Many people think a telephone is essential. But I think it is a pest and a time waster. Very often you find it impossible to escape from some idle or curious chatter-box, or from somebody who wants something for nothing. If you have a telephone in your own house, you will admit that it tends to ring when you are asleep, or in the middle of a meal or a conversation, or when you are just going out, or when you are taking your bath. Are you strong minded enough to ignore it, to say to yourself,"Ah, well, it will all be the same in a hundred years' time" You are not. You think there may be some important news or messages for you. I can assure you that if a message is really important it will reach you sooner or later. Have you never rushed dripping from the bath, or chewing from the table, or dazed from the bed, only to be told that you are a wrong number? But you will say, you need not have your name printed in the telephone directory, and you can have a telephone which is only usable for outgoing calls. Besides, you will say, isn't it important to have a telephone in case of emergency--illness, an accident, or fire? Of course, you are right, but here in a thickly populated country like England one is seldom far from a telephone in case of dreadful necessity. I think perhaps I had better try to justify myself by trying to prove that what I like is good. I admit that in different circumstances--if I were a tycoon(business VIP),for instance, or bed ridden I might find a telephone essential. But then if I were a taxi-driver I should find a car essential. Let me put it another way: there are two things for which the English seem to show particular talent; one is mechanical invention, the other is literature. My own business happens to be with the use of words but I see I must now stop using them. For I have just been handed a slip of paper to say that somebody is waiting to speak to me on the telephone. I think I had better answer it. After all, one never knows, it may be something important. The passage is mainly discussing _ . A) that we should be strong enough to ignore a phone call B) that important message will reach you sooner or later C) whether it's necessary to answer all phone calls D) whether it is necessary to have a telephone
D
(Question)
Long bus rides are like television shows. They have a beginning, a middle, and an end with commercials thrown in every three or four minutes. The commercials are unavoidable. They happen whether you want them or not. Every couple of minutes a billboard glides by outside the bus window. "Buy Super Clean Toothpaste." "Drink Good Wet Root Beer." "Fill up with Pacific Gas. "Only when you have fallen asleep, which is equal to turning the television set off, can you get separated from the unending cry of "You Need It! Buy It Now!" As for the ride itself, the beginning of it is comfortable and somewhat exciting, even if you've traveled that way before. Usually some things are keeping changing out of the windows -- various houses, crop fields, attractive bridges, ... and sometimes even a small accident. Your bus driver may have a unique style of driving and it's fun trying experience it the first hour or so. If the driver is particularly reckless or daring, the ride can be as thrilling as an adventurous story. Will the driver pass the truck in time? Will the driver move into the right or the left hand lane? After a while, of course, the excitement dies down. Sleeping for a while helps pass the middle hours of the ride. Food always makes bus rides more interesting. But you've got to be careful of what kind of food you eat. Too much salty food can make you very thirsty between stops. The end of the ride is somewhat like the beginning. You know the riding will soon be over and there's a kind of expectation and excitement with that. The seat, of course, has become harder for the hours having passed. By now you may sit with your legs crossed, or with your hands in your lap, or with your hands on the arms, or even with your hands crossed behind your head. That is to say that the end comes just at no more ways to sit. The writer thinks that the end of the ride is somewhat like the beginning because both are . A) exciting B) comfortable C) tiring D) boring
(Answer)
A
The Truth Can Set You Free I recently got pulled over for speeding not far from my new home in Virginia. I hadn't been paying attention, and I had driven a few miles an hour over the speed limit. "Can I see your license and registration?" the police officer asked me. I pulled both out for him, and he saw my Pittsburgh address on my Pennsylvania driver's license. "What are you doing here?" he asked. "Are you with the army?" "No, I'm not." I answered. I explained that I had just moved to Virginia, and I hadn't had time to re-register yet. "So what brings you here?" He had asked a direct question. Without thinking very hard, I gave him a direct answer. "Well, officer," I said, "since you've asked, I have cancer. I have just months to live. We've moved down here to be close to my wife's family." "So you've got cancer," he said flatly. He was trying to figure me out. Was I really dying? Was I lying? He took a long look at me. "You know, for a guy who has only a few months to live, you sure look good." He was obviously thinking: "Either this guy is pulling one big fat line on me, or he's telling the truth." He was trying to question my honesty without directly calling me a liar. And so he had forced me to prove that I was being honest. "Well, officer, I know that I look pretty healthy. I look great on the outside, but the tumors are on the inside." And then, I don't know what possessed me, but I just did it. I pulled up my shirt, showing the operational scars. He looked at my scars. He looked in my eyes. He now knew he was talking to a dying man. Well, he wasn't taking this any further. He handed me back my license. "Do me a favor." he said, "Slow down from now on." The awful truth had set me free. As he went back to his police car, I had a realization. I had been one of those gorgeous blondes who could bat her eyelashes and get out of tickets. I drove home under the speed limit, and I was smiling like a beauty queen. It can be inferred from the passage that the author was _ . A) optimistic B) adventurous C) dishonest D) romantic
A