本篇大意是：木匠约翰给主人公的妻子做了一个小饭桌，结账时的账单上把成本费17.00、油漆料钱1.50、工价8.00和日期10一起相加，多计价10元，结果被主人发现了，但他并没有直接批评多要钱的木匠，只是诙谐地说：“月底30日做比月初10日做，还要贵些，是不是？”而且只付了木匠应得到的26.50元钱．很明显，本篇比上篇更难些，因上篇中主人公怀特和厂家双方处理的问题是直接的，直言不讳，而本篇中的主人公却是明人做暗事，肚内藏机关，木匠虽然诡谲，主人却更机灵，一眼看穿了木匠的把戏，但他处理问题颇有技巧，既解决问题，不多花钱，又不搞得很僵，双方不快，体现了现代生意场中的交往策略和洽谈风格．我国正在建设社会主义市场经济，这是法制化、规范化的市场经济，反对不正当的竞争．此文有一定的现实意义，文中的内容联系着当代的社会生活，通过英语试卷，同样可以检验学生：的审视能力．

　　Our village carpenter(木匠), John Hill, came one day and made a dining table for my wife. He made it just the right size to fill the space between the two windows. When I got home that evening, John was drinking a cup of tea and writing out his bill(账单) for the job.

　　My wife said to me, quietly, “That's his ninth cup of tea today.” But she said, in a loud voice, “It's a beautiful table, dear, isn't it?”

　　“I'll decide about that when I see the bill,” I said.

　　John laughed and gave me his bill for the work. I read:

　　When I was looking at the bill, John said, “It's been a fine day, hasn't it? Quite sunny.”

　　“Yes,” I said. “I'm glad it's only the 10th of November.”

　　“Me, too,” said John. “You wait-it'll be a lot colder by the end of the month.”

　　“Yes. Colder-and more expensive! Dining tables will be ￡20 more expensive on November 30th, won't they, John?”

　　John looked hard at me for half a minute. Was there a little smile in his two blue eyes? I gave his bill back to him.

　　“If it isn't too much trouble, John,” I said, “please add it up again. You can forget the date.”

　　I paid him ￡26.50 and he was happy to get it.

1．Why did John talk about the weather when the writer was looking at the bill?

A Because he didn't want the writer to go through the bill carefully.

B．Because it was really a fine day.

C．Because he wanted the writer to check the bill carefully.

D．Because he wanted to tell the writer what the weather was like.

2．Why did the writer say that dining tables would be ￡ 20 more expensive on November 30th?

[　　]

A．Because it was difficult to make dining tables in cold weather.

B．Because paint would be more expensive.

C．Because the cost of wood would be more expensive.

D．Because he thought John would almost certainly add the date to the cost of the dining table.

3．The writer thought John would ask for ________ if he made a dining table on the last day of November.

[　　]

4．When the writer gave him the money, John was happy because ________.

[　　]

A．he got what he should get for his work

B．he got much more money for his work

C．he got the money easily

D．he didn't have to add up the costs again

5．From the story we know that ________.

[　　]

A．John made a mistake in the bill

B．John tried to fool the writer in order to get more money for his work

C．John had written out the bill before the writer got home

D．John still wanted to get ￡36.50 for his work in the end

这一篇小故事，主人公是怀特夫人和她的小儿子．俩人对在网上玩游戏，持有不同观点，母亲怕儿子玩得太晚，影响休息；儿子则因为有了台好电脑，硬件好，内存大，各种软件和消毒盘齐全而玩得尽兴不已．这篇短文的取材时尚，内容与初中学生：年龄相吻合，容易引起他们的浓厚学习情趣．

　　“Tom? Are you in bed yet?” called Mrs White. There was no answer. Mrs White put down her book and went to her 14-year-old son's room Tome was sitting in front of a bright computer screen(屏幕) on which a colorful dragon(龙) jumped and shouted.

　　“Oh, Tom! You're still playing on that computer. You must stop now, it's half past eleven. If you don't go to bed soon, you'll be very tired tomorrow.” said Mrs White.

　　“But I've nearly beaten the dragon.” said Tom. Mrs White could see the excitement(激动) on her son's face. She sat down beside him.

　　“You are always playing on that computer. You spend more time with this machine than with your family,” she said with a smile. “What's so special(特别的) about it? Show me what it can do!”

　　Tom was very excited. “I think this is a great computer, Mum!” he said happily. “The hardware(硬件) is good. There's so much memory(内存) and it has some wonderful software programmes. This game, Dragonsplayer, is my favourite, but I sometimes borrow games from Danny and other friends. I don't have to worry about any infected(被感染的) disks(磁盘) because I have a virus(病毒) detector(监测器) which can go over any disk and check it for viruses. Let me show you!” Tom began tapping(敲打) keys on the keyboard(键盘). The screen changed in answer to his orders(命令).

　　“Oh, Tom,” laughed Mrs White. “I'm sure it's a wonderful computer, but I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about.”

1．When Mrs White was calling Tom, he was ________.

[　　]

A．lying in bed reading a book

B．on the computer with a dragon

C．standing in front of the screen of the computer

D．playing computer games in his bedroom

2．From the passage we know that the story happened ________.

[　　]

A．before Tom went to school in the morning

B．before Tom went to bed at night

C．just as the dragon jumped and shouted

D．after Tom had slept for some hours in the evening

3．Tom was very excited because ________.

[　　]

A．he had a radio detector in his computer B：he was worrying about the infected disks

C．he had nearly beaten the dragon in computer game

D．his mother came upstairs to ask him to go to bed

4．Which of the following is true according to the passage?

[　　]

A．Tom liked playing computer games

B．Tom enjoyed playing with real dragons

C．Tom hated tapping on the keyboard

D．Tom hated teaching his mother how to play the computer

5．How did Tom get on with his mother?

[　　]

A．Mrs White was very hard on her son

B．Mrs White loved her son and took good care of him

C．Tom didn't want to talk about the computer with his mother

D．Tom thought his mother was as wonderful as the computer game