It was blazing hot, just like most July days. I stepped into a tiny ice-cream shop to cool off with a
chocolate ice-cream. It was an old woman bent over a table near the door. Her back was so badly twisted that her face nearly touched the tabletop. I sat down facing her a couple of tables away.
“Poor woman,” I thought, “What does she get out of life? Why God let people live so long past their
prime?”
As I thought, another aged lady entered the shop and sat down with her. Soon the two of them were talking about childhood days. They talked of how little the shop had changed in 70 years... In minutes, the two of them were trembling with laughter.
I looked again at the first woman, then in the mirror on a nearby wall, catching a picture of myself. I was wearing a dirty shirt. She was well dressed in white, her hands sparking with gold rings. I was sad. She was laughing, smiling. I was putting the pieces of my life together. She had millions of wonderful memories to recall. I sat alone. She was sharing the day with a good friend. I was secretly worried about getting old. She was old, but it wasn’t hurting her.
As I left the shop, I thought of my foolish question about God letting people live past their prime. Why, that woman was more alive, more sensitive to life than I was. Age has not bent her spirit.
小题1:From the passage we know that the ice-shop _________.
| A．changed a lot in the past | B．had only a couple of tables |
| C．started its business 70 years ago. | D．had only women shoppers. |
小题2:What is the meaning of the underlined word “prime” in this passage?
| A．miserable life |
| B．wonderful experience |
| C．long career |
| D．time of great strength, beauty, vigor(活力) |
小题3: The writer implies all of the following except that _________.
| A．the old lady had lived a full and satisfying life |
| B．the writer had more problems than the old lady |
| C．the old lady was very lonely and sad |
| D．the old lady had learned to enjoy the simple things in life |
小题4: Which of the following is the conclusion the writer made about the old lady?
| A．She was more alive and sensitive to life than the writer. |
| B．She considered the young man pitiable. |
| C．She was to be pitied for her old age. |
| D．People should not be allowed to live when they are too old. |
小题5:Which of the following is the main idea of the passage?
| A．To tell us the life of old people |
| B．To show that old age does not mean being short of spirit. |
| C．To show the difference between the old and the young. |
| D．To make the reader have a pity on the old people. |