Question

Last Christmas was a very difficult time for me. My family and all of my close friends were back home in Florida, and I was all alone in a rather cold California. I was working too many hours and became very sick.

I was working a double shift at the Southwest Airlines ticket counter, it was about 9:00 PM on Christmas Eve, and I was feeling really miserable inside. There were a few of us working and very few customers waiting to be helped. When it was time for me to call the next person to the counter, I looked out to see the sweetest-looking old man standing with a cane. He walked very slowly over to the counter and in the faintest voice told me that he had to go to New Orleans. I tried to explain to him that there were no more flights that night and that he would have to go in the morning. He looked so confused and very worried. I tried to find out more information by asking if he had a reservation or if he remembered when he was supposed to travel, but he seemed to become more confused with each question. He just kept saying, “She said I have to go to New Orleans.”

After much time, I was able to at least find out that this old man had been dropped off at the curb on Christmas Eve by his sister-in-law and told to go to New Orleans, where he had family. She had given him some cash and told him just to go inside and buy a ticket. When I asked if he could come back tomorrow, he said that she was gone and that he had no place to stay. He then said he would wait at the airport until tomorrow. Naturally, I felt a little ashamed. Here I was feeling very sorry for myself about being alone on Christmas, when this angel named Clarence MacDonald was sent to me to remind me of what being alone really meant. It broke my heart.

Immediately, I told him we would get it all straightened out, and our Customer Service agent helped to book him a seat for the earliest flight the next morning. We gave him the senior citizen’s fare, which gave him some extra money for travelling. About this time he started to look very tired, and when I stepped around the counter to ask him if he was all right, I saw that his leg was wrapped in a bandage. He had been standing on it that whole time, holding a plastic bag full of clothes.

I called for a wheelchair. When the wheelchair came, we all stepped around to help him in, and I noticed a small amount of blood on his bandage. I asked how he hurt his leg, and he said that he had just had bypass surgery and an artery was taken from his leg. Can you imagine? This man had had heart surgery, and then shortly afterward, was dropped off at the curb to buy a ticket with no reservation to fly to New Orleans, alone!

I never really had a situation like this, and I wasn’t sure what I could do. I went back to ask my supervisors if we could find a place for him to stay. They both said yes, and they obtained a hotel voucher for Mr. MacDonald for one night and a meal ticket for dinner and breakfast. When I came back out, we got his plastic bag of clothes and cane together and gave the porter a tip to take him downstairs to wait for the airport shuttle. I bent down to explain the hotel, food and itinerary (行程) again to Mr. MacDonald, and then patted him on the arm and told him everything would be just fine.

As he left he said, “Thank you,” bent his head and started to cry. I cried too. When I went back to thank my supervisor, she just smiled and said, “I love stories like that. He is your Christmas Man.”

1.Last Christmas the writer had a miserable time because ______.

A．there were more customers than usual waiting to be helped

B．it was freezing cold in California at Christmas time

C．she was working all alone at the ticket counter

D．she was far away from her family and friends

2.The writer’s first impression of the old man was that he was ______.

A．gentle-looking and weak                  B．tired out and worried

C．confused and very sick                   D．sad and anxious

3.The old man wanted to fly to New Orleans to ______.

A．see his friends there

B．spend the Christmas with his family

C．visit his sister-in-law

D．undergo heart surgery

4.On hearing the old man say that he would wait at the airport the whole night, the writer felt a bit ashamed. This is because ______.

A．she felt sorry that she couldn’t do the old man a favor

B．she realized that someone was even more miserable than she felt

C．it took her a long time to find out how helpless the old man was

D．the old man was like an angel in the writer’s eyes

5.The writer called for a wheelchair for the old man because ______.

A．the old man had broken his leg when he was dropped off at the curb

B．the old man could spend the whole night on it at the airport

C．the old man was carrying a whole lot of clothes

D．the old man had had surgery just before and was very weak by then

6. By calling the old man the writer’s Christmas Man, the writer’s supervisor implied that ______.

A．the old man had told the writer a love story on Christmas

B．the old man had caused a lot of trouble for the writer on Christmas

C．the old man was the best gift the writer could have received on Christmas

D．the old man was the only customer the writer had served on Christmas

 

Answer 1

【答案】

1.D

2.A

3.B

4.B

5.D

6.C

【解析】

試題分析：作者講述因為遠離家人和朋友開始覺得孤獨，在幫助了那位老人之后，這種孤獨感已不是那么明顯了。她覺得老人是她圣誕節收到的最好的禮物。

1.細節題：從第一段的句子：My family and all of my close friends were back home in Florida, and I was all alone in a rather cold California.可知是因為遠離家人和朋友使作者感到痛苦。選D

2.細節題：從第二段的句子：I looked out to see the sweetest-looking old man standing with a cane. He walked very slowly over to the counter and in the faintest voice told me that he had to go to New Orleans.可知作者對老人的第一印象是紳士也很虛弱。選A

3.細節題：從第三段的句子：After much time, I was able to at least find out that this old man had been dropped off at the curb on Christmas Eve by his sister-in-law and told to go to New Orleans, where he had family.可知老人想去 New Orleans.是和家人共度圣誕節。選B

4.推理題：從第三段的句子：when this angel named Clarence MacDonald was sent to me to remind me of what being alone really meant. It broke my heart.可以推斷出作者感到羞愧是因為她知道有人比她更痛苦。選B

5.細節題：從第四段的句子：and he said that he had just had bypass surgery and an artery was taken from his leg. Can you imagine? This man had had heart surgery,可知老人剛剛做過手術，還很弱。選D

6.推理題：在幫助了那位老人之后，這種孤獨感已不是那么明顯了，說明老人是她圣誕節收到的最好的禮物。選C

考點：考查故事類短文

點評：本文推斷題居多，答題時在文章找到對應的地方，用筆進行標記，這有利于后期有時間檢查時可以立刻找到答案的位置。仔細理解作者所講的意思，再結合選項，通過排除法和自己對全文的把握，選出正確答案。