Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, "Mum, you must come and see the daffodils before they are over." I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Lake Arrowhead. "I will go next Tuesday," I promised, a little unwillingly, on her third call. The next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and so I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn's house and hugged and greeted my grandchildren, I said, "Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! Theroad is invisible in the cloud and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and thesechildren that I want to see!" My daughter smiled calmly and said, "We drive in this weather all the time, Mum. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience." After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand-lettered sign that read "Daffodil Garden"?We got out of the car and each took a child's hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, we turned a comer of the path, and I looked up amazed. Before me lay the most beautiful sight. Flows of flowers of different colors seemed poured down the peak and slopes. There were five acres of flowers! A seas of daffodil! It was like a fairyland all beyond description. "But who has done this?" I asked Carolyn. "It's just one woman," Carolyn answered. That's her home, "Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house that looked small and modest in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house. On the patio , we saw a poster." Answers to the Questions I KnowYou Are Asking" was the headline. The first answer was a simple one. "50,000 bulbs " it read. The second answer was, "One at a time,by one woman." The third answer was, "Began in 1958." I thought of this woman whom I Had never met, who, more than fifty years before, had begun-one bulb at a time-to bring the beauty and joy to the mountain top. Just planting one bulb at a time, year after year, had changed the world where she lived and created something of... What has the writer learned from this experience? A) It's never too late to learn B) Nothing is too difficult if you put your heart into it C) People can change the world where they live by growing flowers D) Accumulation of small steps may lead to something magnificent
D
"Regardless of social class, race, age, men say they hate to shop," says Zukin, City University of New York sociology professor. " Yet when you ask them deeper questions, it turns out that they like to shop. Men generally like to shop for books , music and hardware. But if you ask them about the shopping they do for books or music, they'll say, ' Well , that's not shopping. That's research .'" In other words, what men and women call "buying things" and how they approach that task are different. Women will wander through several 1,000-square-meter stores in search of the perfect party dress. Men will wander through 100 Internet sites in search of the perfect digital camcorder. Women see shopping as a social event. Men see it as a special task or a game to be won. "Men are frequently shopping to win," says Ann, a marketing professor at Loyola University of Chicago. "They want to get the best deal. They want to get the best one, the latest one and if they manage to do that it makes them happy." "When women shop, they're doing it in a way that they want everybody to be very happy," says Ann. "They're kind of shopping for love." "Teenage girls learn to shop from their moms and older sisters, but they also learn to shop by examining articles in magazines like Seventeen." Zukin says. "And although men's magazines such as GQand Esquire have long had shopping articles, it's TV that has the eye of young male shoppers," says Ann and Zukin. "Of course, there are men who love to shop and are proud of it," Loyola's Ann says. And that is important no matter whether you buy a car or a frying pan. All men love to buy but they don't want to be cheated. Ann adds, "There actually are men who are interested, for example, in cooking or shopping or chinaware or things around their homes--they become kind of girl magnets. Women like it. " Compared to women , men usually treat shopping as _ . A) a social event B) a task C) a TV game D) entertainment
B
When an NBA player is young he thinks he can win the championship by himself. It is only later when he has aged and been through many battles that he learns an important lesson: there is no "I " in "team". There is no better example of the value of teamwork than the Boston Celtics. Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett were all superstars on three different teams. Yet, none of them had any titles to show for it. Then, last season, they decided to sacrifice money and individual statistics to play together. Garnett and Allen joined Pierce on the Celtics and changed the NBA in the process. It started in simple ways. Garnett and Allen are two of the most intense athletes in the world. They treat every second of every practice like it is the NBA championship. If you want to play alongside them then you will have to do the same. So, the young guys on the Celtics started giving their full effort too. Pierce had been the star of the Celtics for many years. He used to shoot the ball many times a game. But with the addition of Allen and Garnett he shot less and focused on defense. His selflessness showed the young players that doing what made the team better was the only thing that mattered. When the Celtics were winning and the game was almost over, Garnett, Pierce and Allen would come out of the game. But they wouldn't just sit on the bench. Instead, they stood and cheered and screamed for their teammates. They wanted to support their friends and teammates. Now, the guys who don't play know they can still affect the game by cheering so they scream and cheer when Garnett, Allen and Pierce are playing. The Celtics have developed a strong relationship. They are more than just teammates. They are brothers. The result: the Boston Celtics won the championship and are considered the favorites to win the Eastern Conference championship again this year. There is a saying that goes, "A successful team beats with one heart." If that is the case, the Celtics may have the biggest heart in the NBA. Which of the following is NOT true about Pierce's recent performance? A) He became an even better shooter with others' help. B) He focused much more attention on defense. C) He created more chances for teammates. D) He stood and cheered for his teammates
A