When I was 14, I was hitchhiking（搭便车）from Houston, through EI Paso on my way to California, following my dream．I was a high school drop-out with learning disabilities and was set on surfing the biggest waves in the world, first in California and then in Hawaii．

Upon reaching downtown EI Paso, I met an old man, a bum, on the street corner．He stopped me and questioned me as I passed by．He asked if I was running away from home．I suppose because I looked so young．I told him, “Not exactly, sir．” since my father had given me a ride to the freeway in Houston and given me his blessings．

The friendly bum then invited me to have a cup of soda with him．After talking for a while, he told me he had something great to show me and share with me．I followed him into the EI Paso Public Library．I was asked to sit down and wait while he looked for something special among the shelves．A few moments later, he returned with some old books in his hand．He said, “There are two things that I want to teach you, young man．” “Number one is: never judge a book by its cover, for a cover can fool you．” He followed with, “I’ll bet you think I’m a bum, don’t you?” I admitted．“Well, young man, I’ve got a little surprise for you．I am one of the wealthiest men in the world．I have probably everything any man could ever want．But a year ago, my wife passed away, and since then I have been deeply doubted about life．I realized there were certain things I had not yet experienced in life, one of which was what it would be like to live like a bum asking people for money on the streets．For the past year, I have been going from city to city doing just that．So, you see, don’t ever judge a book by its cover． ” “Number two is to learn how to read．” For, there is only one thing that people can’t take away from you, and that is your wisdom．” At that moment, he put my right hand upon the old books—the writings of Plato Aristotle．

His parting request was for me to never forget what he taught me．I haven’t．

1．According to the passage, the boy left school because______．

       A．his father wanted him to experience something new

       B．he had some difficulty in learning at school．

       C．he was going to realize his dream

       D．he wanted to go surfing

2．The underlined word “bum” in the second paragraph can be replaced by “_____．”

       A．begger             B．robber              C．librarian             D．story-teller

3．Which of the following is the boy’s planned route?

       A．Houston-EI Paso-California-Hawaii

       B．Houston-EI Paso-Hawaii-California

       C．EI Paso-Houston-California-Hawaii

       D．California-Hawaii-Houston-EI Paso

4．The old man told the boy something about his own experience in order to_______．

       A．tell him he was not a bum

       B．persuade him to go back to school

       C．prove that he must read some classical books

       D．teach him not to judge a person by his clothes