A lift is wonderful. It is really only a small room. Rooms usually stay in one place. Lifts travel up and down all day long.
Sometimes a worker stands in the lift. He or she operates it up and down. In modern lifts there is no worker. The people walk in. They know what floor they want. They push a button and the lift goes to that floor. It is all very fast and easy.
Lifts are very important to us. Why? Think about a tall building. Maybe it has twenty floors. Maybe it has fifty or more. Who can walk up all the stairs? Maybe people can climb them one time. Can someone climb thirty floors to an office every day? Can small children walk up to their room on the twenty-fourth floor? Can their mother and father carry food up all those stairs? Of course not.
We can have high buildings because we have lifts. We could not have all the beautiful tall buildings in the world without lifts. They are really wonderful.

1. 1.

   Which of the following is true?

   1. A.
      A modern lift has no buttons.
   2. B.
      A modern lift has a worker to operate it.
   3. C.
      A modern lift can go up and down with no worker in it.
   4. D.
      A modern lift knows what floor people want.
2. 2.

   If you want to go to the floor you want, you_______.

   1. A.
      ask for help
   2. B.
      open the door of the lift
   3. C.
      ring the bell
   4. D.
      push the right button
3. 3.

   Why do people have to use lifts? Because________.

   1. A.
      they have tall buildings
   2. B.
      they can't walk up and down
   3. C.
      old people and children need them
   4. D.
      lifts are wonderful

There was a little boy with a bad temper（脾氣）.His father gave him some nails（釘子）to drive into the fence (柵欄)when he lost his temper .The first day the boy drove 37 nails into the fence .Then it began to become less . He found it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence .
Finally the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all . He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy should now pull out one nail for each day that he  held his temper .The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone .
The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence .He said , “You have done well ,my son ,but you look at the fence . It will never be the same .When you say things in anger ,they leave a scar（痕跡）just like this one .You can put a knife in a man and draw it out . It won’t matter how many times you say I’m sorry ,the wound (傷口)is still there .A verbal （言語）wound is as bad as a physical(肉體)one.
【小題1】Who was in a bad temper ?
the boy’s father         B.the boy’s friend
C. the little boy            D. a man
【小題2】 The word “it” in “it began to become less”refers to (指) ________ .

There is one word you must learn before you visit the USA. That is “Freeze”. Remember it has a special meaning besides the usual one. It means “stand still and don’t move”. Often policemen use it when they are ready to use their guns. If one doesn’t obey the order and moves, he or she will be shot to death.
One evening in Los Angeles, someone rang the bell of a house. It was a dangerous area at night, so the owner of the house took his gun with him when he answered the door. He opened the door and saw a strange man. But the man turned round and started walking away from the house. The owner cried: “Freeze”, but the young man went on walking without obeying the owner’s order. The owner thought he was trying to run away, so he shot at the young man and he was killed.
Later, police found that the dead man was a Japanese student who was studying in Los Angeles University. He went to visit a friend, but unluckily could not remember the number of the house. When he realized he went to the wrong house he turned round and left. He didn’t know much English and so didn’t understand the word “Freeze”. What a lesson we should get for this!
【小題1】According to the article, what does the word “Freeze” mean?