For
several years now my newsagent has been spelling my name incorrectly. Every
morning I glance hopelessly at the top right - hand corner of my newspaper and
wince. There is something vaguely uplifting about seeing one's own name, one's
correct name written out in blue pencil at the top of a newspaper; and there is
something litterly degrading about seeing one's name carelessly distorted. I
have mentioned the matter to my newsagent several times, but it makes no
difference. He is a surly, militant, independent devil, a monopolist of the
worst kind. He does not realise of course that his carelessness
causes me endless trouble and no little embarrassment. I take my newspaper to
the office, I read it on the train, and the people with whom I travel
mispronounce my name because they have only the newsagent's written instruction
to go on. When I fail to recognise my spoken name they look at me suspiciously
—— as though I have momentarily forgotten my latest alias. I
used to rub out the newsagent's blue pencillings before I left home, but modern
newsprint does not stand up to modern erasers for long and my paper was always
very much the worse for wear when I reached the station. For a few weeks I
drafted an imaginary dog whenever I unfolded the newspaper in public. My
travelling companions and office colleagues remained puzzled, however. Some of
them seemed to think that I was leading a double life ;the rest, that I was
robbing somebody's letter- 60X on my way to work. Later I tried
crossing out the newsagent's mark and writing my correct name underneath it, but
even this move was misinterpreted. At the office it was assumed that I made a
practice of collecting discarded newspapers from the train and passing them off
as my own. No one actually said as much, but action sometimes speak louder than
words. Naturally, I could not tell the newsagent of all these
things. He would have laughed me out of the shop. I could only repeat my earlier
protest... I was at the shop early. He was standing behind the
counter, and as soon as I saw him I knew that there would be some
unpleasantness. Mr Higson is never at his best unshaven, in slippers atmosphere
and braces, and smoking on an empty stomach. The little shop was heavy with the
bitter - sweet odour of fresh newsprint and ink: stacks of crisp newspapers and
magazines lay neatly on the counter, and Higson and the boy were making up the
daily round. "Express, Mirror and Woman, " said Higson with his
eye on a grubby notebook. The boy collected the newspapers , flicked the
magazine between their pages and placed the folded bundle before his master.
Higson bent and scrawled a name in the top right - hand corner of the Express --
just to the right of the Crusader in Chains. "Times, Financial Times , Mail, "he
barked. "Good morning, "I said, " Just a small point, I
wonder... " Higson let his blue pencil clatter to the counter
and looked up. "I thought it wouldn' t be long!" he said. "Must
be a week or more since you last changed your order. " "I don't
think... " "No use denying it, " he broke in. "All here in
black and white. "He licked a finger and pushed at the pages of the notebook.
"Here we are, " he said. "February 14, Mail instead of Chronicle. March 14,
Herald instead of Mail and cancel Telegraph for eight days. April 1, Worker for
Herald. May 26, Times instead of Felegraph, Chronicle instead of Worker. July
21th... " "Surely, "I said, "I' ve a perfect right to read
which papers I like !" "You and old Topham!" he said.
"What's Mr Topham to do with it?" I said. "Well he's
another of 'em. Chop and change, chop and change. Must think I' ve nothing
better to do. " "As a matter of fact, "I said, "I called on
quite another matter. I wanted to draw your attention to the fact that there are
two L's in my name. " "You gone and changed it again then
he said. "And I should be obliged if you would spell it
properly in future. " "O. K. , O. K. , "he said. "Two L's,
anything else while we' re about it? How about ordering the Manchester Guardian
every other Friday?" "No, that's all, "I said with all the
digmity I could master. "Chronicle and Graphic, "he yelled.
"Come on, boy, wake up ! Haven' t got all day !" Half an hour
later my newspaper crashed through the letter-box. In the top right - handed
corner, heavily underlined, was the word"Topham. "
单选题
The tone of this text is ______.
A. desperate and disgusting
B. depressed and grieving
C. evil and curing
D. embarrassing and hopeless
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】[试题分析] 考查学生正确理解文章整体的能力。
[详细解答] 作者面临的newsagent, who is a surly, militant, independent devill, a monopolist of the worst kind.每次都写错他的名字，并且最后一次还将别人的名字写在他的报纸上，所以作者语气只能是既尴尬又无奈。“surly”为“sullenly ill-humored；gruff”暴躁的。
单选题
According to the text the newsagent last wrote out "Topham" on the top
right - handed corner of the author's paper because ______.
A. the newsagent wanted to revenge on the author's habit of frequently
changing the order
B. the newsagent was intentional to punish Topham
C. the newsagent was careless and opinionated
D. the newsagent was reluctant to write the author's name in a correct
way
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[试题分析] 考查学生正确判断因果的能力。
[详细解答] 报刊经销人"is never at his best unshaven, in slippers atmosphere and braces, and smoking on an empty stomach, and there would be some unpleasantness"。