Question

During the Second World War, I met a housewife from Chicago who told me how she discovered for herself that “the cure for worry is to get completely occupied by doing something constructive.” I met this woman and her husband in the dining car while I was traveling from New York to my farm in Missouri.

This couple told me that their son had joined the armed forces the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The woman told me that she had almost ruined her health through worrying over that only son. Where was he? Was he safe? Would he be wounded? Killed?

When I asked her how she overcame her worry, she replied：“I got busy.” She told me that at first she had dismissed her maid and tried to keep busy by doing all her housework herself. But that didnˈt help much. “The trouble was，” she said, “that I could do my housework almost mechanically. So I kept on worrying. Then I realized I needed some new kind of work that would keep me busy both mentally and physically. So I took a job as a saleswoman in a store.”

“That did it，” she said. “I immediately found myself involved in a lot of activities：customers crowding around me, asking for prices, sizes, colors. Never a second to think of anything except my immediate duty. And when night came, I could think of nothing except getting off my aching feet. As soon as I ate dinner, I fell into bed and instantly became unconscious. I had neither the time nor the energy to worry.”

1.Doing housework failed to work on the woman because ________.

A. it was too boring to do housework

B. she didnˈt like doing housework at all

C. there wasnˈt much housework to do

D. she didnˈt need to use her mind to do housework

2.Why did the woman take a job as a saleswoman?

A. She had to work to support her family.

B. She needed a more effective way to defeat her worry.

C. She wanted to make her life more colorful.

D. She enjoyed being surrounded by people.

3.After a dayˈs work as a saleswoman, the woman ________.

A. felt extremely tired

B. fell into unconsciousness because of worries

C. seemed quite disappointed

D. lost her appetite

Answer

1. D

2. B

3. A

【解析】

本文是一篇记叙文，二战中一位母亲非常担心参军的儿子的安全，为了消除担忧，她先做家务尝试摆脱担忧，但不起作用。后来从事了销售员的工作，让自己忙于工作，没有时间和精力去担忧其他的事情。

1.细节理解题。根据第三段第四句“The trouble was，” she said, “that I could do my housework almost mechanically. So I kept on worrying.可知她在做家务的时候，只是机械的完成家务，大脑还是在担心自己的孩子，她的思想还在孩子身上。故D项正确。

2.判断推理题。根据第三段最后两句“Then I realized I needed some new kind of work that would keep me busy both mentally and physically. So I took a job as a saleswoman in a store.””可知她要做一份工作让自己从身体和精神上都忙碌起来，让她没有时间和精力去担忧儿子，所以她才做了销售员的工作。故B项正确。

3.推理判断题。根据最后三句“And when night came, I could think of nothing except getting off my aching feet. As soon as I ate dinner, I fell into bed and instantly became unconscious. I had neither the time nor the energy to worry.”可知当她晚上回家的时候，脚很疼；吃完饭以后躺到床上就睡着了，这些都说明她非常累。故A项正确。