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 were a whole lot of antique 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 ．I was quite wrong ．The 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 five?” He was a very nice man and was greatly amused （感到有趣） by the whole thing ．
小题1: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 |
小题2: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 |
小题3:How much did the writer pay ?
小题4:From the text , we can learn that the writer was
| A．honest | B．careful | C．smart | D．funny |