Planning a visit to the UK? Here we help with ways to cut your costs.

AVOID BIG EVENTS　Big sporting events, concerts and exhibitions can increase the cost of accommodation and make it harder to find a room. A standard double room at the Thistle Brighton on the final Friday of the Brighton Comedy Festival (19 Oct.) cost ￡169.15 at Booking.com. A week later, the same room cost ￡118.15.

If you can be flexible and want to know dates to avoid—or you're looking for a big event to pass your time—check out sites such as Whatsonwhen.com, which allow you to search for events in the UK by city, date and category.

STAY AWAY FROM THE STATION　If traveling to your destination by train, you may want to find a good base close to the station, but you could end up paying more for the sake of convenience at the start of your holiday.

Don't be too choosy about the part of town you stay in. Booking two months in advance, the cheapest room at Travelodge's Central Euston hotel in London for Saturday 22 September was ￡95.95. A room just a tube journey away at its Covent Garden hotel was ￡75.75. And at Farringdon, a double room cost just ￡62.95.

LOOK AFTER YOURSELF　Really central hotels in cities such as London, Edinburgh and Cardiff can cost a fortune, especially at weekends and during big events. As an alternative consider checking into a self－catering flat with its own kitchen. Often these flats are hidden away on the top floors of city centre buildings. A great example is the historic O'Neill Flat on Edinburgh's Royal Mile, available for ￡420 for five days in late September, with room for four adults.

GET ON A BIKE　London's “Boris bikes” have attracted the most attention, but other cities also have similar programs that let you rent a bicycle and explore at your own pace, saving you on public transport or car parking costs.

Among the smaller cities with their own programs are Newcastle (casual members pay around ￡1.50 for two hours) and Cardiff (free for up to 30 minutes, or ￡5 per day)．

4. The Brighton Comedy Festival is mentioned mainly to show big events may ________．

A. help travelers pass time                        B. attract lots of travelers to the UK

C. allow travelers to make flexible plans      D. cause travelers to pay more for accommodation

5．“Farringdon” in Paragraph 5 is most probably ________．

A. a hotel away from the train station    B. the tube line to Covent Garden

C. an ideal holiday destination                     D. the name of a travel agency

6．The passage shows that the O'Neill Flat ________．

A. lies on the ground floor                    B. is located in central London

C. provides cooking facilities for tourists     

D. costs over ￡100 on average per day in late September

7．Cardiff's program allows a free bike for a maximum period of ________．

   A. half an hour              B. one hour      C. one hour and a half              D. two hours

When times get tough, we all look for ways to cut back. When we’re hungry, we eat at home instead of going out. We take buses instead of taxis. And we wear our old designer jeans just a few months longer. With college expenses at all-time highs, high school students are eager to do anything to cut the cost of a university education.

One cost-cutting proposal is to allow college students to get a bachelor’s degree in three years instead of four. Educational institutions have been actively exploring ways to make the learning process more efficient. But there’s a question: Would the quality of undergraduate education suffer? Few US universities have formally approved a “three-year degree” model.

I doubt that mainstream North American colleges will carry out a three-year curriculum(课程) any time soon. For one thing, most universities already allow highly qualified students to graduate early by testing out of certain classes and obtaining a number of college credits. In addition, at famous universities, the committee who determine which courses are required and which courses are electives (选修的) are unlikely to suddenly “throw out” one quarter of the required credits. Professors will resist “diluting (稀释)” the quality of the education they offer.

In my opinion, a quality four-year education is always superior to a quality three-year education. A college education requires sufficient (充分的) time for a student to become skilled in their major and do coursework in fields outside their major. It is not a good idea to water down education, any more than it’s not a good idea to water down medicine. If we want to help students find their way through university, we should help them understand early on what knowledge and skills they need to have upon graduation. We should allow students to test out of as many courses as possible. We should give them a chance to earn money as interns(实习生)in meaningful part-time jobs that relate to their university studies, such as the five-year co-op program at Northeastern University.

1. What does the underline phrase “cut back” mean in the first paragraph?

A. to return to normal

B. to reduce cost

C. to make things easy

D. to earn money

2. In most US universities, ________.

A. college students are offered the co-op program.

B. electives’ credits make up one quarter of the required credits.

C. the “three-year degree”model appeals to most of the professors.

D. some excellent students can graduate ahead of time.

3. According to the passage, we can infer that________.

A. the author is a professor of a famous university.

B. the author thinks the cost of a university education is too high for people to afford.

C. the author considers the university education quality very important.

D. the author pays special attention to the all-round development of college students.

4. Which of the following can be the best title?

A. It’s time to shorten the learning process       

B. Best learning takes place over time

C. University education should be watered down  

D. College education calls for reform

 —Henry, what do you think of the movie Mission:Impossible 4?

—　　　.I wish to watch it again. 

A. It couldn’t be worse　　           B. It couldn’t be better

C. I can’t agree more　　　          D. I think it a waste of time

 —My mother is a full-time tour guide but she dislikes traveling much.

—　　　. 

A. So is my mother                                    B. Neither does my mother　

C. It is the same with my mother               D. My mother does so

 I think our education should give all children 　　　 opportunities to develop their special gifts. 

A. reasonable    B. equal              C. flexible                       D. convenient

The evidence for harmony may not be obvious in some families. But it seems that four out of five young people now get on well with their parents, which is the opposite of the popularly held image of unhappy teenagers locked in their room after endless family quarrels.

    An important new study into teenage attitudes surprisingly shows that their family life is more harmonious than it has ever been in the past. "We were surprised by just how positive today's young people seem to be about their families, "said one member of the research team." They're expected to be rebellious(叛逆的)and selfish but actually they have other things on their minds; they want a car and material goods, and they worry about whether school is serving them well. There's more negotiation(商议) and discussion between parents and children, and children expect to take part in the family decision-making process. They don' t want to rock the boat. "

    So it seems that this generation of parents is much more likely than parents of 30 years ago to treat their children as friends." My parents are happy to discuss things with me and willing to listen to me," says 17-yea-rold Daniel Lazall. "I always tell them when I'm going out clubbing. As long as they know what I'm doing, they're fine with it." Susan Crome, who is now 21, agrees." Looking back on the last 10 years, there was a lot of what you could call negotiation. For example, as long as I'd done all my homework, I could go out on a Saturday night. But I think my grandparents were a lot stricter with my parents than that."

     Maybe this positive view of family life should not be unexpected. It is possible that the idea of teenage rebellion is not rooted in real facts. A researcher comments, "Our surprise that teenagers say they get along well with their parents comes because of a brief period in our social history when teenagers were regarded as different beings. But that idea of rebelling and breaking away from their parents really happened during the 1960s when everyone rebelled. The normal situation throughout history has been a smooth change from helping out with the family business to taking it over."

28. What is the popular images of teenagers today?

A. They worry about school.

B. They dislike living with their parents.

C. They have to be locked in to avoid troubles.

D. They quarrel a lot with other family members.

29. The study shows that teenagers don't want to ________.

A. share family responsibility

B. cause trouble in their families

C. go boating with their family

D. make family decisions

30. Compared with parents of 30 years ago, today's parents______.

A. go to clubs more often with their children

B. are much stricter with their children

C. careless about their children's life

D. give their children more freedom

31. According to the author, teenage rebellion________.

A. may be a false belief

B. is common nowadays

C. existed only in the 1960s

D. resulted from changes in families

I chose the most popular major instead of my favorite one，but I had to drop out and started again where I＿＿＿have gone in the first place.

A. must               B. might

C. should             D. would

By the time I was in second grade, Dad had become a professor. We moved to a small university town in Illinois 

and found ourselves living next to a lot of young students. Almost every morning, as Dede would walk me to my 

school, we’d walk through the students’ party wasteland covered with things I was too young to know about and Dede was too old to care about. 

One day, a group of guys started shouting “Ali Baba” at us and laughing.  I turned red  and begged Dede to cross the street with me. But she refused. Instead, she laughed in her usual way, yelled “Ali Baba” and waved at them as we walked by. They just watched us in shocked silence and never said anything to us again. 

Dede set an example for me that day and forever after, because she taught me to be always proud of who I was. 

Her stories were like a movie that was rich and imaginative and she never sugarcoated anything. While Dede 

preferred the Queen’s English, her vocabulary was just as alive. The landscapes she created in her stories were so 

vibrant(充满活力的) and filled with a wild cast of characters. 

Almost every day, I would interrupt Dede, whatever she was busy with, and beg her to tell me a story. She would 

silently stare at me through the large glasses that took up half of her face. Whether it was only 10 minutes or several 

hours, I would barely speak as Dede took me to places I never wanted to come back from.

My mother died while I was a child. Without the care and guidance of Dede in every aspect of life, I couldn’t have lived happily. Dede taught me so much, not only in daily life, but also in her attitude to dealing with unpleasant things 

that I don’t want to confront. 

28. How did the author feel when the boys shouted “Ali Baba” at them?    

A. Shocked.        B. Ashamed.       C. Afraid.      D. Excited. 

29. Why was the author always asking Dede to tell stories? 

A. Her stories were lively and interesting. 

B. The author had no friends and felt lonely. 

C. The author liked Dede to speak in the Queen’s English. 

D. She could make a dull landscape seem beautiful. 

30. From the text, we can infer that Dede was the author’s_________. 

A. mother       B. neighbour        C. aunt         D. housekeeper 

31. We can learn from the text that the author__________. 

A. appreciated Dede very much 

B. didn’t like her father 

C. was very selfish 

D. thought of Dede as her teacher

假定你是高中学生李华，你的美国朋友Jim即将升入中国的一所高中学习，想让你给他一些学习建议。请你给他写一封电子邮件，内容包括：

1. 与老师交流，征求老师意见；   

2. 上课积极参与讨论，专心听讲，做好笔记；

    3. 课后积极完成作业，巩固知识。

注意：1.词数100左右；   2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

Dear Jim,

____________________________________________________________________

Yours,

Li Hua

A. Decide to settle when growth is guaranteed.

B. Follow other people's paths.

C. Blame others for the fault.

D. Have faith in overnight success. 

E. Only pay attention to the dreams themselves.

F. Believe someone else has the answers for you.

FIVE WAYS TO KILL YOUR DREAMS

    I dedicated the past two years to understanding how people achieve their dreams. When we think about the dreams we have, and the footprint we want to leave in the universe, it is striking to see how big of an overlap there is between the dreams that we have and projects that never happen. So I'm here to talk to you today about five ways how not to follow your dreams.

61. ______

You know the story, right? The tech guy built a mobile app and sold it very fast for a lot of money. You know, the story may seem real, but I bet it's incomplete. If you go investigate further, the guy has done 30 apps before and he has done a master's on the topic, a Ph.D. He has been working on the topic for 20 years. This is really interesting. I myself have a story in Brazil that people think is an overnight success. I come from a humble family, and two weeks before the deadline to apply to MIT, I started the application process. And, voila! I got in. People may think it's an overnight success, but that only worked because for the 17 years prior to that, I took life and education seriously. Your overnight success story is always a result of everything you've done in your life through that moment.

62. ______

    Constantly, people want to help out, right? All sorts of people: your family, your friends, your business partners, they all have opinions on which path you should take: "And let me tell you, go through this pipe." But whenever you go inside, there are other ways you have to pick as well. And you need to make those decisions yourself. No one else has the perfect answers for your life. And you need to keep picking those decisions, right? The pipes are infinite and you're going to bump your head, and it's a part of the process.

63. ______

    So when your life is going great, you have put together a great team, and you have growing revenue, and everything is set — time to settle. When I launched my first book, I worked really, really hard to distribute it everywhere in Brazil. With that, over three million people downloaded it, over 50,000 people bought physical copies. When I wrote a sequel, some impact was guaranteed. Even if I did little, sales would be okay. But okay is never okay. When you're growing towards a peak, you need to work harder than ever and find yourself another peak. Maybe if I did little, a couple hundred thousand people would read it, and that's great already. But if I work harder than ever, I can bring this number up to millions. That's why I decided, with my new book, to go to every single state of Brazil. And I can already see a higher peak. There's no time to settle down.

64. ______

   I constantly see people saying, "Yes, I had this great idea, but no investor had the vision to invest." "Oh, I created this great product, but the market is so bad, the sales didn't go well." Or, "I can't find good talent; my team is so below expectations." If you have dreams, it's your responsibility to make them happen. Yes, it may be hard to find talent. Yes, the market may be bad. But if no one invested in your idea, if no one bought your product, for sure, there is something there that is your fault. Definitely. You need to get your dreams and make them happen. And no one achieved their goals alone. But if you didn't make them happen, it's your fault and no one else's. Be responsible for your dreams.

65. ______

Once I saw an ad, and it was a lot of friends, they were going up a mountain, it was a very high mountain, and it was a lot of work. You could see that they were sweating and this was tough. And they were going up, and they finally made it to the peak. Of course, they decided to celebrate, right? I'm going to celebrate, so, "Yes! We made it, we're at the top!" Two seconds later, one looks at the other and says, "Okay, let's go down." Life is never about the goals themselves. Life is about the journey. Yes, you should enjoy the goals themselves, but people think that you have dreams, and whenever you get to reaching one of those dreams, it's a magical place where happiness will be all around. But achieving a dream is a momentary sensation, and your life is not. The only way to really achieve all of your dreams is to fully enjoy every step of your journey. That's the best way.

　After the birth of my second child, I got a job at a restaurant. Having worked with an experienced   41   for a few days, I was    42   to wait tables on my own. All went    43   that first week. When Saturday night came, I was luckily    44    the tables not far from the kitchen.    45  　, I still felt it a little hard to carry the heavy trays (托盘).

Before I knew it, the    46    was full of people. I moved slowly,    47     every step. I remember how   48   I was when I saw the tray stand near the tables; it looked different from the one I was   49    on. It had nice handles, which made it    50    to move around. I was pleased with everything and began to    51    I was a natural at this job.

Then, an old man came to me and said, “Excuse me, dear, my wife and I loved   52   you work. It seems your tray stand has been very   53   to you, but we are getting ready to   54    now, and my wife needs her   55   back. ”

At first his    56    did not get across. “What was he talking about!” Then, I got it. I had set my trays on his wife’s orthopedic walker (助步器). I stood frozen as ice, but my face was   57  . I wanted to get into a hole and   58   .

Since then, I have learned from many mistakes such as the one I just    59   . I have learned to be more    60    and not to be too sure of myself.

41. A. manager       B. assistant       C. cook             D. waitress

42. A. promised      B. invited          C. allowed          D. advised

43. A. well             B. quickly         C. safely            D. wrong

44. A. left                     B. given            C. brought         D. shown

45. A. Therefore     B. However      C. Otherwise      D. Finally

46. A. kitchen        B. street           C. restaurant      D. table

47. A. minding       B. changing      C. taking            D. saving

48. A. angry           B. calm            C. sad                D. happy

49. A. fixed            B. trained          C. loaded           D. waited

50. A. slower         B. lighter          C. quieter           D. easier

51. A. believe         B. agree            C. regret            D. pretend

52. A. letting          B. making         C. watching              D. having

53. A. useful          B. familiar         C. unusual          D. interesting

54. A. rest             B. order            C. eat                D. leave

55. A. bag              B. walker          C. tray               D. coat

56. A. idea             B. praise           C. message        D. need

57. A. cold             B. full of joy     C. pale            D. on fire

58. A. lie                B. hide             C. defend           D. stay

59. A. repeated       B. discovered    C. corrected              D. described

60. A. careful         B. patient          C. honest           D. practical

What was so ______ about Jasmine Westland’s victory was that she came first in the marathon bare-footed.

A. awful                  B. essential     C. impressive                              D. obvious

Many of the creatures in the movie “Avatar” are not real, but much of ______ happens is still attractive.

A．what                      B．that                        C．which                     D．them

 “Mama, when I grow up, I’m going to be one of those!” I said this after seeing the Capital Dancing Company perform when I was three. It was the first time that my _41__ took on a vivid form and acted as something important to start my training. As I grew older and was __42_ to more, my interests in the world of dance __43__ varied but that little girl’s dream of someday becoming a __44_ in the company never left me. In the summer of 2005 when I was 18, I received the phone call which made that dream a __45__; I became a member of the company __46__ back to 1925.

As I look back on that day now, it surely __47_ any sense of reality. I believe I stayed in a state of pleasant disbelief __48__ I was halfway through rehearsals (排练) on my first day. I never actually __49__ to get the job. After being offered the position, I was completely __50__. I remember shaking with excitement.

Though I was absolutely thrilled with the change, it did not come without its fair share of __51_. Through the strict rehearsal period of dancing six days a week, I found it vital to __52__ up the material fast with every last bit of concentration. It is that extreme __53__ to detail (细节) and stress on practice that set us __54__. To then follow those high-energy rehearsals __55__ a busy show schedule of up to five performances a day, I discovered a new __56__ of the words “hard work.” What I thought were my physical __57_ were pushed much further than I thought __58__. I learned to make each performance better than the last.

Today, when I look at the unbelievable company that I have the great __59__ of being a part of, not only as a member, but as a dance captain, I see a __60_ that has inspired not only generations of little girls but a splendid company that continues to develop and grow-and inspires people every day to follow their dreams.

41. A. hobby                     B. plan                         C. dream                     D. word

42.   A connected              B. expanded              C. exposed                   D. extended

43. A. rarely                     B. certainly                  C. probably                  D. consistently

44.   A. director                   B. trainer                     C. leader                      D. dancer

45. A. symbol                    B. memory                   C. truth                       D. reality

46. A. bouncing                 B. dating                      C. turning                    D. tracking

47. A. lacks                        B. adds                         C. makes                   D. brings

48. A. while                    B. since                    C. until                        D. when

49.   A. Cared                B. Expected           C. Asked                 D. Decided

50.   A. motivated            B. relaxed              C. convinced             D. astonished

51.   A. challenges           B. profits            C. advantages              D. adventures

52.   A. put                  B. mix              C. build                  D. pick

53    A. Attention            B. association            C. attraction               D. adaptation

54.   A. apart                 B. aside                    C. off                    D. back

55.   A. over                  B. by                   C. with                   D. beyond

56.   A. function               B. meaning             C. expression              D. usage

57.   A. boundaries           B. problems           C. barriers                D. efforts

58.   A. necessary             B. perfect                    C. proper                   D. possible

59.   A. talent                    B. honor                      C. potential                  D. responsibility

60.   A. victory                    B. trend                    C. tradition                   D. Desire

 The film 2012 　　　 that there will be a disaster on the earth in ㊣2012

Do you believe so? 

A. expects           B. appeals     C. influences      D. predicts

In the week before Christmas, one Delta airlines pilot gave a sad Arizona family a gift that no one else could.

Father of three, Jay short died after a ___41_with lung cancer Dec, 16^th. Three days later, his family was attempting to _42___to Tennessee for the funeral scheduled for the next morning. But a 90-munite _43__at the Phoenix airport __44__them only seven minutes to make their connecting flight in Minnesota. “This was our __45__chance to say goodbye to my dad, and if we hadn’t __46___the flight, we would have missed the ____47__.” Jay’s daughter said. But when they arrived at the gate, the last plane of the day to Memphis was __48__away from the gate.

“My son was ___49___his arms and pleading with the pilot through the floor-to ceiling windows.” said Marcia, “I was ___50__ and comforting my girls who were also in tears when the phone rang, ___51___us that the pilot was returning to the gate to let us ___52__the plane.” Captain Adam Cohen saw the _53____on their faces through the gate’s windows and decided to turn the plane around. Airline experts pointed out Cohen could have __54___gotten into trouble for the ___55__decision, but Delta ___56_the move instead. “This is __57____we’ll take with us, knowing we made a ____58____.” confirmed Adam.

 This story is an __59___that we can bring humanity back to society. Show care and it may ___60___you how far that you go.

41.A. competition       B. symptom          C. connection          D. battle

42. A ride          B run              C fly                   D. drive

43.A. wait          B. delay                C. interval                 D. sleep

44.A. spared            B. offered          C. brought              D. left

45.A. last          B. slight               C. rare                     D. proper

46.A. followed      B. caught           C. booked              D. confirmed

47.A. doctor            B. meeting          C. polite                   D. funeral

48. A. keeping      B. bringing             C. pulling              D. taking

49.A. raising           B. waving           C folding               D. crossing

50.A. struggling        B. shouting             C. crying               D. praying

51.A. advising      B. informing            C. warning              D. instructing

52.A. land          B. guide                C. change               D. board

53.A. appreciation      B. satisfaction         C. desperation          D. caution

54.A. easily            B. merely           C. optionally               D. deliberately

55. A. careless         B. unusual          C. selfless                 D. unwise

56.A. resisted      B. opposed              C. praised              D. sponsored

57.A. nothing       B. something           C. anything                 D. everything

58.A. difference        B. change           C. promise              D. deal

59.A. activity          B. event                C. incident                 D. evidence

60. A. surprise         B. panic            C. disappoint              D. Embarrass

 To buy some salt, the careless housewife went downstairs, 　　　the fish　　　 over the gas. 

A. left; cooked                            B. leaving; being cooked

C. leaving; cooking                      D. left; being cooked

假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共

有10处错误，每句中最多有两处。错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号(Λ)，并在其下面写出该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线(＼)划掉。

修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

注意：

1．每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；

2．只允许修改10处，多者(从第11处起)不计分。

Some day I happened to find a chatting room in my QQ, there people were chatting in English. I tried to chat with some of them. To my surprised, I found the oral English of some junior students were better than me. I asked them for advice and they told me to practise more on QQ. But every day after that I would spend one hour practise my oral English on QQ. Day by day I learned from many useful words and expressions. With time go by, I found that I could even communicate some college students freely.

This happened when I was ten.

My girl cousin had decided to be a boy for Halloween, so my aunt called my mom to borrow some of my clothes. The next morning they came to our house early before school. My cousin told me that she was going to be a boy for Halloween and wear some of my clothes. I told her that I didn’t care. Then, with a big grin(咧嘴笑) on her face, she told me that I was going to be a girl. I told her she was crazy but she said that she had overheard my mom’s plan and that her mom had brought some of her clothes for me.

So we went to the living room to see our moms. Then I knew she wasn’t lying. There was a wig(假发) on the table and my mom and aunt were both smiling at me. I shook my head and told them “NO WAY!” before they even said a word. My aunt said that it would be really cute. Then Mom told me not to be a stick-in-the-mud. She said that it would be fun and she wanted to see what I’d look like as a little girl. I told them I absolutely would not do it!

I was still refusing twenty minutes later...When my aunt was putting make-up on me, I was wearing a pink party dress, the blond wig with pigtails(辫子) and earrings. My cousin wore one of my sweatshirts, my jeans and a baseball cap. We were sent to school like that, where I spent a sad day. The kids thought it funny that we were dressed that way and made stupid comments about us. They also played jokes on us and I’ve never been so uncomfortable.

I still don’t like Halloween to this day!

5. What would be the best title for the text?

A. Goodbye forever, Halloween                            B. Embarrassing Halloween

C. My naughty cousin                                            D. An unhappy day

6. The author’s 　　　 decided him to be a girl for Halloween. 

A. girl cousin        B. mother           C. aunt               D. teacher

7. The author thought the idea of being dressed like a girl 　　　. 

A. amazing           B. cute               C. traditional                   D. disgusting

8. By saying “a stick-in-the-mud”, the mother 　　　. 

A. thought the author was stubborn                      B. showed her preference for girls

C. decided to give in                                             D. expressed her anger

As I drive about the Sois in rural Thailand I catch little glimpses of things that barely register on the mind as the scenery flies by; strange things, beautiful things, sad things, interesting things. I wish I could hold on to these scenes; explore them in detail. I wish that I had the time to stop and investigate further as I’m driving by, but time is a commodity(商品)worth more than all the moneys in the world. I wish I had more.

I once had a guy wave to me as I passed him. He yelled out something, almost in greeting, as if he knew me. I wonder if we knew each other once, in another place, another time, and he recognized my soul as I drove by in the truck, and just had to yell a hello. I wish I had stopped and said hello too.

I saw two young girls, dressed in school uniforms. White blouses, blue skirts, books in hand. They were holding hands, talking, walking down the road, jostling(推，搡) each other with their shoulders and teasing each other as they strolled along. As I passed the one closest to the truck looked up. She was close enough to touch almost. Her smiling face, her clear eyes and golden smooth skin are there in my mind’s eye now. I can see her as if she were standing next to me. Once in a while her face just pops into my head. Why? Why is she still there? Sometimes I think maybe I’m a bit mad.

I stopped at a road stop on a corner one time. An old lady standing by the roadside walked over to the truck and put her hand on my arm and smiled at me. Her palm was so cool. It must have been a hundred degrees out that day. She said something in Thai and giggle (咯咯地笑) and walked away. Who was she? Why did she touch me? Why was her hand so cool? Why did I just sit there and let her touch me? I didn’t flinch（退缩) away. It was almost as if I knew her, and we were just saying a quick hello. Her cool touch almost seemed familiar; like my long dead grandmother’s soothing cool touch remembered from when I was just a little boy.

I need more time. I need to stop the truck more often, and just say hello. Things glimpsed along the road are often far more interesting and wonderful than that which seems to consume our daily lives. Slow down. Stop the truck. Get out, and say hello.

21. What kind of life does the writer normally lead?

A. Busy.          B. Tiring.           C. Meaningless.        D. Boring.

22. The man ( in Paragraph Two) yelled out because he____________.

A. had met the writer before              B. recognized the writer’s soul

C. wanted to show friendliness            D. mistook me as one of his friends

23. The writer describes the two school girls in great details to show ______.

A. his liking for them                   B. that he was kind of crazy

C. his interest in observing people         D. the deep impression they left on him

24. Why does the author compare the old lady with his grandmother?

A. The old lady behaved like his grandmother.

B. He suggests the old lady had very cold hands.

C. He suggests the old lady’s touch was comforting.

D. The old lady reminded the writer of his entire childhood.