In 1974, after filling out fifty applications, going through four interviews, and winning one offer, I look what I could get — a teaching job at what I considered a distant wild area: western New Jersey. My characteristic optimism was alive only when I reminded myself that I would be doing what I had wanted to do since I was fourteen 一 teaching English.

School started, but I felt more and more as if I were in a foreign country. Waa this rural area really New Jersey? My students a week off when hunting season began. I was told they were also frequently absent in late October to help their fathers make hay on the farms. I was a young woman from New York City, who thought that “Make hay while the sun shines” just meant to have a good time.

But, still, I was teaching English. I worked hard, taking lime off only to eat and sleep. And then there was my sixth-grade class 一 seventeen boys and five girls who were only six yean younger than me. I had a problem long before I knew it. I was struggling in my work as a young idealistic teacher. I wanted to make literature come alive and lo promote a love of the written word. The students wanted to throw spitballs and whisper dirty words in the back of the room.

In college I had been taught that a successful educator should ignore bad behavior. So I did, confident that, as the textbook had said, the bad behavior would disappear as I gave ray students positive attention. It sounds reasonable, but the text evidently ignored the fact that humans, particularly teenagers, rarely seem reasonable. By the time ray boss, who was also ray taskmaster known to be the strictest, most demanding, most quick to fire inexperienced teachers, came into the classroom to observe me, the students exhibited very little good behavior to praise.

My boss sat in the back of the room. The boys in the class were making animal noises, hitting each other while the girls filed their nails or read magazines. I just pretended it all wasn’t happening, and went on lecturing and tried to ask some inspiring questions. My boss, sitting in the back of the room, seemed to be growing bigger and bigger. After twenty minutes he left, silently. Visions of unemployment marched before my eyes.

I felt mildly victorious that I got through the rest of class without crying, but at my next free period I had to face him. I wondered if he would let me finish out the day. I walked to his office, took a deep breath, and opened the door.

He was sitting in his chair, and he looked at me long and hard. I said nothing. All I could think of was that I was not an English teacher; I had been lying to myself, pretending that everything was fine.

When he spoke, he said simply, without accusation, “You had nothing to say to them.”

“You had nothing to say to them," he repeated. “No wonder they’re bored. Why not get to the meal of the literature and stop talking about symbolism. Talk with them, not at them. And more important, why do you ignore their bad behavior?” We talked. He named ray problems and offered solutions. We role-played. He was the bad student, and I was the forceful, yet, warm, teacher.

As the year progressed, we spent many hours discussing literature and ideas about human beings and their motivations. He helped me identify my weaknesses and my strengths. In short, he made a teacher of me by teaching me the reality of Emerson's words: “The secret to education lies in respecting the pupil.”

Fifteen years later I still drive that same winding road to the same school. Thanks to the help I received that difficult first year, the school is my home now.

55. It can be inferred from the story that in 1974 ______.

A. the writer became an optimistic person

B. the writer was very happy about her new job

C. it was rather difficult to get a job in the USA

D. it was easy to get a teaching job in New Jersey

56. According to the passage, which of the following is most probably the writer’s problem as a new teacher?

A. She had blind trust in what she learnt at college.

B. She didn’t ask experienced teachers for advice.

C. She took too much time off to eat and sleep.

D. She didn’t like teaching English literature.

57. What is the writer’s biggest worry after her taskmaster's observation of her class?

A. She might lose her teaching job.

B. She might lose her students’ respect.

C. She couldn’t teach the same class any more.

D. She couldn’t ignore her students’ bad behavior any more.

58. Which of the following gives the writer a sense of mild victory?

A. Her talk about symbolism sounded convincing.

B. Her students behaved a little better than usual.

C. She managed to finish the class without crying.

D. She was invited for a talk by her boss after class.

59. The students behaved badly in the writer's classes because ______.

A. they were eager to embarrass her

B. she didn't really understand them

C. they didn't regard her as a good teacher

D. she didn’t have a good command of English

60. The taskmaster’s attitude towards the writer after his observation of her class can be best described as ______.

A. cruel but encouraging                        B. fierce but forgiving

C. sincere and supportive                       D. angry and aggressive

 When I woke next morning, I was dying of _36__. I seemed to have a hole instead of a _37__.  I dressed quickly and hurried down to the dinning-room. It was a big room with six tall windows and the ugliest wallpaper I had ever seen! _38_, I had been told the hotel was not beautiful but that you were better __39__ there than in any other hotel; and that was _40__ I wanted just then.

   The waiter came hurrying up. Before I came downstairs I had prepared __41__ carefully for what I must __42_. I had looked three times in my dictionary to make sure __43__ “breakfast” really meant “breakfast”. I had tried to get the right _44_ and I had stood in the front of a mirror and twisted my mouth until it ached.

   The waiter asked me _45__ I could not understand, but I spoke only my one prepared word “breakfast”. He looked at me in a _46 way. so I repeated it. Still he did not understand. It was _47_ that English people didn’t understand their language.. The waiter _48__ his head and went away, but he came back in a minute and brought a tray with tea, bread and butter--- enough to feed a small army--- and went away. But I was hungry, and I left __49__. When the waiter came back I thought his face showed a little __50__, but you can never __51_. What a waiter’s face really shows. In another minute he brought _52__ tray with some bacon(熏肉) and some eggs. He _53_ have misunderstood me, but I thought it was no use explaining to people who don’t understand their own language, so I just set to work on the bacon and eggs, wondering whether I could possibly clear that plate.

   Well, I finished the bacon and eggs. I got up and made my way slowly to my room- at least five pound __54_. I never believed until then that any meal could _55__ me, but on that day I met my Waterloo(滑铁卢).

36. A hunger             B. cold            C.. anger                D. illness

37. A. stone             B. head            C. breast                D. stomach

38. A. Therefore         B. Otherwise       C. So                    D. However

39. A. received          B. fed            C. cared                 D. eating

40. A. just              B. what          C. that                   D. why

41. A. English           B. meal           C. questions              D. myself

42. A. speak          B. answer         C. say                   D. explain

43. A. that              B. about         C. of                    D. to

44. A. pronunciation      B. meaning        C. form                  D. spelling

45. A. whether        B. something      C. when                 D. what

46. A. surprised          B. friendly       C. puzzled                  D. touched

47. A. unbelievable    B. true             C. thought                D. a pity

48. A waved            B. shook         C. bowed                D. patted

49. A. much          B. a little         C. nothing                D. empty

50. A. pleasure        B. surprise       C. pride                  D. satisfaction

51. A. tell               B. guess          C. design                D. express

52. A. other            B. another        C. more                  D. me

53. A. should            B. might          C. would                D. must

54. A. lighter         B. heavier         C. weightier              D. more

55.A. hurt              B. fat             C. defeat           D. please