A Mountain of Green Beans Another envelope in the mail. There's my name, Alexander Spencer, typed on the front. I throw it under the bed. The piles of envelopes are growing. The envelopes were applications to all the colleges I was supposed to attend. I did open the first envelope. Then I saw the application, all those blank spaces I was supposed to fill with my own writing, spaces for my name and birth date and grade average and ... statement of purpose. I looked at them for a long time. I could write for hours and not fill all those spaces. So I put the application back in the envelope. I would fill it out the next day, when I had time. But another envelope arrived. And then the pile began. The pile scares me -- it is really like a monster. All the while, I feel the weight of a million envelopes raining down on my head until my grandmother calls me and wants to know how I am. "I am overcome by too many tasks," I say. "Honey, you just take it bit by bit," she says, and she reminds me about the green beans. When I was a little kid I hated green beans. But my mom said I couldn't leave the table until I ate ten green beans. All alone at the table, I stared at the green beans for what seemed like hours. It was a mountain of green beans. I couldn't do it. My grandma came to me and asked if I could eat one green bean. "But Grandma, I have to eat ten!" She said all I had to do was to eat one green bean. One tiny little green bean. So I ate one. It was bad, but not as bad as I'd thought it would be. Then she asked me again if I could eat one. So I ate one green bean nine more times. My grandma doesn't know about the envelopes, but she tells me anyone can do one thing every day. Back in my room, I lay down on the bed. Just like I used to do when I was a little kid, I hang my head down to look at the pile of envelopes. There it is. But instead of a monster, I see a pile of green beans. Who's afraid of green beans? What does the author learn from the story of the green beans? A) A good start is half done. B) Actions speak louder than words. C) A long journey begins with a single step. D) All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
C
"There's going to be one less boy in the room!" The words rang in my ears as the criminal pointed his gun against my head. The floodgates opened and tears ran down my face. No one in the courtroom moved. Everyone was held silent with fear. A few seconds passed and the criminal put down his gun, turning his back on me. "Cut!" the director shouted with joy. One take! We had done the scene in just one take. Then all the people who acted in the film went off for lunch. I got my food and joined them, and the criminal, who had moments before been so scary, took his seat beside me and told us many funny jokes. A table of adults surrounded me, but I was never uncomfortable talking with strangers. I worked with these people and they worked with me. We talked, we laughed, we got to know each other and sometimes we became friends. At the end of the day we all went our separate ways, but we had been drawn close by working together to make this play. After the show was broadcast, my friends asked if I had been scared of the criminal. At first this sounded funny. He was, after all, a kind and intelligent man. Then I realized that they didn't see that side of him. Television and films are about creating an alternate life that appears real even if for a while. We had been successful in doing that. Even my friends, who knew the real me, were drawn in the make-believe world of our story. Acting has helped me to feel comfortable in my own skin and in communicating with others. I feel relaxed during interviews and when leadership opportunities come. Change is not threatening to me, and I am grateful for the chance to learn and to grow in knowledge and experience in my life. It can be inferred from the passage that_. A) the author felt lucky to play in the film B) it wasn't the first time that the author had acted in films C) the author's friends encouraged him to act in films D) the author had a successful career because of this film
A
Q: She looked at the man walking along the sidewalk next to the nice houses. He didn't live in any of those houses. She had seen this man several times before. He looked like a criminal. She knav not to judge a book by its cover, but this man was no good She drove by him. He looked at her car as she drove by. She continued driving. She watched him in her rear view mirror. She got to the corner and stopped. She continued to watch him walking in her direction. Suddenly, he turned left up a driveway. A red SUV was parked in the driveway right next to the sidewalk. She saw him walk up to the driver's door and put his hand on the handle. He relumed to the sidewalk and continued walking in her direction. "What was that all about. " she wondered. Then she realized that he had tested the door to see if it was locked. He is a criminal, she thought That's what he does. He just walks through our neighborhoods looking for cars to break into. She called the police. She described the man. The officer said he knew who the man was. Residents called two or three times a week to report him walking by. But the police couldn't arrest him for walking around. They had to catch him with stolen goods. "But he was testing that SUV door to see if it was unlocked," she said. "I'm sony," said the officer. "That's not against the law. If you see him actually steal something, give us a call." What could be the best title of this passage? A) A crazy man B) A wandering man C) A stealing man D) A useless policeman
A: B
(Question)
Lisa was running late. Lisa, 25, had a lot to do at work,plus visitors on the way: her parents were coming in for Thanksgiving from her hometown. But as she hurried down the subway stairs, she started to feel uncomfortably warm. By the time she got to the platform, Lisa felt weak and tired-maybe it hadn't been a good idea to give blood the night before, she thought. She rested herself against a post close to the tracks. Several yards away, Frank, 43, and his girlfriend, Jennifer, found a spot close to where the front of the train would stop. They were deep in discussion about a house they were thinking of buying. But when he heard the scream, followed by someone yelling, "Oh, my God, she fell in!" Frank didn't hesitate. He jumped down to the tracks and ran some 40 feet toward the body lying on the rails. "No! Not you! " his girlfriend screamed after him. She was right to be alarmed. By the time Frank reached Lisa, he could feel the tracks shaking and see the light coming. The train was about 20 seconds from the station. It was hard to lift her. She was just out. But he managed to raise her the four feet to the platform so that bystanders could hold her by the arms and drag her away from the edge. That was where Lisa briefly regained consciousness, felt herself being pulled along the ground, and saw someone else holding her purse. Lisa thought she'd been robbed. A woman held her hand and a man gave his shirt to help stop the blood pouring from her head. And she tried to talk but she couldn't, and that was when she realized how much pain she was in. Police and fire officials soon arrived, and Frank told the story to an officer. Jennifer said her boyfriend was calm on their 40-minute train ride downtown-just as he had been seconds after the rescue, which made her think about her reaction at the time. "I saw the train coming and I was thinking he was going to die." she explained. How did Frank save Lisa? A) By lifting her to the platform. B) By helping her rise to her feet. C) By pulling her along the ground. D) By dragging her away from the edge.
(Answer)
A