阅读理解。阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

    F . Scott Fitzgerald, born on September 24,1896, an American novelist, w  as once a student of St.Paul Academy, the Newman School and attended Princeton. University for a short while. In 1917 he joined the army and was posted in Alabama, where he met his future wife Zelda Sayre. Then he had to make some money to impress her.

    His life with her was full of great happiness, as he wrote in his diary :“ My own happiness in the past often approached such joy that I could share it even with the person dearest to me but had to walk it away in quiet streets and take down parts of it in my diary.”

    This side of paradise, his first novel, was published in 1920. encouraged by its success, Fitzgerald began to devote more time to his writing. Then he continued with the novel the Beautiful and Damned (1922), a collection of short stories Thales of the Jazz Age (1922), and a play The Vegetable (1923). But his greatest success was The Great Gatsby, published in 1925,which quick brought him praise from the literary world. Yet it failed to give him the needed financial security. Then, in 1926, he published another collection lf short stories All the Sad Young Men.

    However, Fitzgerald's problems with his wife Zelda affected his writing. During the 1920s he tried to reorder his life, but failed. By 1930, his wife had her first breakdown and went to a Swiss clinic. During this period he completed novels Tender Is the Night in 1934 and The love of the last Tycoon in 1940. while his wife was in hospital in the United States, he got totally addicted to alcohol. Sheila Graham, his dear friend, helped him fight his alcoholism.

    A Song of Ice and Fire is a seven-part series of fantasy written for adults. George R. R. Martin writes each chapter from the perspective of a specific character, providing a limited point of view for each section. The reader is able to understand the inner workings of the individual, but the reader is barred from a whole understanding of the text. The world he has created has magic, but there is much more than that. While magic exists, it exists on the edge, and the inner unrest of the characters is much more important.

    His work also has a level of realness that is astonishing in a work of fantasy. Characters are imperfect, and many make questionable moral choices. In the end, however, Martin shows that both good and bad happen to both the people of high moral standard and the corrupt. He has made it clear that any character can die at any point, which has led to a lot of heartbreak from readers.

    In 2011, A Song of Ice and Fire became a television series titled Game of Thrones. Martin has been closely involved with the production. It has currently run for seven seasons, and viewers anxiously await the eighth season to answer their questions from the season seven finale.

    His fans are also waiting for The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring, the next books in the series, to answer the questions Martin and the television show have not yet addressed. Martin, however, has no plans to rush. He has made it clear that he will continue to write the books while working on the television show and writing other novels.

    But how will the story continue? What is going to happen in Westeros, and more importantly: when are we going to find out? Martinis skill as a writer has kept readers and viewers spellbound. Many hope he will finish the next book before the next season of the show begins, but no one knows with Martin. He always keeps his readers guessing.

    "Are you going to Seattle?" an anxious-looking woman asked a female traveler at the Amtrak Airport in Sacramento. "No, I'm going to Eugene," the traveler replied. "Oh, I was hoping you could watch out for my daughter, she's never been on a plane before."

    Now, as I am quite a seasoned plane traveler, I know that seats and cars are supplied by destination（目的地）. So I came up to the woman and her frightened-looking daughter, telling them that her daughter could sit with me and that I would take care of her during the journey.

    The plane had arrived 25 minutes late, and people walked in line to get their seats. The conductor wanted to know if there were people traveling together, so I went to the front of the line with the girl and we were arranged to sit next to each other. Once on board, I showed her where to put her package, and took her to the bathroom area. Then we settled down to sleep. In the morning, I showed her the dining room and bought her a drink. She became comfortable enough to do what most 15-year-olds do: talk and text on her mobile phone.

    All through the trip, I made sure she picked up her ID, which had fallen out of her backpack, some money, which had fallen into the crack （缝隙） of the reclining seat, and continuously kept an eye on her. I hope someone takes her under their wing when she flies back to Sacramento.

    I do hope that kindness will spread around the world through these ways. We're conditioned to think that our lives go on with great moments. But great moments often catch us unaware, beautifully wrapped（包裹）in what others may consider a small one.

    When you choose a friend, you should be very careful. A good friend can help you study. You can have fun together and make each other happy. Sometimes you will meet fair weather friends. They will be with you as long as you have money or luck, but when you are down, they will run away. How do I know when I have found a good friend? I look for certain qualities of character, especially understanding, honesty and reliability (可靠).

    Above all else, I look for understanding in a friend. A good friend tries to understand how another person is feeling. He is not quick to judge. Instead, he tries to learn from others. He puts himself in the other person's place, and he tries to think of ways to be helpful. He is also a good listener.

    At the same time, however, a good friend is honest. He does not look for faults (过错) in others. He notices their good points. In short, good friends will be honest to each other and accept each other.

    Another quality of a friend is reliability. I can always depend on a good friend. If he tells me he will meet me somewhere at a certain time, I can be sure that he will be there. If I need a favor, he will do his best to help me. If I am in trouble, he will not run away from me.

    There is a fourth quality that makes a friend special. A special friend is someone with whom we can have fun. We should enjoy our lives, and we would enjoy our friendship. That is why I especially like friends who are fun to be with. A good friend likes the same things I like. We share experience and learn from each other. A good friend has a good sense of humor, too. He likes to laugh with me. That is how we share in the joy of being friends. And I know that he is looking for the same quality in me.

    When I meet someone who is reliable, honest, and understanding, I know I've found a friend!

    Courses Available at North Coast College Campuses

    Agriculture

    Specialist agriculture centres of the North Coast College offer courses ranging from agricultural skills to beef production, horse studies and rural management. The Wollongbar Campus is famous for its Tropical(热 带的) Fruit Growing program and has introduced courses on bush foods and coffee production. Taree offers the Veterinary(兽医的) Assistant program and has introduced “Agristudy”, which enables students to learn flexibly and by correspondence( 函 授 ), using a mixture of student learning guides, telephone tutorials, information sessions and workshops. Mullumbimby has the popular Rural Business Management program, which can also be studied by correspondence. Grafton, meanwhile, offers traineeships in agriculture including beef and dairy.

    Health Programs

    The continued improvement of healthier living within the community has seen an increase in fitness awareness and a need for trained staff in the Fitness and Sport industries. Fitness Instruction courses are offered at Tweed Heads and teach students how to keep healthy and lead a safe fitness program.

    Lismore offers the Aged Support program and Port Macquarie offers the Early Childhood Nursing program. These courses give you the theoretical skills, knowledge and practical experience needed to work in a variety of residential and community-based health care institutions. For students interested in working in the Medical Health Care industry, Kingscliff is a specialist centre for the Natural Therapy Diploma and has a health clinic on campus.

    Environmental Studies

    The Environmental Studies courses offered by the North Coast College have been developed to help students increase their awareness and understanding of environmental issues and to enable them to determine their environmental impact. The Environmental Practice course, which includes Coastal Management, is offered through the Ballina Campus.

    For people interested in working to protect natural forests, the North Coast College offers the Forest Protection course at Casino. This course can provide a pathway for students into the Natural Resource Management Diploma at university.

    It was a shock and a painful lesson for many people when the police announced the cause of a bus accident in Chongqing on Oct 28. Video footage (片段) from inside the bus suggested that after a passenger missed her stop and asked the driver to stop, but he refused. She began hitting him over the head with her cell phone. During the conflict, the driver lost control of the bus and it jumped into the Yangtze River, causing 15 deaths.

    Zheng Chuankai, a lawyer in Beijing, said the accident showed that it was important that those who cause danger to public safety face severe punishment. Such attacks are inhuman but common. In fact, it is not rare to hear of passengers attacking bus drivers in China. This month, a local court in Shenyang, Liaoning province, sentenced three people to up to three years in prison for endangering public safety by distracting bus drivers, Xinhua reported. “Passengers who interfere (妨碍) with bus drivers are endangering public safety, which is equal to serious crimes like arson (纵火) and poisoning.” Liu Changsong，a Beijing lawyer, told the Global Times.

To prevent similar cases from happening, many Chinese cities have taken measures to keep bus drivers safe. Dozens of cities including Beijing, Xi'an, Wuhan, Changsha and Nanning have plans to add safety fences to buses to protect drivers from any interference by passengers.

    The bus operator in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, has invited psychologists to teach drivers how to manage their emotions when facing an angry passenger. These measures are necessary, but they are not enough.

    “Public security is closely connected with social morality (道德). People should obey the law, be more self-disciplined and sensible.”

    Many countries have introduced measures to deal with the problem of violence against bus drivers. On every bus in the US state of New Jersey, a sign on the back of the driver's seat warns passengers that anyone attacking a driver can be fined or put into prison.

    In London, the local government has launched a program to train drivers to deal with angry passengers and avoid potential conflicts.