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

One day in 1965，when I worked at View Ridge School in Seattle，a fourth?grade teacher approached me.She had a student who finished his work before all the others and needed a challenge.“Could he help in the library？” she asked.I said, “Send him along.”

Soon a slight，sandy?haired boy in jeans and a T?shirt appeared.“Do you have a job for me？” he asked.

I told him about the Dewey Decimal System(杜威十进分类法) for shelving books.He picked up the idea immediately.Then I showed him a stack(摞) of cards for long?overdue books that I was beginning to think had actually been returned but were misshelved with the wrong cards in them.He said，“Is it kind of a detective job？” I answered yes，and he became working.

He had found three books with wrong cards by the time his teacher opened the door and announced，“Time for break！”He argued for finishing the finding job；she made the case for fresh air.She won.

The next morning，he arrived early.“I want to finish these books，”he said.At the end of the day，when he asked to be a librarian on a regular basis，it was easy to say yes.He worked untiringly.

After a few weeks I found a note on my desk，inviting me to dinner at the boy’s home.At the end of a pleasant evening，his mother announced that the family would be moving to a neighbouring school district.Her son’s first concern，she said，was leaving the View Ridge library.“Who will find the lost books？” he asked.

When the time came，I said an unwilling good?bye.I missed him，but not for long.A few days later he came back and joyfully announced，“The librarian over there doesn’t let boys work in the library.My mother got me transferred back to View Ridge.My dad will drop me off on his way to work.And if he can’t，I’ll walk！”

I should have had an idea such focused determination would take that young man wherever he wanted to go.What I could not have guessed，however，was that he would become a genius of the Information Age：Bill Gates，tycoon(企业巨头) of Microsoft and America’s richest man.

1.What was the author when the story happened?

A．A teacher.? B．A librarian.

C．A detective.? D．A student.

2.Why was the boy sent to the library by the fourth?grade teacher?

A．He failed to finish his work on time.

B．He challenged the teacher in the class.

C．He disturbed all the other students in the class.

D．He needed something to do to challenge himself.

3.What was the boy told to do on his first day in the library?

A．To rearrange the books according to the new system.

B．To put those overdue books back to the shelves.

C．To find out the books with wrong cards in them.

D．To put the cards back in the long?overdue books.

4.The boy got transferred back to View Ridge because ________.

A．he didn’t get along well with the librarian in the new school

B．he was not allowed to work in the new school’s library

C．he missed his old schoolmates and teachers

D．he had to walk a long way to go to school