It was a winter morning, just a couple of weeks before Christmas 2005. While most people were warming up their cars, Trevor, my husband, had to get up early to ride his bike four kilometers away from home to work. On arrival, he parked his bike outside the back door as he usually does. After putting in 10 hours of work, he returned to find his bike gone.
The bike, a black Kona 18 speed, was our only transport. Trevor used it to get to work, putting in 60-hour weeks to support his young family. And the bike was also used to get groceries（食品杂货），saving us from having to walk long distances from where we live.
I was so sad that someone would steal our bike that I wrote to the newspaper and told them our story. Shortly after that, several people in our city offered to help. One wonderful stranger even bought a bike, then called my husband to pick it up. Once again my husband had a way to get to and from his job. It really is an honor that a complete stranger(陌生人) would go out of their way for someone they have never met before.
People say that a smile can be passed from one person to another, but acts of kindness from strangers are even more so. This experience has had a spreading effect in our lives because it made our confidence in humanity（人性）stronger as a whole. And it has also influenced us to be more mindful(在意的) of ways we can share with others. No matter how big or how small, an act of kindness shows that someone cares. And the results can be continuing for ever.
【小题1】Why was the bike so important to the couple?

阅读理解

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从下列各题所给的四个选项中，选出一个最佳答案。

　　Computer programmer David Jones makes $35,000 a year designing (设计) new computer games, yet he cannot find a bank prepared to let him have a credit card (信用卡). Instead, he has been told to wait another two years, until he is 18.

　　The 16-year-old boy works for a small firm in Liverpool, where the problem of most young people of his age is finding a job. David's firm (公司) puts two new games on the home market each month. But David's biggest headache is what to do with his money. In spite of his salary (薪水), made by inventing new programs within quite a short period of time, with bonus payments (奖金) and profit-sharing (分红), he cannot drive a car, get some money from a bank to buy a house, or get credit cards.

　　He lives with his parents in their house in Liverpool, where his father is a bus driver. His firm has to pay $150 a month in taxi fares to get him the five miles to work and back every day because David cannot drive. David got his job with the firm a year after leaving school with six 0-levels and working for a time in a computer shop.“I got the job because the people who run the firm knew I had already written some programs,”he said.

　　“I suppose (认为) $35,000 sounds a lot but actually (实际上) that's not good enough. I hope it will come to more than that this year.”He spends some of his money on records and clothes, and gives his mother $20 a week. But most of his spare time is spent on working.

　　“Unfortunately (不幸的是), computing was not part of our studies at school,”he said.“But I had been studying it in books and magazines for four years in my spare time. I knew what I wanted to do and never considered staying on at school. Most people in this business are fairly young, anyway.”

　　David added, “I would like to earn a million and I suppose early retirement (退休) is a possibility (可能性). You never know when the market will disappear.”

1．Why is David different from other young people of his age?

[　　]

A．He earns a very high salary.

B．He has no job.

C．He does not go out much.

D．He lives at home with his parents.

2．David's greatest problem is ________.

[　　]

A．making the banks treat him as a grown-up

B．inventing computer games

C．spending his salary

D．learning to drive

3．He was hired by the firm because ________.

[　　]

A．he had worked in a computer shop

B．he had written some computer programs

C．he works very hard

D．he had learnt to use computers at school

4．He left school after taking six 0-levels because ________.

[　　]

A．he did not enjoy school

B．he wanted to work with computers and staying at school did not help him

C．he was afraid of getting too old to use a computer

D．he wanted to earn a lot money

5．Why does David think he might retire early?

[　　]

A．Because one has to be young to write computer programs.

B．Because a million dollars is enough for him to live a happy life.

C．Because he thinks computer games might not always sell so well.

D．Because he thinks his firm might go bad.