrong classroom and everyone looks at you．Or you have a piece of cabbage in your teeth! What do the American and British teens find embarrassing and how do they react(回应)to it?

　　One big embarrassing thing for them is answering personal questions．If you ask“How old are you?”or“How much money do you make?”they'll get angry．It's polite to stop, asking．If you meet someone for the first time, talk about something not personal, such as your neighborhood or school．British people love to talk about weather．

　　British and American teens feel embarrassed if they still rise their parents' money to buy clothes or have to ask their parents before making a decision, because others will laugh at them．

　　In some situations, if you look bad in public, don't worry．A child may forget and call his or her teacher“mom”in class．A good laugh is a good way out of it! Sometimes you find that you don't have enough money when you pay at the supermarket．Just put some things back quickly．If you explain too much, you'll attract a lot of attention!

　　Honesty always works best．If you forget the name of a person, or don't know how to clean the toilet after using it at your friend's home, just ask them about it．