John was born in a rich family. When John finished school, he was already 18 years old. His father said to him, “Get a job in the town. If you stay at home, you will get nothing from me."A few weeks later, John went to an office and asked for a job there. A man took him into a small room and gave him some questions on a piece of paper. John answered the questions quickly, then he gave the paper to the man. The man looked at the paper for a few minutes and asked, “You were born on September 23. But which year you were born in?”John answered, “Oh, every year.”

 根据短文内容判断正误，正确的选择A，错误的选择B。

      A girl who graduated from a world famous university wanted to do translation work for authority leaders. She was so happy when she entered the British Embassy (大使馆). She thought it was the greatest happiness in her life as many graduates wanted to get that job and she was one of the few people who got it!

But when she started her new job, she realized that it was just a job of answering calls and recording staff members'arriving and leaving times. It was supposed to have no future. For some time, she felt disappointed and didn't know what to do. However, she didn't want to give up this job. She thought about it for one or two days and finally she decided that she would try her best to do this job. From then on, she learnt to appreciate her own job. She wrote down the names and phone numbers of the staff members on a notebook so that she could remember them. She found great pleasure in dealing with the daily chores. When a phone call came in, she picked up the phone as soon as possible. When someone asked her about who was not in the office, she would give the right name and even the time when he or she left. Nobody could do that except her.

Her excellent work received praise not only from the embassy's members, but also from people in the local government. A leader of a famous company in Britain was deeply impressed by her, so he invited her to work for him. After that she became the leader's personal translator and she was appreciated by the foreigners.

      We cannot choose our destiny(命运), but we can choose the attitude with which we face our life. Maybe the attitude could change our destiny.

    I've loved my mother's desk since I was just tall enough to see above the top of it as mother sat writing letters. Standing by her chair, looking at the ink bottle, pens, and white paper, I thought that the act of writing is the coolest thing in the world.

    Years later, during her final illness, my mother kept different things for my sister and my brother.“ But the desk，” She said, “it's for Helen.”

    Although I knew she loved me and she only showed it in action, I wanted heart­to­heart talks between mother and daughter. But they never happened. And a gulf opened between us. I was “too emotional (易动感情的)”，but she lived “on the surface”．

    I had my own family later. I loved my mother and thanked her for our happy family. I wrote to her in careful words and asked her to let me know in any way she chose that she forgave me. I posted the letter and waited for her answer. It didn't come.

    My hope turned to disappointment, then little interest and finally, peace—it seemed that nothing happened. I wasn't even sure if the letter had got to mother. I only knew that I had written it, and I never heard from her!

    Now the present of her desk told, as she'd never been able to, that she was pleased that writing was my chosen work. I cleaned the desk carefully and found some papers inside—a photo of my father and a one­page letter, folded and refolded many times.

    Give me an answer, my letter asks, in any way you choose. Mother, you always chose the act that speaks louder than words.

The summer vacation started on June 26th. Jerry wanted to find a job in the city. One day he saw an advertisement(广告) in a window. It said, "Wanted: The best salesman(推销人员) in the world. Top Pay."

    "I'm a great salesman," Jerry said to himself. "I'm sure that I can sell anything. I'll go in and ask for that job."

    So Jerry went into the building. He saw a manager in it. He said to the manager, "Good morning. I saw your advertisement. I think I'm the best salesman in the world. Give me the job, please."

    "You must prove(证明)that you're the best," the manager said.

    "I'll pass every test that you give me," Jerry said.

    "Good," the manager said, and he took a box of sweets out of his desk. "Last week I bought a thousand boxes of the sweets. If you can sell them all before the end of the week, you can have the job."

    "That's easy," Jerry said.

    He took the boxes of sweets and left the office.

    Every day and all day he went from shop to shop, trying to sell boxes of the sweets. But he couldn't sell one. The sweets were so bad that he couldn't even sell them.

    At the end of the week, he went back to the manager. "I'm sorry, sir," he said. "I was wrong about myself. I'm not the best salesman in the world, but I know who is."

    "Oh," said the manager. "Who do you think is the best?"

    "The person who sold you a thousand boxes of the sweets."

D

    Linda was Tara's best friend before, but now things are different. Tara is a member of Purple Girls Club and they have some rules about who they can be friends with. Linda isn't very pretty and doesn't wear cool clothes. So she can't be in their club. Now Tara is making a name list for her party, and she decides not to invite Linda.

    “Tara, come here.” her mother calls from the living room. Tara goes to her mother and sees the school report card in her hands.

    “Tara, what's the matter with you? You have failed(不及格)math and English and you did badly in all of your other subjects. You were such a good student before!”

    Tara sees the disappointment in her mom's eyes. She feels terrible. The activities of Purple Girls Club leave her very little time for studies. The girls get together almost daily for movies, shopping and surfing the Internet. She calls every friend in the club and asks them to help her. But they all refuse(拒绝）and say, “Who cares about studies now?” This makes Tara even sadder.

    Later, Tam's mom takes her to Linda's house across the street. Tara says sorry and Linda is glad to have her friend back. She happily helps Tara with her studies.

    Tara now has a new rule for friendship and it is that a friend that lends a helping hand is a true friend.