The secret of happiness
An old man walked slowly with a cane(手杖)into the restaurant .His old jacket, worn-out shoes and warm personality made him stand out from the usual crowd.
A young waitress watched him move toward a table by the window. She ran over to him, and said: “Here, sir……let me help you with that chair.”
Without saying a word, he smiled and nodded(点头)a thank you. She pulled the chair away from the table and helped him sit. Then she put his came against the table.
“Thank you, miss.”he said, kindly.
“You’re welcome, sir.”she said.
After he had finished his breakfast, the waitress brought him the change(零钱)from his bill. He left it on the table. She helped him up and walked with him to the front door.
When she went to clean his table, she found a business card under his plate and note on a napkin(纸巾). Under the napkin was a 100-dollar bill.
The note on the napkin read: “Dear miss, I respect you very much and I can see you respect yourself, too. It shows by the way you treat others. (3)You have found the secret of happiness. Your kindness will shine through to all those who meet you.”
The man she had waited on was the owner of the restaurant where she worked. This was the first time that she or any of the other workers had ever seen him in person.
By Steve Brunkhorst
小题1:The old man left﹩100 under the napkin because he| A．had a habit of giving tips to waitresses | | B．thought the meal was delicious | | C．wanted to thank the waitress for her good attitude | | D．learned the secret of happiness from the waitress |
小题2:What do we know about the waitress and the old man?| A．The waitress knew who the old man was from the note. | | B．The waitress knew the old man before she served him. | | C．The old man wanted to have the waitress as his secretary. | | D．It was the first time that the waitress had ever seen her boss. |
小题3:We can tell from the story that the old man went to the restaurant to .| A．have a good meal | | B．enjoy good service | | C．see the restaurant for himself | | D．show his love for common people |
小题4:The underlined phrase“waited on”means .| A．looked at | B．served | C．waited for | D．Found |
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小题1:C
小题2:D
小题3:C
小题4:B |
试题分析：本文叙述了一位餐馆的女服务员态度友好的为每一个客人服务从而获得幸福的故事。有一天，一位穿着破旧的老人，拄着拐杖来餐馆吃早餐，这个女服务员，热情的为他服务，老人非常尊重她的服务态度，留给她100美元的小费，并且告诉她已经找到了生活的幸福。
小题1:推理判断题。第二段的help you with that chair和 第三段的helped him sit可知这个女服务员帮助了他，所以此处老人留下100美元应是感谢这个女服务员的。故选C。
小题2:推理判断题。根据最后一段的This was the first time that she or any of the other workers had ever seen him in person.可知这是她或任何其他的工人第一次见过老板本人。故选D。
小题3:推理判断题。根据最后一段的This was the first time that she or any of the other workers had ever seen him in person.可知老板以前并没有亲自管理自己的餐馆，所以他这次来餐馆是为了亲自看看。故选C。
小题4:词义猜测题。根据第六段的After he had finished his breakfast, the waitress brought him the change(零钱)from his bill可知这个老人是顾客，因此女服务员为老人服务，因此此处的waited on应是服务的意思。故选B。 |
核心考点
试题【The secret of happinessAn old man walked slowly with a cane(手杖)into the restaura】；主要考察你对
题材分类等知识点的理解。
[详细]举一反三
A year ago I paid no attention to English idioms, 36 ___my teacher said again and again that it was important.
One day, I happened to 37 ___an Englishman on the road, and soon we began to 38____. As I was talking about how I was studying English, the foreigner shook his head, saying, “You don’t say! You don’t say!” I was 39 ____, I thought, perhaps this is not a 40 topic. Well, I’d 41____ change the topic. So I said to him, “Well, shall we talk about the Great Wall? 42 ___the way, have you ever 43 ____ there?”
“Certainly, everyone back home will 44 ___me if I leave China without seeing 45 ___” It was great. I said, “The Great Wall is one of the wonders in the world. It is a place of 46 ____.” Soon I was interrupted again by his words, “ 47 _____ !” I couldn’t 48 ____asking, “Why do you ask me not to talk about it?” “Well, I didn’t ask you to do 49___”, he answered, gently surprised.
I said, “Didn"t you say "You don’t say"?”
Hearing this, the Englishman 50 ____to tears. He began to 51 ____, “"You don"t say" actually means "really?". It is an 52 ___of surprise. Perhaps you don"t pay attention 53____ English idioms.”
Then I knew I had made fool of 54____. Since then I have been more 55 ____with idioms.
| 小题2: | | A．look | B．meet | C．pick up | D．find out |
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| 小题4: | | A．pleased | B．angry | C．afraid | D．surprised |
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| 小题5: | | A．proper | B．strange | C．safe | D．polite |
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| 小题8: | | A．gone | B．visited | C．seen | D．been |
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| 小题9: | | A．look at | B．think of | C．send for | D．laugh at |
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| 小题10: | | A．it | B．them | C．anything | D．something |
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| 小题11: | | A．fun | B．interest | C．business | D．mountain |
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| 小题12: | | A．Really | B．Good | C．You don"t say | D．You are right |
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| 小题14: | | A．this | B．so | C．anything | D．me a favor |
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| 小题15: | | A．laughed | B．cried | C．moved | D．came |
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| 小题16: | | A．explain | B．shout | C．prove | D．say |
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| 小题17: | | A．experience | B．expression | C．explanation | D．example |
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| 小题19: | | A．me | B．myself | C．him | D．somebody |
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| 小题20: | | A．helpful | B．popular | C．careful | D．satisfied |
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I was working as a consultant(顾问) in a beer company, helping the president and senior vice-presidents with something important. It was a big 16 . At the same time, my mother was in the 17 stages of cancer. .
I worked during the day and 18 40 miles home to be with her every night. It was 19 and stressful, but it was what I wanted to do. My promise was to continue to do excellent consulting during the day, 20 my evenings were very hard. I didn’t want to 21 the president with my situation. 22 I felt someone at the company wanted to 23 what was going on. So I told the vice-president of Hunan Resources, asking him not to 24 the information with anyone.
A few days 25 , the president called me into his office. I 26 he wanted to talk to me about one of the many issues we were 27 on. When I entered, he asked me to sit down. He faced me from across his large 28 , looked me in the eye and said, “I 29 your mother is very ill.”
I was totally 30 by surprise and burst into tears. He just looked at me, let my 31 subside(平息)，and then he 32 said a sentence I will never forget: “Whatever you need.” That was it. His 33 and willingness to both let me be in my pain and to offer me 34 were qualities of compassion(同情) that I 35 with me to this day.
| 小题1: | | A．honour | B．success | C．challenge | D．task |
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| 小题2: | | A．previous | B．final | C．fine | D．developing |
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| 小题3: | | A．walked | B．rode | C．ran | D．drove |
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| 小题4: | | A．tiring | B．exciting | C．boring | D．frightening |
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| 小题5: | | A．as if | B．after all | C．even though | D．now that |
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| 小题6: | | A．help | B．puzzle | C．cheat | D．bother |
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| 小题8: | | A．know | B．realize | C．hear | D．announce |
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| 小题9: | | A．enjoy | B．learn | C．share | D．hide |
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| 小题10: | | A．after | B．ago | C．before | D．later |
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| 小题11: | | A．knew | B．figured | C．doubted | D．found |
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| 小题12: | | A．working | B．getting | C．living | D．going |
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| 小题13: | | A．room | B．office | C．desk | D．computer |
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| 小题14: | | A．guess | B．hear | C．believe | D．think |
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| 小题16: | | A．crying | B．explaining | C．talking | D．worrying |
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| 小题17: | | A．suddenly | B．sadly | C．gently | D．carefully |
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| 小题18: | | A．happiness | B．understanding | C．excitement | D．sadness |
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| 小题19: | | A．everything | B．anything | C．nothing | D．something |
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| 小题20: | | A．take | B．bring | C．help | D．carry |
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My wife and I used to feel that it was impossible to be a true friend to someone whose name we didn"t know. How wrong we were! Years of Sunday-morning bus trips through the city with the same group of “nameless” people have changed our thinking. Before the bus takes off, we all join in a conversation: where’s the silent woman who sits up front and never responds to our cheery greetings? Here she comes. Her worn clothing suggests she doesn"t have much money to spare, but she always takes an extra cup of coffee for the driver.
We get smiles from a Mexican couple as they get on the bus hand in hand. When they get off, they’re still holding hands. The woman was pregnant late last year, and one day her change of shape confirmed that she’d delivered the child. We even felt a little pride at the thought of our extended family.
For many months, our only sadness lay in our inability to establish the same friendship with the silent woman at the front of the bus. Then, one evening, we went to a fish restaurant. We were shown to a table alongside someone sitting alone. It was the woman from the bus.
We greeted her with friendly familiarity we’d shown all year, but this time her face softened, then a shy smile. When she spoke, the words escaped awkwardly from her lips. All at once we realized why she hadn’t spoken to us before. Talking was hard for her.
Over dinner, we learned the stay of a single mother with a disabled son who was receiving special care away from home. She missed him desperately, she explained. “I love him… and he loves me, even though he doesn’t express it very well,” she murmured. “Lots of us have that problem, don’t we? We don’t say what we want to say, what we should be saying. And that’s not good enough.” The candles flared on our tables. Our fish had never tasted better. But the atmosphere grew pleasant, and when we parted as friends—we shared names.
小题1:All the following statements can describe the woman except ______.| A．poor | B．warm -hearted | C．silent | D．cold |
小题2:The underlined word “establish” in the 3th paragraph has the same meaning as_________.| A．keep | B．discover | C．set up | D．accept |
小题3:The woman had the same problem with her son in the way that ______.| A．they both disabled people | | B．they both had some difficulty in expressing | | C．they both liked bus travel | | D．they both brought interest to the passengers |
小题4:Which of the following might be the best title of this passage?| A．Friends of the Road | B．The Silent Woman on the Bus | | C．Going to Work by Bus | D．Different Kinds of Friendship |
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Like lots of small-business owners, Lola Gonzalez had to decide to cut down her company’s nine-person staff (员工) when the economic recovery began to fail last spring. Unlike other companies, she picked an unlikely employee to lay off (解雇): herself.
Her business began to have problems in 2008 after going through her books (账簿)
One day, her husband, Marcos, told her she had to reduce her payroll（薪金总额）by one person. Gonzalez said at a meeting, “I want you all to know that I have to lay somebody off and it’s been a very difficult decision. And that person is me.” Employees first froze in amazement and then burst into laughter until they realized she was serious. Gonzalez ’s employees said they were grateful for her kindness.
Her reason was simple. Although she ran the business and her employees did the legwork (跑腿), she thought she could find work more easily than her staff. Sure enough, she soon got a job as a social worker for a non-profit organization called Devereux Kids. She enjoys her social-worker job now, but the salary (薪水) cut has required some lifestyle changes. She and Marcos no longer eat out daily; they no longer pay for their son’s car and mobile phone, and they changed their car to a smaller one to save $300 a month.
Her business has picked up a bit recently and Marcos has begun to work part-time at Gonzalez’s company. Gonzalez says she has no plan to return to work at her company until the economic situation becomes better, perhaps in a year. Her employees, however, will get Christmas bonuses (奖金) this year.
小题1:How many workers are there in Gonzalez’s company at present?小题2:How did her employees feel at first when they heard Gonzalez’s decision?| A．Happy. | B．Grateful. | C．Surprised. | D．Unbelievable. |
小题3:After leaving her company, _____________. | A．Gonzalez sold her car and went to work by bus | | B．Gonzalez always had meals in a restaurant | | C．Gonzalez’s son helped her a lot | | D．Gonzalez changed her lifestyle a lot |
小题4:From the text, we can learn that ___________.| A．Gonzalez will not return to her company in future | | B．Gonzalez’s business has improved a little lately | | C．Gonzalez got her social-worker job with great difficulty | | D．Marcos lost his job and had to work at Gonzalez’s company |
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One day, a farmer’s donkey fell into a dried up well. The animal cried 16 for hours as the farmer tried to 17 what to do. Finally, he decided that the animal was 18 , the well needed to be covered up, and 19 the donkey just wasn’t worth the 20 , so he invited his neighbors to 21 and help him bury the donkey in the well. They all held shovels (铲) and begin to shovel 22 into the well. At first, the donkey 23 what was happing and 24 cried pitifully. Then, to everyone’s 25 , he quieted down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked 26 into the well and was 27 at what he saw. 28 each shovel load of dirt that hit his back, the donkey 29 something surprising. He shook it off and took a step up! As the farmer’s neighbors 30 to shovel dirt 31 the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. The donkey stepped 32 over the edge of the well! As with the donkey, 33 is going to shovel dirt 34 you, all kinds of dirt. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, by never giving 35 .
| 小题1: | | A．happily | B．hardly | C．sadly | D．greatly |
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| 小题2: | | A．carry out | B．think out | C．leave out | D．watch out |
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| 小题3: | | A．young | B．small | C．old | D．large |
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| 小题4: | | A．rescuing | B．killing | C．selling | D．buying |
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| 小题5: | | A．money | B．effort | C．praise | D．time |
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| 小题6: | | A．come around | B．come over | C．come down | D．come to |
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| 小题7: | | A．stone | B．earth | C．dirt | D．soil |
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| 小题8: | | A．realized | B．found | C．heard | D．saw |
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| 小题9: | | A．again | B．ever | C．never | D．once |
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| 小题10: | | A．joy | B．amazement | C．disappoint ment | D．excitement |
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| 小题12: | | A．astonished | B．sorry | C．worried | D．angry |
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| 小题14: | | A．did | B．had | C．made | D．considered |
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| 小题15: | | A．began | B．stopped | C．started | D．con tinued |
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| 小题16: | | A．at the top of | B．on top of | C．at the foot of | D．in front of |
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| 小题17: | | A．luckily | B．successfully | C．hard | D．easily |
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| 小题18: | | A．life | B．world | C．time | D．work |
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