I was waiting for a phone call from my agent.  He had left a message the night before, telling me that my show was to be cancelled. I called him several times, but each time his secretary told me that he was in a meeting and that he would call me later. So I waited and waited, but there was still no call. Three hours passing by，I became more and more impatient. I was certain that my agent didn’t care about my work, and he didn’t care about me. I was overcome with that thought. I started to shout at the phone, “Let me wait, will you? Who do you think you are?”  

At that time I didn’t realize my wife was looking on. Without showing her surprise, she rushed in, seized the phone, tore off the wires, and shouted at the phone, “Yeah! Who do you think you are? Bad telephone! Bad telephone! ” And she swept it into the wastebasket.   

I stood watching her, speechless . What on earth…?  

She stepped to the doorway and shouted at the rest of the house, “Now hear this! All objects in this room---if you do anything to upset my husband , out you go!”  

Then she turned to me, kissed me, and said calmly, “Honey, you just have to learn how to take control. ” With that, she left the room.   

After watching a crazy woman rushing in and out, shouting at everything in sight, I noticed that something in my mood had changed. I was laughing. How could I have trouble with that phone? Her antics helped me realize I had been driven crazy by small things. Twenty minutes later my agent did call. I was able to listen to him and talk to him calmly.

58.  Why did the author shout at the telephone?  

A. He was mad at the telephone.   

B. He was angry with his agent.   

C. He was anxious about his wife.   

D. He was impatient with the secretary. 

59．What did the author’s wife do after she heard his shouting?  

A. She said nothing.                    B. She shouted at him.   

C. She called the agent.                 D. She threw the phone away. 

60.  What made the author laugh?  

A. His own behavior.                   B. His wife’s suggestion.   

C. His changeable feelings.              D. His wife’s sweet kiss. 

61.  What does the underlined word “antics”(in the last paragraph) refer to?  

A. Smart words.                       B. Unusual actions.   

C. Surprising looks.                    D. Anxious feelings.

 

       I was waiting for a phone call from my agent．He had left a message the night before, telling me that my show was to be cancelled．I called him several times, but each time his secretary told me that he was in a meeting and that he would call me later．So I waited and waited, but there was still no call．Three hours passing by, I became more and more and impatient．I was certain that my agent didn’t care about my work, and he didn’t care about me．I was overcome with that thought．I started to shout at the phone, “Let me wait, will you? Who do you think you are?”

       At that time I didn’t realize my wife was looking on．Without showing her surprise, she rushed in, seized the phone, tore off the wires, and shouted at the phone, “Yeah! Who do you think you are? Bad telephone! Bad telephone!” And she swept it into the wastebasket．

       I stood watching her, speechless．What on earth．．．?

       She stepped to the doorway and shouted at the test of the house, “Now hear this! All objects in this room----if you do anything to upset my husband, out you go!”

       Then she turned to me．Kissed me and said calmly, “Honey, you just have to learn how to take control．” With that, she left the room．

       After watching a crazy woman rushing in and out, shouting at everything in sight , I noticed that something in my mood （情绪） had changed．I was laughing．How could I have trouble with that phone? Her anties helped me realize I had been driven crazy by small things．Twenty minutes later my agent did call．I was able to listen to him and talk to him and talk to him calmly．

1.Why did the author shout at the telephone?

       A．He was mad at the telephone．          B．He was angry with his agent．

       C．He was anxious about his wife．        D．He was impatient with the secretary?

2.What did the author’s wife do after she heard his shouting?

       A．She said nothing．                         B．She shouted at him．

       C．She called the agent．                       D．She threw the phone away．

3.What made the author laugh?

       A．His own behavior                           B．His wife’s suggestion

       C．His changeable feelings．                    D．His wife’s sweet kiss．

4.What does the underlined word “anties” refer to?”

       A．Smut words                                      B．Unusual actions． 

       C．Surprising Looks                              D．Anxious feelings．

 

I was waiting for a phone call from my agent. He had left at message the night before, telling me that my show was to be cancelled. I called him several times, but each time his secretary told me that he was in a meeting and that he would call me later. So I waited and waited, but there was still no call. Three hours passing by, I became more and more and impatient. I was certain that my agent didn’t care about my work, and he didn’t care about me. I was overcome with that thought. I started to shout at the phone, “Let me wait, will you? Who do you think you are?”

At that time I didn’t realize my wife was looking on. Without showing her surprise, she rushed in, seized the phone, tore off the wires, and shouted at the phone, “Yeah! Who do you think you are? Bad telephone! Bad telephone!” And she swept it into the wastebasket.

I stood watching her, speechless. What on earth...?

She stepped to the doorway and shouted at the test of the house, “Now hear this! All objects in this room----if you do anything to upset my husband, out you go!”

Then she turned to me. Kissed me and said calmly, “Honey, you just have to learn how to take control.” With that, she left the room.

After watching a crazy woman rushing in and out, shouting at everything in sight , I noticed that something in my mood （情绪） had changed. I was laughing. How could I have trouble with that phone? Her aunties helped me realize I had been driven crazy by small things. Twenty minutes later my agent did call. I was able to listen to him and talk to him and talk to him calmly.

Why did the author shout at the telephone?、

A. He was mad at the telephone.

B. He was angry with his agent.

C．He was anxious about his wife.

D. He was impatient with the secretary?

What did the author’s wife do after she heard his shouting?

A. She said nothing.

B. She shouted at him.

C. She called the agent.

D. She threw the phone away.

What made the author laugh?

A. His own behavior

B. His wife’s suggestion

C. His changeable feelings.

D. His wife’s sweet kiss.

What does the underlined word “aunties” refer to?”

A. Smut words

B. Unusual actions.

C. Surprising Looks

D. Anxious feelings.

I would like to tell you a story about my uncle Theo. He is my oldest uncle, a tall, thin, grey-haired man whose thoughts are always on learning and nothing else. He is quiet, gentle and absent-minded and with about as much sense as a child where money is concerned. Well, he applied a post in Camford University. It was a very good post and there were hundreds of candidates who applied for it, and about fifteen, including Theo, were asked to be interviewed.
Camford is a very small town; there is only one hotel in it, and it was so full that they had to put many of the candidates two in a room. Theo was one of these, and the man who shared the room with him was a self-confident fellow called Adams, about twenty years younger than Theo, with a loud voice, and a laugh that you could hear all over the hotel. But he was a clever fellow all the same and had a good post in Iscaiot College, Narkover. Well, the Dean, who was the head of the department of the University, and the committee interviewed all the candidates; and as a result of this interview, the number of the candidates was reduced to two, Uncle Theo and Adams. The committee couldn’t decide which of the two to take, so they decided to make their final choice after each of the candidates had given a public lecture in the college lecture-hall. The subject they had to speak on was “The Civilization of the Ancient Summerians”; and the lecture had to be given in three days’ time.
Well, for these three days Uncle Theo never left his room. He worked day and night at that lecture, writing it out and memorizing it, almost without eating or sleeping. Adams didn’t seem to do any preparation at all. You could hear his voice and his laughter where he had a crowd of people around him. He came to his room late at night, asked Uncle Theo how he was getting on with his lecture, and then told him how he had spent the evening playing bridge, or at the music hall. He ate like a horse and slept like a log; and Uncle Theo sat up working at his lecture.
The day of the lecture arrived. They all went into the lecture hall and Theo and Adams took their seats on the platform. And then, Theo discovered, to his horror,  that typewritten copy of his speech had disappeared! The Dean said they would call on the candidates on the alphabetical order, Adams first; and the despair in his heart, Theo watched Adams calmly take the stolen speech out of pocket and read it to the professors who were gathered to hear it. And how well he read it! Even Uncle Theo had to admit he couldn’t have read it nearly so eloquently himself, and when Adams finished there was a great burst of applause. Adams bowed and smiled, and sat down.
Now, it was Theo’s turn. But what could he do? He had put everything he knew into the lecture. His mind was too much upset to put the same thoughts in another way. With a burning face he could only repeat, word for word, in a low, dull voice, the lecture that Adams had spoken so eloquently. There was hardly any applause when he sat down.
The Dean and the committee went out to decide who the successful candidate was, but everyone was sure what their decision would be. Adams leaned across to Theo and patted him on the back and said, smilingly, “Hard luck, old fellow, but after all, only one of us could win”
Then the Dean and the committee came back, “Gentlemen”, the Dean said, “the candidate we have chosen is Mr. Hobdell.” Uncle Theo had won! The audience were completely taken by surprise, and the Dean continued, “ I think I ought to tell you how we arrived at the decision. We were all filled with admiration at the learning and eloquence of Mr. Adams. I was greatly impressed. But, you will remember, Mr. Adams read his lecture to us. When Mr. Hobdell’s turn came, he repeated that speech, word by word from memory, though, of course, he couldn’t have seen a line of it before. Now a fine memory is absolutely necessary for this post; and what a memory Mr. Hobdell must have! This is why we decided that Mr. Hobdell was exactly the man we wanted! ”
As they walked out of the room, the Dean came up to Uncle Theo, who was so confused but so happy that he hardly knew whether he was standing on his head or heels; and as he shook Theo’s hand he said, “Congratulations, Mr. Hobdell! But, my fellow, when you are on our staff, you must be more careful and not leave valuable papers lying about!”
【小题1】. Which of the followings best describes Uncle Theo?

A．Good-mannered

B．Modest

C．Childish

D．Bookish

【小题2】 What do we know about the post at Camford University?

A．The applicants had to sit for an examination.

B．There was much competition for the post.

C．The post requires a lot of teaching experience.

D．The post offered quite high salary.

【小题3】. Adams did not bother to do any preparation because______.

A．he was quite familiar with the subject.

B．he knew the committee members well.

C．he had a well-thought-out plan.

D．he had full confidence in himself.

【小题4】 When Uncle Theo’s turn came, _______.

A．he felt so angry that he couldn’t see a word.

B．he felt so upset that he could not remember anything.

C．he had to put the same thoughts in another way.

D．he had to repeat the speech, word by word from memory.

【小题5】 When the committee went out to make a decision, Adams _______.

A．could not help feeling worried.

B．could hardly wait to show his joy.

C．felt sorry for Theo and tried to cheer him up.

D．felt ashamed and tried to chat with Theo.

【小题6】Theo became successful because _______.

A．he had a better memory than Adams.
B．he was more experienced than Adams.	C．the committee knew he was exactly the man they wanted.
D．the committee knew Adams had copied Theo’s speech.

Last Sunday, I waked into the house in the afternoon to find my brother rushing around in a hurry. As soon as I took my coat off, my little brother placed a bunch of papers in my hands and asked me to fold them up so they could fit into an envelope as quickly as possible. He said it needed to get done quickly before it turned dark.

I was a little surprised that something could be so urgent on a Sunday. It wasn’t until I was halfway through that I actually looked at what I was folding. After I read it, it put the biggest smile on my face. It was a lovely letter to all the residents （居民）in my neighborhood. My brother was asking everyone to let him know if anyone needed help. He left his contact information and said that anyone that needed help should get in touch with him and he would figure something out. He also asked people to get in touch if they were able to help out.

London received an unusual amount of snow last week, and the city was completely under- prepared for it. So it was quite difficult to get anywhere. Only the major roads had been cleared, and smaller roads and pavements could be quite treacherous. There are a good number of old people in our little community. So my brother thought that the snow may have posed （造成）some difficulty for some of them, particularly because we live on a hill.

A few elderly people got in touch with him asking for help for things they needed. One of them was especially grateful because his caregiver couldn’t make it. To our surprise, he got more responses from people offering to help. Then he received help from people who wanted to help. Everyone was really touched and wrote to my brother wonderful email. One of our neighbors wrote email saying that although she wasn’t able to help, she was “very proud of having a neighbor like him who puts other people’s interests first.”

1.The author’s brother wrote the letter to _______.

A．ask for help from his neighbors

B．give a hand to those in need of help

C．require his neighbors to clear the snow

D．raise money for the old people in his community

2.What can we learn from the text?

A．Few people were willing to help out.

B．The snow was unexpectedly heavy.

C．Most residents in the community are elderly people.

D．The community was completely cut off from the outside world.

3.The underlined word “treacherous” in Paragraph 3 probably means “_______”.

A．dirty

B．dangerous

C．safe

D．crowded

4. One of their neighbors sent email to the author’s brother to ________.

A．express thanks	B．lend a hand
C．show appreciation	D．ask for help