Mrs. Amatuli was my teacher in the fourth grade. One day at lunch time, I was getting ready to eat my
same old tuna fish (金槍魚) sandwich and suddenly Mrs. Amatuli asked me if she could buy my sandwich
from me. She explained that, I could use the money to buy a hot lunch from the cafeteria.
     I was thrilled. I never bought my lunch at the cafeteria. It was too expensive for my family, and we always
carried our lunch and brought the bag back home to use again the next day. My sandwiches were either
bologna (大臘腸) or tuna fish. It rarely varied beyond that.
     You can understand my delight when I had the opportunity to buy a hot lunch.
     When we finished lunch that day, Mrs. Amatuli took me aside and said she wanted to explain why she had
bought my sandwich. I really didn't care why, but it gave me a few minutes of her precious attention so I was
very quiet as she explained. You see, she was Catholic and she told me that Catholics didn't eat red meat on
Fridays-they ate fish on Fridays.
     Oh, I couldn't wait to get home and tell my Mama that from now on I wanted tuna fish on Fridays. After,
my Mama understood why, she gladly fixed tuna fish for me on Fridays. She even fixed it on brown bread
because she knew Mrs. Amatuli liked brown bread. From then on, every Friday I could get in line with the
rest of the kids for a hot lunch. I didn't care how many of the kids complained about cafeteria food-it tasted
divine to me!
     I realize now that Mrs. Amatuli could have fixed herself a tuna sandwich of Friday. But she bought my
sandwich because she saw a little girl who was thrilled over the simple act of having a hot lunch.
     I will never forget her for her compassion and generosity and what I should do is follow her example.

1. Mrs. Amatuli bought the writer's sandwich because _____.

A. she was tired of cafeteria food
B. she hated getting in line with kids
C. she didn't eat red meat on Friday
D. she wanted to show care to the writer

2. What can we learn about the cafeteria food?

A. It was terrific.
B. It was terrible.
C. The writer enjoyed it.
D. Most kids were fond of it.

3. The underlined word "divine" in Paragraph 5 means _____.

A. perfect
B. sweet
C. unpleasant
D. special

4. Which of the following can best show the theme of this text?

A. It is hard to please all.
B. Better to give than to receive.
C. Love makes the world go around.
D. The more you offer, the more you are rewarded.

     Forty-three years seems like a long time to remember the name of a mere acquaintance. I have forgotten
the name of the old lady, who was a customer on the paper route in my hometown when I was a twelve-year-
old boy. Yet it exists in my memory that she taught me a lesson in forgiveness which I shall never forget.
     On a winter afternoon, a friend and I were throwing stones onto the roof of the old lady's house. The
object of our play was to observe how the stones changed to missiles as they rolled to the edge of the roof.
I found myself a perfectly smooth rock and threw it out. The stone was too smooth, however, so it slipped
from my hand as I let it go and headed straight not for the roof but for a small window on the old lady's back
porch. At the sound of crashed glass, we knew we were in trouble and ran away.
     I was too scared about getting caught that first night to be concerned about the old lady with the broken
window in winter. However, a few days later, when I was sure that I hadn't been discovered, I started to feel
guilty for her misfortune. She still greeted me with a smile each day when I gave her the paper, but I was no
longer able to act comfortable in her presence.
     I made up my mind that I would save my paper delivery money, and in three weeks I had the seven dollars
to cover the cost of her window. I put the money in an envelope with a note explaining that I was sorry for
breaking her window and hoped that the seven dollars would cover the cost for repairing it.
     I waited until it was dark, snuck up to the old lady's house, and put the letter I didn't sign through the letter
slot in her door. Once again, I could have the freedom of looking straight into the old lady's kind eyes.
     The next day, I handed the old lady her paper and was able to return the warm smile that I was receiving
from her. She thanked me for the paper and gave me a bag of cookies she had made herself.
     Reaching for the cookies, I felt an envelope and pulled it out of the bag. When I opened the envelope, I was
surprised. Inside were the seven dollars and a short note that said, "I'm proud of you!"

1. Which of the following sentences is NOT true according to the passage?

A. The author was a newsboy when he was 12 years old.
B. The old lady didn't know who broke the window.
C. The author felt guilty of breaking the old lady's window.
D. The story happened forty-three years ago.

2. The underlined words "snuck up" in the fifth paragraph probably means "_____".

A. went quietly
B. quickly made my way
C. stole something of no value
D. searched in a secret way

3. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

A. A Bag of Cookies
B. A Broken Window
C. The Secret in the Cookies
D. A Painful Lesson

4. _____ probably impressed the author of the passage most.

A. The cookies made by the lady
B. The note inside the cookie bag
C. The broken window
D. The lady's forgiveness

     In a moment of personal crisis, how much help can you expect from a Ne York taxi driver? I began
studying this question and found the answers interesting.
     One morning I got into three different taxis and announced, "Well, it's my first day back in New York
in seven years. I've been in prison." Not a single driver replied, so I tried again. "Yeah, I shot a man in Reno."
I explained, hoping the driver would ask me why, but nobody asked. The only response came from a Ghanaian
driver, "Reno? That is in Nevada?"
     Taxi drivers were uniformly sympathetic when I said I'd just been fired. "This is America," a Haitian driver
said."One door is closed. Another is open." He argued against my plan to burn down my boss's house. A
Pakistani driver even turned down a chance to profit from my loss of hope; he refused to take me to the middle
of George Washington Bridge-a $ 20 trip. "Why you want to go there? Go home and relax. Don't worry. Take
a new job."
     One very hot weekday in July, while wearing a red ski mask and holding a stuffed pillowcase with the word
"BANK" on it, I tried calling a taxi five times outside different banks. The driver picked me up every time. My
ride with a Haitian driver was typical of the superb assistance I received.
     "Let's go across the park." I said. "I just robbed the bank there. I got $ 25 000."
     "$ 25 0007" He asked.
     "Yeah, you think it was wrong to take it?"
     "No, man. I work 8 hours and I don't make almost $ 70. If I can do that, I do it too."
     As we approached 86th and Lexington, I pointed to the Chemical Bank.
     "Hey, there's another bank," I said, "Could you wait here a minute while I go inside?"
     "No, I can't wait. Pay me now." His reluctance may have something to do with money-taxi drivers think
the rate for waiting time is too low-but I think he wanted me to learn that even a bank robber can't expect
unconditional support.

1. From the Ghanaian driver's response, we can infer that _____.

A. he was indifferent to the killing
B. he was afraid of the author
C. he looked down upon the author
D. he thought the author was crazy

2. Why did the Pakistani driver refuse to take the author to the middle of the George Washington Bridge?

A. Because he was able to help the author to find a new job.
B. Because he wanted to go home and relax.
C. Because it was far away from his home.
D. Because he thought that the author would commit suicide.

3. What is the author's interpretation of the driver's reluctance "to wait outside the Chemical bank"?

A. The driver thought that the rate for waiting time was too low.
B. The driver thought it wrong to support a taxi rider unconditionally.
C. The driver was frightened and wanted to leave him as soon as possible.
D. The driver did not want to help a suspect to escape from a bank robbery.

4. Which of the following statements is true about New York taxi drivers?

A. They are ready to help you do whatever you want to.
B. They often refuse to pick up those who would kill themselves.
C. They are sympathetic with those who are out of work.
D. They work only for money.

5. The passage mainly discusses _____.

A. how to please taxi drivers
B. how to deal with taxi drivers
C. the attitudes of taxi drivers towards riders in personal trouble
D. the attitudes of taxi drivers towards troublesome taxi riders

     John and Bobby joined a wholesale company together just after graduation from college the same Year.
Both worked very hard. After several years, however, the boss promoted Bobby to the position of manager
but John remained an ordinary employee. John could not take it any more, tendered his resignation to the
boss and complained the boss did not know how to delegate and did not value hard-working staff, but only
promoted those who flattered him.
     The boss knew that John worked very hard for the years. He thought a moment and said, "Thank you
for your criticism, but I have a request. I hope you will do one more thing for our company before you leave
Perhaps you will change your decision and take back your resignation."
     John agreed. The boss asked him to go and find out anyone selling watermelon in the market. John went
and returned soon. He said he had found out a man selling watermelon. The boss asked how much per kg.
John shook his head and went back to the market to ask and returned to inform the boss $1.2 per kg.
     Boss told John to wait a second, and he called Bobby to come to his office. He asked Bobby to go and
find anyone selling watermelon in the market. Bobby went, returned and said, "Boss, only one person selling
watermelon. $1.2 per kg, $10 for 10 kg, he has inventory (清單) of 340 melons. On the table 58 melons,
bought from the South two days ago, they are fresh and red, good quality."
     John was very impressed and realized the difference between himself and Bobby. He decided not to resign
but to learn from Bobby.
     Chances exist in the daily details. For the same matter, a more successful person sees more and farther so
that he can find out an opportunity and catch it to realize his aim. If a person sees one year ahead, while another
sees only tomorrow. Then the difference between a year and a day is 365 times!

1. Why did John decide to hand in his resignation to the boss?

A. Because he couldn't stand being an ordinary employee.
B. Because Bobby would take John's former position.
C. Because the boss was not flattered by his hard work.
D. Because Bobby instead of him was promoted.

2. What did the boss ask John to do?

A. To go to market and find out whether there is someone selling watermelons.
B. To make a complete marketing research on the various prices of watermelons.
C. To search for much information about the effective ways to sell watermelons.
D. To make a comparison on the prices of different types of watermelons.

3. What sort of following information about watermelons was NOT brought by Bobby?

A. The price.
B. The quality.
C. The quantity.
D. The weight.

4. From the difference of John and Bobby, we may infer that a more successful person is more _____.

A. alert, sensitive and passionate
B. observant, thoughtful and exploratory
C. considerate, modest and satisfied
D. confident, noble and tolerant

     Old Behrman was a painter who lived on the ground floor of the apartment building. Behrman was a failure
in art. For years, he had always been planning to paint a work of art, but had never yet begun it. He earned a
little money by serving as a model to artists who could not pay for a professional model. He was a fierce, little,
old man who protected the two young women in the studio apartment above him.
     Sue found Behrman in his room. In one area was a blank canvas (畫布) that had been waiting twenty-five
years for the first line of paint. Sue told him about Johnsy and how she feared that her friend would float away
like a leaf on the old ivy vine climbing hopelessly up the outside block wall.
     Old Behrman was angered at such an idea. "Are there people in the world with the foolishness to die because
leaves drop off a vine? Why do you let that silly business come in her brain?"
     "She is very sick and weak," said Sue, "and the disease has left her mind full of strange ideas."
     "This is not any place in which one so good as Miss Johnsy shall lie sick," yelled Behrman. "Some day I will
paint a masterpiece, and we shall all go away."
     Johnsy was sleeping when they went upstairs. Sue pulled the shade down to cover the window. She and
Behrman went into the other room. They looked out a window fearfully at the ivy vine. Then they looked at
each other without speaking. A cold rain was falling, mixed with snow. Behrman sat and posed as the miner.
     The next morning, Sue awoke after an hour's sleep. She found Johnsy with wide-open eyes staring at the
covered window.
     "Pull up the shade; I want to see," she ordered, quietly.
     Sue obeyed.
     After the beating rain and fierce wind that blew through the night, there yet stood against the wall one ivy
leaf. It was the last one on the vine. It was still dark green at the center. But its edges were colored with the
yellow. It hung bravely from the branch about seven meters above the ground.
     "It is the last one," said Johnsy. "I thought it would surely fail during the night. I heard the wind. It will fall
today and I shall die at the same time."
     "Dear, dear!" said Sue, leaning her worn face downtoward the bed. "Think.of me, if you won't think of
yourself. What would I do?"
     But Johnsy did not answer.
     The next morning, when it was light, Johnsy demanded that the window shade be raised. The ivy leaf was
still there. Johnsy lay for a long time, looking at it. And then she called to Sue, who was preparing chicken
soup.
     "I've been a bad girl," said Johnsy. "Something has made that last leaf stay there to show me how bad I
was. It is wrong to want to die. You may bring me a little soup now."
     An hour later she said:"someday I hope to paint the Bay of Naples."
     Later in the day, the doctor came, and Sue talked to him in the hallway.
     "Even chances. With good care, you'll win," said the doctor. "And now I must see another case I have in
your building. Behrman, his name is-some kind of an artist, I believe. Pneumonia (肺炎), too. He is an old,
weak man and his case is severe. There is no hope for him; but he goes to the hospital today to ease his pain."
     The next day, the doctor said to Sue:"She's out of danger. You won. Nutrition and care now-that's all."
     Later that day, Sue came to the bed where Johnsy lay, and put one arm around her.
     "I have something to tell you, white mouse," she said."Mister Behrman died of pneumonia today in the
hospital. He was sick only two days. They found him the morning of the first day in his room downstairs
helpless with pain. His shoes and clothing were completely wet and icy cold. They could not imagine where
he had been on such a terrible night.
     And then they found a lantern, still lighted. And they found a ladder that had been moved from its place.
And art supplies and a painting board with green and yellow colors mixed on it.
     And look out the window, dear, at the last ivy leaf on the wall. Didn't you wonder why it never moved
when the wind blew? Ah, darling, it is Behrrnan's masterpiece-he painted it there the night that the last leaf felt."  

1. What was in Johnsy's mind all the time?

A. When the last leaf falls I must go.
B. The old ivy leaves have little to do with my getting well.
C. I am such a bad girl as to make everything messy.
D. Someday I hope to paint a masterpiece.

2. Which detail in the passage suggests that Behrman was a failure?

A. He worked as a miner to make ends meet.
B. His drawing board had waited 25 years to receive the first line of his masterpiece.
C. He was protective of the two girls but mostly sensitive and fierce.
D. He was a professional model waiting for his great opportunity.

3. One can safely assume after reading the story that _____.

A. the relationship between the two artist girls was developed on material comfort
B. the three artists mentioned in the story shared a studio apartment
C. Behrman showed great sympathy for the two youth
D. Johnsy was somehow annoyed to be accompanied by a never-succeeded artist

4. What does the underlined part "Even chances" suggest?

A. The doctor indicated that Johnsy was doomed to die.
B. The doctor thought that they should let her go.
C. The doctor believed that Johnsy had every chance of recovery.
D. The doctor put her chances at fifty-fifty.

5. When Johnsy said she had been a bad girl, she meant that _____.

A. asking for death was not right
B. she deserved more severe punishment
C. she should never forget about her dream
D. she was ashamed not to be able to support the other two

6. The short story can be listed as a typical example of stories with _____.

A. surprise endings
B. vivid contrasts
C. artistic imagination
D. arresting openings