Passage One
Everyone who eats in Carman's Country Kitchen in South
Philadelphia knows that if you need a job, a place to stay or a friendly ear
on a blue day, you come to Carman Luntzel. The six-foot, 46-year-old
powerhouse not only cooks, she also acts as her restaurant's discussion leader
and matchmaker. When breakfast regular Stephen Sacavitch wasn't meeting women,
she put his picture on a bulletin board, with the words: "Girls. Nice guy.
Give him a break."
Last September a coffeepot left on a
red-hot burner nearly destroyed the restaurant. Luntzel didn't have insurance.
But bad news has a way of turning good at Carman's.
Bereft at the thought of no more
buttermilk pancakes or homemade pear pie - and no more Carman dishing out
advice and help - her customers pitched in. They boarded up her windows,
removed debris and primed and painted her scorched walls. It wasn't just the
regulars. A guy on a motorcycle dropped off some cash. A woman from a nearby
restaurant scoured charred dishes and stuck two $50 bills in Luntzel's pocket
as she left. Just three weeks after the blaze, Luntzel was serving breakfast
again. "It was incredible," she says.
"There's a sense about Carman that is
just can-do," says regular Kevin Vaughan. "It's infectious."
(211 words)
1. The word "powerhouse" in paragraph one means ________.(
C )
(a)
a small powerplant
(b) a good
restaurant
(c) an energetic
person
(d) an angry woman
2. Carman Luntzel was all of the following except ________.(
D )
(a) a cook
(b) a discussion
leader
(c) a matchmaker
(d) an insurance
agent
3. What happened last September?
(
A )
(a) There was
a fire which nearly destroyed the restaurant.
(b) Luntzel lost a
coffeepot.
(c) An insurance
company offered to help.
(d) Carman could
always turn bad news into good news.
4. How many weeks did it take to reopen the restaurant?
(
B )
(a) Two
weeks.
(b) Three weeks.
(c) Two
months.
(d) Three
months.
5. What was infectious about the restaurant?
(
D )
(a) The food
served.
(b) The efficiency
of work
(c) The desire of
regular diners.
(d) The spirit of
helping others.
TOP
Passage Two
One night last July, my
12-year-old car died on California's Santa Ana Freeway. It was an hour before
sunset, and I was 25 miles from home. I couldn't reach anyone to pick me up,
so I decided to take a bus. Not knowing the routes, I figured I’d just head
east.
A bus pulled up, and I
asked the driver how far she was going. "Four more lights," she said. There
was another bus I could take from there. This clearly was going to be a long
night.
She dropped me off at the
end of her route and told me which bus to look for. After waiting 30 minutes,
I began to think about a very expensive cab ride home. Then a bus pulled up.
There was no lighted number above its windshield. It was out of service. But
the door opened, and darned if it wasn't the same driver.
"I just can't leave you
here," she said. "This isn't the nicest place. I'll give you a ride home."
"You'll drive me home in
the bus?" I asked, perplexed.
"No, I'll take you in my
car," she said.
"It's a long way," I
protested.
"Come on," she said. "I
have nothing else to do."
As we drove from the
depot in her car, she began telling me a story. A few days earlier, her
brother had run out of gas. A good Samaritan picked him up, took him to a
service station and then back to his car. "I’m just passing the favor along,"
she said.
When I offered her money
as a thank-you, she wouldn't hear of it. "That wouldn't make it a favor," she
said. "Just do something nice for somebody. Pass it along."
(287 words)
6. After the
car broke down, the author decided to ________.(
C )
(a)
have it repaired
(b) walk home
(c) take a bus
(d) wait for a lift
7. The bus driver told the author that ________.(
D )
(a) her bus
had four lights
(b) her route was a
long one
(c) she couldn't
help
(d) she would help
as far as four traffic lights
8. The bus driver came back to the author because ________.(
C
)
(a) the bus
was out of service
(b) she had no
lighted number
(c) she wanted to
help the author to the end
(d) she
wanted to take the author to another bus
9.
When the bus driver's brother had run out of gas a few days earlier, he
________.(
D )
(a) was left
on the way
(b) walked to a
service station
(c) was helped by
his sister
(d) was helped by
someone he didn't know
10. In the end of the passage, the bus driver suggested that the author
________.(
D )
(a)
offer some money
(b) say thank
you
(c) make what she
had done a favor
(d) pass the favor
along
TOP
Passage Three
In 1989, Melissa started Kids
F.A.C.E. as an after-school club at her elementary school. The six-member
group met each Monday to write letters and plan cleanup activities. "We never
thought it was anything more than a group of kids coming together so they
could talk about the environment," says Trish Poe, her mother.
But then a letter from
Milissa to the "Today" show got her club on television in 1990. When other
kids heard about the club, they wrote asking how they could get involved.
So Melissa, with the help
of her mother, who today manages the Kids F.A.C.E. office as executive
director, developed a membership book that instructed kids on environmental
projects and how to start a club of their own. "I felt like I had to write
them all back at once because I didn't like what the president did to me.
Because I didn't like being ignored ... I didn't want the kids to have the
same feeling." says Melissa.
Requests for information
came from all over the nation. At first, Melissa's parents paid the postage
and supply bills for the club, but soon expenses became too high. So the club
found a sponsor, Wal-Mart Inc., which began underwriting the bimonthly
newsletter, Kids F.A.C.E. illustrated, which currently provides environmental
updates, suggestions, and ideas to more than 2 million people world wide.
(225 words)
11. When Melissa was starting the club, she was ________.(
D )
(a) a
school teacher working for the kids
(b) a
social worker taking care of children after school
(c) the
parent of a kid at school
(d) a kid attending an
elementary school
12. When Melissa first organized Kids F.A.C.E., she meant to ________.(
C )
(a) have a
writing club for the kids
(b) ask the kids to
clean the environment
(c) give kids a
chance to talk about the environment
(d) have a national
club
13. More people wanted to join the club after ________.(
C )
(a) a
newspaper interview was made
(b) enough
letters were distributed
(c) they
heard about the club from a television show
(d) Melissa
became an executive director
14. Melissa mentioned the president because ________.(
B )
(a) the latter
wrote to her to support her work
(b) she
wrote to the latter but got no reply from him
(c) she wanted the
kids to know her experience
(d) she
wanted the kids to write to him
15. How many people worldwide can have access to the club's bimonthly
newsletter?
(
B )
(a) 1 million.
(b) 2 million.
(c) 3 million.
(d) 4 million.
TOP
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