New York Times-The already crazed compet...

A well-dressed man came into a famous jeweler shop. He explained that he wished to buy a pearl (珍珠) for his wife's birthday and that the price didn't matter since business had been very good for him that year. After examining a number of beautiful and valuable pearls, he chose a nice black one that cost $ 5,000. He paid for the pearl, shook hands with the jeweler and left.

A few days later the man returned and said his wife had liked the pearl so much that she wanted another one just like it. It had to be exactly the same size and quality(质地) as she wanted a pair of earrings (耳环) made. "Can you give me any advice on how to get such a pearl?" said the man. The jeweler replied,   "I would say it's nearly impossible to find an exact one like that pearl.”

The rich man asked the jeweler to advertise(登广告) in the newspapers, and offered $25,000 for the  matching pearl. Many people answered the ad(广告), but nobody had a pearl that was just right. Just when the jeweler had given up hope, a little old lady came in. To his surprise, she pulled the wonderful pearl from her handbag. "I don't like to sell it," she said sadly. "I inherited(继承) it from my mother, and my mother inherited from hers. But now I really need the money. "

The jeweler was quick to pay her before she changed her mind. Then he called the rich man’s hotel to tell him the good news. The rich man, however, was nowhere to be found.

1. From the first paragraph we can guess that the jeweler considered the well-dressed man as_____________.

A. an honest jeweler to make friends with  B. a clever cheat (骗子) with a 1ol

C. a rich businessman and good husband   D. a poor gentleman who spent mc

2. He paid$ 5,000 for the pearl without bargaining(讨价还价)______________.

A. because he loved his wife very much  

B. in order to get it as quickly as possible

C. since his business had been successful           

D. so as to make the jeweler believe him

3. Which of the following is true?

A. The people who answered the ad wanted to sell their pearls at a high price.

B. The woman was the well-dressed man's wife.

C. The jeweler was lucky enough to buy the little old lady's pearl.

D. The rich man didn't know the little old lady.

4. The jeweler could not find the rich man anywhere because he__________.

A. had moved to another hotel    B. was busy doing business with others

C. had escaped with $ 20,000     D. had told the wrong telephone number

Thirteen, for me, was a challenging year. My parents divorced and I moved to a new town with my father, far from my old family and friends. I was terribly lonely and would cry myself to sleep each night. To ease my sadness, my father purchased an old horse for me at a local auction.(拍卖) I named him Cowboy.

Cowboy was without a doubt the ugliest horse in the world. But I didn’t care. I loved him beyond all reason. I joined a riding club and suffered rude comments and mean snickers about Cowboy’s looks. I never let on about how I felt, but deep inside, my heart was broken. The other members rode beautiful, registered horses.

When Cowboy and I entered the events where the horse is judged on appearance, we were quickly shown the gate. No amount of preparation and love would turn Cowboy into a beauty. My only chance to compete would be in the speed events. I chose the jumping race.

One girl named Becky rode a big brown horse in the race events. She always won the blue ribbons.  Needless to say, she didn’t feel threatened when I competed against her at the next show. She didn’t need to. I came in next to last.

The stinging memory of Becky’s smirks(得意的笑) made me determined to beat her. For the whole next month I woke up early every day and rode Cowboy five miles to the arena (赛马场). We practiced running and jumping for hours in the hot sun and then I would walk Cowboy home totally exhausted. All of our hard work didn’t make me feel confident by the time the show came. I sat at the gate and sweated it out while I watched Becky and her horse charge through the course and finish in first place.

My turn finally came. I put on my hat, rubbed Cowboy’s neck and entered the arena. At the signal, we dashed toward the first fence, jumped it without trouble and raced on to the next one. Cowboy then flew over the second, third and fourth fences like a bird and I turned him toward the finish line. As we crossed the line the crowd was shocked into silence. Cowboy and I had beaten Becky and her fancy horse by two seconds!

I gained much more than a blue ribbon that day. At thirteen, I realized that no matter what the odds, I’d always come out a winner if I wanted something badly enough to work for it.

1. The underlined expression "shown the gate" (paragraph 3) most probably means ______.

A. told how to enter the arena

B. shown how to make the horse beautiful

C. removed from the competition early

D. told to enter the timed-speed events

2. When the final race finished, nobody cheered because________.

A. the audience didn’t like Cowboy      B. people envied the writer

C. the win was unexpected        D. the writer bad run out of time

3. Why was the writer not confident of victory?

A. He was an inexperienced rider.

B. He had not practiced enough.

C. He believed he was unpopular with the crowd.

D. He thought his horse wasn’t as good as the others.

4. What did the writer learn from his experience?

A. Life can sometimes be unfair.

B. Anything is possible if one tries hard enough.

C. A positive attitude will bring success.

D. One should not make judgments based on appearance.

In the Great Depression, the American government couldn’t find good solutions _____ the unemployment problem

I spent five hours_____________ the book__________ I paid 10 dollars.

With five hungry children seated round the table, the food disappeared_____________.