You are mistaken if you think all Chinese people speak in the same way. Have you ever seen a person from Shanghai try talking to someone 1. Guangzhou? 2. is quite likely that both of them may feel puzzled! The Chinese language, as a whole, uses the same set of character, 3. even the same characters can have different pronunciations. That is 4.
it is difficult for people to understand each other. Luckily, the widespread use of Putonghua in China has made a great contribution 5. people’s communication, though people from different areas tend to speak with various accents.
People in Northern Europe are 6. luckier. Even though people from Sweden , Denmark and Norway have their own official languages, it is very convenient 7. them to communicate with one another. Do you know why? That is because their languages are quite similar, though not without small distinctions. 8. , they can communicate easily in their mother tongues.
Twenty years ago, I drove a taxi for a living. One time I arrived in the middle of the night for a pickup at a building that was except for a single light in a ground floor window. I walked to the door and knocked.
A small woman in her 80’s opened the door. I took her suitcase to the cab then returned to her into the cab. She thanked me for my kindness. When we got in the taxi, she gave me a(n) , then asked, “Could you drive through downtown ?”
“It’s not the way,” I answered.
“Oh, I don’t mind,” she said. “I’m in no hurry. I’m on my way to a hospice (临终关怀医院).”
I looked in the rear view mirror. Her eyes were glistening.
“The doctor says I don’t have very long.”
I quietly reached over and the meter (计程器). “What would you like me to take?” I asked.
For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator. We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived. Sometimes she’d ask me to in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.
As the sun was , she suddenly said: “I’m tired. Let’s go now.”
We drove in to the address she had given me. There were people waiting for her and they put her in a wheelchair.
“How much do I have to pay you?” she asked, reaching into her purse.
“Nothing,” I said.
Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly.
“You gave an old woman a little moment of ,” she said.
I squeezed her hand, then walked into the dim morning light. Behind me, a door shut.
I didn’t any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly, lost in thought. We tend to think that our lives revolve around great moments. But great moments often 47 us unconsciously.
1.A. ancient B. dark C. dirty D. remote
2.A. invite B. watch C. help D. receive
3.A. address B. letter C. speech D. present
4.A. wrong B. funniest C. safest D. shortest
5.A. cut out B. showed off C. switched off D. turned on
6.A. direction B. order C. role D. route
7.A. break down B. get off C. speed up D. slow down
8.A. changing B. moving C. rising D. Setting
9.A. darkness B. noise C. silence D. sadness
10.A. joy B. interest C. trouble D. surprise
11.A. talk with B. call up C. pick up D. take away
12.A. catch B. drive C. improve D. puzzle
“My boy, do remember to leave things _____ you can find them again.
A. where B. when C. then D. there
I found my new school quite different from _____ I had studied in before.
A. one B. that C. the one D. it
—You don’t seem to be quite yourself today. What’s wrong?
—Oh, I’m suffering from a cold. Nothing serious, _____.
A. yet B. though C. too D. but
Our school, _____ in 1943, will celebrate its 70th anniversary this year.
A. founded B. founding C. to be founded D. was founded
