二、阅读理解

　　Some time ago , I discovered that one of my chairs had a broken leg . I didn’t think there would be any difficulty in getting it mended , as there are a whole lot of antique (古董) shops near my home . So I left home one morning carrying the chair with me . I went into the first shop expecting a friendly reception (接待) . I was quite wrong . Then man wouldn’t even look at my chair . The second shop , though slightly more polite , was just the same , and the third and , the fourth-so I decided that my approach must be wrong . I went into the fifth shop with a plan in my mind . I placed the chair on the floor and said to the shopkeeper , “ Would you like to buy a chair ?” He looked it over carefully and said, “Yes , not a bad chair . How much do you want for it , sir ?” “Twenty pounds ,” I said . “OK ,” he said , “I’ll give you twenty pounds . ” “It’s got a slightly broken leg ,”I said . “Yes I saw that , it’s nothing .” Everything was going according to plan and I was getting excited . “What will you do with it ?” I asked . “Oh , it will be easy to sell once the repair is done .” “I’ll buy it ,” I said . “ What do you mean ? You’ve just sold it to me ,” he said . “Yes , I know but I’ve changed my mind . I’m sorry , I’ll give you twenty-seven pounds for it .” “You must be crazy ,” he said Then , suddenly the penny dropped . “ I know what you want . You want me to repair your chair.” “ You’re right ,” I said . “ And what would you have done if I had walked in and said , ‘ Would you mend this chair for me’ ?” “I wouldn’t have agreed to do it ,” he said . “We don’t’ do repairs , not enough money in it and too much trouble . But I’ll mend this for you , shall we say for a fiver ?” He was a very nice man and was greatly amused (感到有趣) by the whole thing .

　　11.We can learn from the text that in the first shop the writer .

　　A.was rather impolite B.was warmly received

　　C.asked the shopkeeper to buy his chair D.asked the shopkeeper to repair his chair

　　答案：D

　　12.The expression “the penny dropped” in the last paragraph means the shopkeeper .

　　A.changed his mind B.accepted the offer

　　C.saw the writer’s purpose D.decided to help the writer

　　答案：C

　　13.How much did the writer pay ?

　　A.￡5. B.￡7. C.￡20. D.￡27.

　　答案：A

　　14.From the text , we can learn that the writer was .

　　A.honest B.careful C.smart D.funny

　　答案：C

　　B Beauty has always been regarded as something praiseworthy . Almost everyone thinks attractive people are happier and healthier , have better marriages and have more respectable jobs . Personal advisors give them better advice for finding jobs . Even judges are softer on attractive defendants . But in the executive (主管的) circle , beauty can become a liability . While attractiveness is a positive factor for a man on his way up the executive ladder , it is harmful to a woman . Handsome male executives were considered having more honesty than plainer men ; effort and ability were thought to lead to their success . Attractive female executives were considered to have less honesty than unattractive ones ; their success was connected not with ability but with factors such as luck . All unattractive women executives were thought to have more honesty and to be more capable than the attractive female executives . Interestingly , though , the rise of the unattractive overnight successes was connected more to personal relationships and less to ability than that of the attractive overnight successes . Why are attractive women not thought to be able ? An attractive woman is considered to be more feminine (女性的，娇柔的) and has an advantage in traditionally female jobs , but an attractive woman in a traditionally manly position appears to lack the “manly” qualifies required . This is true even in politics , “When the only clue is how he or she looks , people treat men and women differently ,” says Anne Bowman , who recently published a study on the effects of attractiveness on political candidates (候选人). She asked 125 undergraduate students to rank two groups of photographs , one of men and one of women , in order of attractiveness . The students were told the photographs were of candidates for political offices . They were asked to rank them again , in the order they would vote for them . The results showed that attractive males completely defeated unattractive men , but the women who had ranked most attractive unchangeably received the fewest votes .

　　15.The underlined word in the first paragraph “ liability” most probably means .

　　A.disadvantage B.advantage C.misfortune D.trouble

　　答案：A

　　16.Bowman’s experiment shows that when it comes to politics , attractiveness .

　　A.turns out to be a disadvantage to men B.is more of a disadvantage than an advantage to women

　　C.has as little effect on men as on women D.affects men and women alike

　　答案：B

　　17.It can be inferred from the passage that people’s views on beauty are often .

　　A.practical B.supportive C.old-fashioned D.one-sided

　　答案：A

　　18.The author writes this passage to .

　　A.give advice to job-seekers who are attractive B.discuss the disadvantages of being attractive

　　C.demand equal rights for women D.state the importance of appearance

　　答案：D