第三部分：閱讀理解（共20小題；每小題2分，滿分40分）

閱讀下列短文，從每篇短文后所給各題的四個(gè)選項(xiàng)（A、B、C和D）中，選出最佳選項(xiàng)，并在答題卡上將該項(xiàng)涂黑。

A

Forty-three years seems like a long time to remember the name of a mere acquaintance. I have forgotten the name of an old lady, who was a customer on the paper route in my home town when I was a twelve-year-old boy. Yet it stays in my memory, for she taught me a lesson of forgiveness that I shall never forget.

On a winter afternoon, a friend and I were throwing stones onto the leaning roof of the old lady's house from a spot near her backyard. The object of our play was to observe how the stones changed to missiles as they rolled to the roof's edge and shot out into the yard. I found myself a perfectly smooth rock and threw it out. The stone, however, slipped from my hand and headed straight for a small window on the old lady's back porch. At the sound of fractured glass, we knew we were in trouble. We ran as fast as possible.

I was too scared about getting caught to be concerned about the old lady with the broken window in winter. However, a few days later, when I was sure that I hadn't been discovered, I started to feel guilty for her misfortune. She still greeted me with a smile each day when I gave her the paper, but I was no longer able to act comfortably in her presence. 

I made up my mind that I would save my paper delivery money, and after three weeks I had the seven dollars that I thought would cover the cost of her window. I put the money in an envelope with a note explaining that I was sorry for breaking her window and hoped that the seven dollars would cover the cost. I put the letter through the letter slot in her door. My soul felt redeemed and I could have the freedom of, once again, looking straight into the old lady's kind eyes. The next day, I handed the old lady her paper and was able to return the warm smile that I was receiving from her. She gave me a bag of cookies. I thanked her and felt an envelope in it. When I opened the envelope, inside it were the seven dollars and a short note reading, "I'm proud of you."                                       

51. How did the writer get to know the old lady?

A. They were neighbors.       

B. The writer often played near the lady’s house.

C. The lady was the writer’s customer. 

D. They got to know each other by chance.

52. Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the text?

A. The writer broke the window on purpose.   

B. The incident happened 43 years ago.

C. The writer felt guilty a few days later.      

D. The old lady didn’t take the writer’s money. 

53. The underlined word “redeemed” is closest in meaning to “______”. 

A. excited        B. relieved        C. disappointed      D. delighted

54. What’s the best title for this passage?______________.

A. An old lady   B. My first job  C. My childhood  D. An unforgettable incident

B

If you don’t think technology can improve your trip, meet Judy Williams. When she and her husband recently checked into Blu Hotel in Zurich, a clerk asked them to sign the dotted line on a room rate hundreds of dollars higher than their online offer. 

“It was not a cheap stay,” says Williams, a lawyer from Billings, Mont. But it became more of one after her husband fired up the Booking.com app he’d used to book their room on his smartphone. “As soon as we showed him the cost, he honored it,” Williams says.

Technology may create challenges for travelers but it can also solve them. It’s more than making sure of a hotel cost. The latest Booking.com can help users select hotels by location, make a secure booking and view the confirmed(已確認(rèn)的) cost so they never need to re-discuss their hotel price.

Another pain point for travelers is traffic that eats away precious vacation time. There’s a new app called Commute which is aimed at users who have to make the same trip every day. But if you’re headed to Los Angeles or Honolulu, where visitors can easily get stuck in hours of heavy traffic, Commute can help.

Just input basic information about your destination and expected leaving time, and the app will start sending you traffic information 15 minutes before you leave. Testing Commute proved to be a challenge for me, because my home address is about 900 miles from my place of work. But if you have only a short distance to travel through a heavily populated area, you can use Commute to avoid traffic jams.

Another source of travel-related problems is money. That’s particularly true when you’re dealing with a foreign currency. The latest Travel Money Tracker helps travelers prevent currency mix-ups. It immediately changes a country’s native currency to yours, so you know exactly how much that Espresso(濃咖啡) in Milan costs in dollars. It can also warn you when you’re overspending, which can sometimes be a problem when you’re on vacation. The only catch, of course, is that you have to remember to record all your purchases.

Taken together, these apps solve some of the most common travel problems. But not all of them. Some things, no smartphone can fix, which means I get to keep my job – for now. 

55. What does the writer want to tell through the example of Judy Williams? 

   A. The cost of Blu Hotel was higher than that of others.

   B. The clerk was very friendly and patient.

   C. The smartphones have many functions.

   D. Technology can make our trips better.

56. Commute is not suitable for those who_________.

   A. have a long journey 

   B. go on the same trip every day 

   C. can easily get stuck in traffic jams

   D. travel a short distance downtown

57. What is the function of Travel Money Tracker?

   A. It tells people how much Espresso costs. 

   B. It changes the native currency to yours.

   C. It warns people when they are shopping.

   D. It records all people’s purchases.

58. What is the purpose of this passage?

   A. To encourage people to travel.  

   B. To introduce some new apps.   

   C. To help people with technology problems. 

   D. To provide people with traveling information.
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