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Taxi RidingIn a moment of personal crisis, how much help can you expect from a New York taxi driver I began studying this question after watching the "Taxicab Confessions", a series of documentaries in which hidden cameras record the secrets of unsuspecting taxi riders. I found the results varied.One morning I got into three different taxis and announced: "Well, it"s my first day back in New York in seven years. I"ve been in prison." Not a single driver replied, so I tried again. "Yeah, I shot a man in Reno," I explained, hoping the driver would ask me why, so I could say casually, "Just to watch him die." But nobody asked. The only response came from a Ghanaian driver: "Reno That is in Nevada"Taxi drivers were uniformly sympathetic when I said I"d just been fired. "This is America," a Haitian driver said. "One door is closed. Another is open." He argued against my plan to burn down my boss"s house: "If you do something silly and they put you away, you cannot look for another job." A Pakistani driver even turned down a chance to profit from my loss of hope: he refused to take me to the middle of the George Washington Bridge, a $20 trip. "Why do you want to go there Go home and relax. Don"t worry. Take a new job."One very hot weekday in July, while wearing a red ski mask and holding a stuffed pillowcase with the word "BANK" on it, I tried hailing a taxi five times outside different banks. The driver picked me up every time. My ride with Guy-Caaude Thevenain, a Haitian driver, was typical of the superb assistance I received."Is anyone following us""No," said the driver, looking in his rearview mirror at traffic and me."Let"s go across the park," I said, "I just robbed the bank there. I got $25,000.""$25,000" he asked."Yeah, you think it was wrong to take it""No, man, I work 8 hours and I don"t make almost $70. If I can do that, I do it too."As we approached 86th and Lexington, I pointed to the Chemical Bank."Hey, there"s another bank," I said, "could you wait here a minute while I go inside""No, I can"t wait. Pay me now." His reluctance may have had something to do with money—taxi drivers think the rate for waiting time is too low—but I think he wanted me to learn that even a bank robber can"t expect unconditional support. Why did the Pakistani driver refuse to take the author to the middle of the George Washington Bridge

A. Because he didn"t want to help the author get over his career crisis.
Because he wanted to go home and relax.
C. Because it was far away from his home.
D. Because he suspected that the author was going to commit suicide.

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Ford"s Assembly LineWhen it comes to singling out those who have made a difference in all our lives, you cannot overlook Henry Ford. A historian a century from now might well conclude that it was Ford who most influenced all manufacturing, everywhere, even to this day, by introducing a new way to make cars—one, strange to say, that originated in slaughterhouses (屠宰场).Back in the early 1900s, slaughterhouses used what could have been called a "disassembly line". Ford reversed this process to see if it would speed up production of a part of an automobile engine called a magneto. Rather than have each worker completely assemble a magneto, one of its elements was placed on a conveyor, and each worker, as it passed, added another component to it, the same one each time. Professor David Hounshell of the University of Delaware, an expert on industrial development, tells what happened."The previous day, workers carrying out the entire process had averaged one assembly every 20 minutes. But on that day, on the line, the assembly team averaged one every 13 minutes and 10 seconds per person."Within a year, the time had been reduced to five minutes. In 1913, Ford went all the way. Hooked together by ropes, partially assembled vehicles were towed (拖、拉) past workers who completed them one piece at a time. It hasn"t been long before Ford wasturning outseveral hundred and thousand cars a year, a remarkable achievement then. And so efficient and economical was this new system that he cut the price of his cars in half, to $260, putting them within reach of all those who, up until that time, could not afford them. Soon, auto makers and the world all copied him.In fact, he encouraged them to do so by writing a book about all of his innovations, entitledToday and Tomorrow. The Age of the Automobile has arrived. Today, aided by robots and other forms of automation (自动化), everything from toasters to perfumes is made on assembly lines. The writer mentions "slaughterhouses" because they were the places where ______.

A. Ford"s assembly line originated
B. Ford made his first car
C. Ford readjusted the assembly line
D. Ford innovated the disassembly line

Taxi RidingIn a moment of personal crisis, how much help can you expect from a New York taxi driver I began studying this question after watching the "Taxicab Confessions", a series of documentaries in which hidden cameras record the secrets of unsuspecting taxi riders. I found the results varied.One morning I got into three different taxis and announced: "Well, it"s my first day back in New York in seven years. I"ve been in prison." Not a single driver replied, so I tried again. "Yeah, I shot a man in Reno," I explained, hoping the driver would ask me why, so I could say casually, "Just to watch him die." But nobody asked. The only response came from a Ghanaian driver: "Reno That is in Nevada"Taxi drivers were uniformly sympathetic when I said I"d just been fired. "This is America," a Haitian driver said. "One door is closed. Another is open." He argued against my plan to burn down my boss"s house: "If you do something silly and they put you away, you cannot look for another job." A Pakistani driver even turned down a chance to profit from my loss of hope: he refused to take me to the middle of the George Washington Bridge, a $20 trip. "Why do you want to go there Go home and relax. Don"t worry. Take a new job."One very hot weekday in July, while wearing a red ski mask and holding a stuffed pillowcase with the word "BANK" on it, I tried hailing a taxi five times outside different banks. The driver picked me up every time. My ride with Guy-Caaude Thevenain, a Haitian driver, was typical of the superb assistance I received."Is anyone following us""No," said the driver, looking in his rearview mirror at traffic and me."Let"s go across the park," I said, "I just robbed the bank there. I got $25,000.""$25,000" he asked."Yeah, you think it was wrong to take it""No, man, I work 8 hours and I don"t make almost $70. If I can do that, I do it too."As we approached 86th and Lexington, I pointed to the Chemical Bank."Hey, there"s another bank," I said, "could you wait here a minute while I go inside""No, I can"t wait. Pay me now." His reluctance may have had something to do with money—taxi drivers think the rate for waiting time is too low—but I think he wanted me to learn that even a bank robber can"t expect unconditional support. From the Ghanaian driver"s response, we can infer that ______.

A. he was indifferent to the killing
B. he was afraid of the author
C. he looked down upon the author
D. he thought the author was crazy

The offender will be sentenced to life imprisonment.

A. policeman
B. observer
C. criminal
D. officer

American SportsThe United States is a sports-loving nation. Sports in America take a variety of forms: organized competitive struggles, which draw huge crowds to cheer their favorite team to victory; athletic games, played for recreation anywhere sufficient space is found; and hunting and fishing. Most sports are seasonal, so that what is happening in sports depends upon the time of year. Some sports are called spectator sports, as the number of spectators greatly exceeds the number playing in the game.Baseball is the most popular sport in the U.S. It is played throughout the spring and summer, and professional baseball teams play well into the fall. Although no other game is exactly like baseball, perhaps the one most nearly like it is the English game of cricket.Football is the most popular sport in the fall. The game originated as a college sport more than 75 years ago. It is still played by almost every college and university in the country, and the football stadiums of some of the largest universities seat as many as 80,000 people. The game is not the same as European football or soccer. In American football there are 11 players on each team, and they are dressed in padded uniforms and helmets because the game is rough and injuries are likely to occur.Basketball is the winter sport in American schools and colleges. Like football, basketball originated in the U.S. and is not popular in other countries. Many Americans prefer it to football because it is played in- doors throughout the winter and because it is a faster game. It is a very popular game with high schools, and in more than 20 states, state-wide high school matches are held yearly.Other spectator sports include wrestling, boxing, and horse racing. Although horse-racing fans call themselves sportsmen, the accuracy of the term is questionable, as only the jockeys who ride the horses in the races can be considered athletes. The so-called sportsmen are the spectators, who do "not assemble" primarily to see the horses race, but to bet upon the outcome of each race. Gambling is the attraction of horse racing. Baseball teams can continue to play for a long period of time in the fall after the regular baseball seasons of spring and summer.

A. Right
B. Wrong
C. Not mentioned

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