Like many lovers of books, Mary and her husband, Richard Goldman, seldom walked past a bookstore without stopping to look inside. They often talked of opening their own store one day.
When Mary was hospitalized with heart trouble in 1989, they decided it was time to get serious. Richard, who worked for a business company, was eager to work for himself, and Mary needed to slow down from her demanding job.
They started by talking to bookstore owners and researching the industry. “We knew it had to be a specialty store because we couldn’t match the big chains dollar for dollar,” says Mary. One figure caught her attention: She’d read somewhere that roughly 20 percent of books sold were mysteries (推理小说), and many buyers spent more $300 a year on books. She and Richard were themselves mystery readers.
On Halloween 1992, they opened the Mystery Lovers Bookshop and Café near their home. With three children in college, the couple could not spend all the family’s money to start a shop. To cover the $100,000 cost, they drew some of their savings, borrowed from relatives and from an bank.
The store merely broke even in its first year, with only $120,000 in sales. But Mary was always coming up with new ways to attract customers. The shop had a coffee bar and it offered gifts to mystery lovers and served dinners for book clubs that met in the store. She also invited dozens of writers to discuss their stories.
Today Mystery Lovers makes sales of about $420,000 a year. After paying taxes, business costs and the six part-time sales clerks, Richard and Mary together earn about $34,000.
“The job you love may not go hand in hand with a million-dollar income,” says Richard. “This has always been about an enjoyable life for ourselves, not about making a lot of money.”
【小题1】When Mary was in hospital, the couple realized that ____.
| A．they had to put their plan into practice |
| B．health was more important than wealth |
| C．heart trouble was a serious illness |
| D．they both needed to stop working |
| A．to study industrial management |
| B．to buy and read more mystery books |
| C．to do market research on book business |
| D．to work harder to save money for the bookstore |
| A．They had to borrow money to keep it going. |
| B．They made just enough to cover all the costs. |
| C．They succeeded in earning a lot of money. |
| D．They failed though they worked hard. |
| A．to pay for their children’s education |
| B．to get to know more writers |
| C．to set up more bookstores |
| D．to do what they like to do |
【小题1】A
【小题2】C
【小题3】B
【小题4】D
解析试题分析：文章介绍Mary夫妇是书籍爱好者并想自己开书店，他们开书店的目的是为了兴趣爱好而非赚钱，一开始生意做的不太顺利，通过他们的努力现在书店的销售很好。
【小题1】细节题。文章开头说Mary夫妇是书籍爱好者并想自己开书店，而后来Mary因为心脏病住进医院，两夫妇认为“...they decided it was time to get serious”他们应该把想法付诸于实践了，因此该选A
【小题2】细节题。文章第三段说“They started by...researching”。表明在Mary康复之后就与大夫开始就书本做市场调查，故C为正确选项。
【小题3】细节题。文章第五段说“The store merely broke even in its first year，with only 120，000insales.”。说明书店几临破产，因此B为正确选项。
【小题4】细节题。文章最后一段说“This has always...not about making a lot of money”。说明他们开书店的目的是为了兴趣爱好而非赚钱，故应选D
考点：考查故事类短文
科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
A cancer-stricken British teenage girl said Thursday she had been moved by messages of support from around the world after writing an online “Bucket List” of things she wanted to do before dying．
Alice Pyne，l5，created an Internet blog in which she described her fight against a cancer of the white blood cells．“I’ve been fighting cancer for almost four years and now I know that the cancer is gaining on me and it doesn’t look like I’m going to win this one，” she wrote ．
For her list，the teenager took inspiration from the 2007 film “The Bucket List” in which two men who were badly ill，draw up a list of things they wish to do before they die．
On her list，at the site www．alicepyne．blogspot．com，she has included making everyone sign up to be a bone marrow donor（骨髓捐赠者），swimming with sharks ，meeting boy band Take That and getting a purple iPad computer．
Messages of support and offers of help quickly flooded her webpage and it became one of the most talked about subjects on Twitter．
“Oh, dear and I thought that I was just doing a little blog for a few friends!” she wrote after her site attracted huge attention．“Thank you so much for all your lovely messages to me．”
Pyne，who lives with her family in the northwest English town of Ulverston，revealed（透露）the management of Take That had arranged for her to see the band after reading her blog．A group of local lawmakers have also joined forces with the Anthony blood cancer charity to encourage people to join its stem cell register．
【小题1】What happened after Alice Pyne wrote her “Bucket List”?
| A．People around the world sent messages to support her． |
| B．People sent gifts to her from all over the world． |
| C．A lot of people offered to donate bone marrow to her． |
| D．The media called on people to help her． |
| A．catch people’s attention |
| B．say goodbye to a few friends |
| C．give comfort to two terminally ill men |
| D．express her last few wishes |
| A．is unaware of her own conditions |
| B．is very sad to know that she will die |
| C．is calm to know that death is approaching |
| D．is still quite confident in fighting against cancer |
| A．To ask people to donate bone marrow． | B．To get a cool computer． |
| C．To swim with shark． | D．To meet a boy． |
| A．meet Pyne in person |
| B．help Pyne in any possible way |
| C．donate money to Pyne |
| D．invite Pyne to join the band |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
When Steve Jobs was born on Febuary24,1955, in San Francisco , California, his unmarried mother decided to put him for adoption because she wanted a girl. So in the middle of the night, his mother called a lawyer named Paul Jobs and said, “We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?” But his mother told his future parents to promise that they would send Jobs to college. After Steve Jobs graduated from high school, he went to college but decided to drop out because it was so expensive that he had to sleep on the floor in his friends’ rooms.
At 20, he and a friend(Steve Wozniak) started a company in a garage on April 1, 1976. Jobs named their company ----Apple in memory of a happy summer he had spent as an orchard (果园) in Oregon.
After 10 years of hard time and failures, starting from two kids working in a garage, Apple computer eventually grew into a big company with over 4000 employees.
At 30, Jobs , however, was fired from the company he co-founded. But after he had to leave the company, Apple was under heavy pressure from rival (对手) Microsoft and in 1996 posted billions of dollars in losses. Apple needed Steve Jobs and he was appointed as Apple’ CEO in1997. Under his leadership, Apple returned to profitability and introduced new products such as the iPod, the iPhone and the iPod.
Steve Jobs once said, “Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick, Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking.
【小题1】Which of the following is right according to paragraph 1?
| A．Jobs’ unmarried mother adopted him. |
| B．Paul Jobs was a college teacher. |
| C．Jobs’ finished his education. |
| D．Jobs’ unmarried mother wanted a girl. |
| A．wanted to start a company. |
| B．had financial problems. |
| C．took no interest in his major. |
| D．hated to share rooms with his friends. |
| A．was founded in Oregon |
| B．developed from a garage |
| C．had a difficult beginning |
| D．had a successful beginning |
| A．Interest is key to success. |
| B．Hope helps us succeed. |
| C．Attitude is everything. |
| D．Courage goes with confidence. |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
It was the last day of July and the long hot summer was drawing to a close As for me．1 was out of spirits，and，if the truth must be told, out of money as well，During the past year I had not managed my finances as carefully as usual；and 1 was now limited to spending the autumn economically between my mother’s cottage at Hampstead and my own in town.
My father had been dead for some years，and my sister and 1 were the sole survivors of a family of five children. My father was a drawing-master before me He had been highly successful in his profession and my mother and sister were left economically independent after his death.
The view of London below me had sunk into the black shadow of the cloudy night, when I stood before the gate of my mother’s cottage I had hardly rung the bell．When the house door was opened violently．My worthy Italian friend，Professor Pesca，appeared in the servant’s place，and rushed out joyously to receive me．
I had first become acquainted(熟悉)with my Italian friend at certain great houses，where he taught Italian and I taught drawing What I then knew of the history of his life was that he had left Italy for political reasons and that he had been respectably established for many years in London as a teacher of languages It once happened that I saved him from certain death by drowning while we
were swimming in the sea at Brighton Afterwards he overwhelmed(淹没)me with the wildest expressions of affection and exclaimed passionately, that he would hold his life at my disposal from then on, and declared that he should never be happy again until he had had the opportunity of proving his gratitude．Little did I think that the occasion to serve me was soon to come．
Pesca dragged me in by both hands into the parlor, where my mother sat by the open window, laughing and fanning herself．Pesca was one of her especial favorites，and his wildest strange acts were always pardonable in her eyes．
“Now, my good dears．”began Pesca．“listen to me The time has come I recite my good news．I speak at last…'Hear, hear!”said my mother, humoring the joke“I go back into my life，and I address myself to the noblest of men，who found me dead at the bottom of the sea，and who pulled me up to the top. What did I say when l got into my own life and my own clothes again? I said that my life belonged to my dear friend，Walter, for the rest of my days Now,”cried the enthusiastic little mall at the top of his voice．“happiness bursts out of me at every pore of my skin．For I have found a job for you”
【小题1】The first two paragraphs of the passage serve as an introduction to——
| A．the financial situation the writer then faced |
| B．the season that the story was set in |
| C．the family members of the writer |
| D．the successful profession of the writer’s father |
| A．main | B．only | C．lucky | D．possible |
| A．used to be a politician |
| B．was a successful drawing-master |
| C．was quite close to the mother |
| D．wanted to give the writer some money in return |
| A．he went back into his life |
| B．he met his dear friend again |
| C．his friend ever saved his life |
| D．he had done something good for his friend |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Some people will do just about anything to save money. And I am one of them. Take my family’s last vacation. It was my six-year-old son’s winter break from school, and we were heading home from Fort Lauderdale after a weeklong trip. The flight was overbooked, and Delta, the airline, offered us $400 per person in credits to give up our seats and leave the next day. I had meetings in New York，So I had to get back. But that didn't mean my husband and my son couldn't stay. I took my nine-month-old and took off for home.
The next day, my husband and son were offered more credits to take an even later flight. Yes, I encouraged—okay, ordered—them to wait it out at the airport, to "earn" more Delta Dollars. Our total take: $1,600. Not bad, huh?
Now some people may think I'm a bad mother and not such a great wife either. But as a big-time bargain hunter, I know the value of a dollar. And these days, a good deal is something few of us can afford to pass up.
I've made a living looking for the best deals and exposing （揭露） the worst tricks. I have been the consumer reporter of NBC's Today show for over a decade. I have written a couple of books including one titled Tricks of the Trade: A Consumer Survival Guide. And I really do what I believe in.
I tell you this because there is no shame in getting your money’s worth. I’m also tightfisted when it comes to shoes, clothes for my children, and expensive restaurants. But I wouldn't hesitate to spend on a good haircut. It keeps its shape longer, and it's the first thing people notice. And I will also spend on a classic piece of furniture. Quality lasts.
【小题1】Why did Delta give the author's family credits?
| A．They took a later flight. |
| B．They had early bookings. |
| C．Their flight had been delayed. |
| D．Their flight had been cancelled. |
| A．She rarely misses a good deal. |
| B．She seldom makes a compromise(妥协). |
| C．She is very strict with her children. |
| D．She is interested in cheap products. |
| A．She's a teacher. | B．She's a housewife. |
| C．She's a media person. | D．She's a businesswoman. |
| A．How to expose bad tricks. | B．How to reserve airline seats. |
| C．How to spend money wisely. | D．How to make a business deal. |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
I got up and dressed, stuck my violin under my jacket, and went out into the street. I wandered about for an hour, looking for a likely place, feeling as if I were about to commit a crime. Then I stopped at last under a bridge near the station and decided to have a go.
I felt tense and shaking. I drew my violin from under my coat like a gun. It was here, in Southampton, with trains passing overhead, that I was about to prove myself.
The first notes I played were loud and raw, and then they settled down and began to run more smoothly and to stay more or less in tune. To my surprise I was neither arrested nor told to shut up. Indeed, nobody took any notice at all.
I walked the streets of Southampton for several days, gradually knowing how to try and get money by being a street artist. It was not a good thing, for instance, to let the hat fill up with money — the sight could discourage the people; nor was it wise to empty it completely, which could also confuse them, giving them no hint as to where to drop his money. Placing a couple of pennies in the hat to start the thing going soon became a good idea. Before I played another tune, I took off the big money, but always left two pennies behind.
Old ladies were most generous, and so were women with children, shop girls, and typists. As for the men: Heavy drinkers were always generous too and so were big young with muscles. But never a man with a hat, briefcase or dog; respectable types were the meanest of all, except retired army officers, who would bark “Why aren’t you working, young man?” and then threw much money into the hat to hide their confusion.
【小题1】The underlined phrase “have a go” in Paragraph 1 probably means ________.
| A．have a try | B．run away |
| C．change a place | D．commit a crime |
| A．he could make a lot of money | B．he had chosen the wrong place |
| C．he would get into trouble | D．people would stop and listen to him |
| A．let the hat fill up with money first |
| B．leave a small amount of money in the hat |
| C．make sure that the hat was always empty |
| D．choose the best place to play more smooth tunes |
| A．Most of the ladies were willing to give him money. |
| B．Retired army officers seldom gave him money. |
| C．Drinkers were generous with their money. |
| D．Not all the people would feel pity for street-violinists. |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899—July 2, 1961) was an American writer and journalist. His writing style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image(形象) affected later generations. Hemingway produced most of his works between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s, and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954.
Hemingway was raised in Illinois. After high school he reported for The Kansas City Star, before leaving for the Italian front to enlist with the World War I ambulance drivers. In 1918, he was seriously wounded and returned home. In 1922, he married Hadley Richardson. The couple moved to Paris, where he worked as a foreign journalist. Advised and encouraged by other American writers in Paris—F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, he began to see his work appear in print there, and in 1925 his first important book, a collection of stories called In Our Time, was published. A year later, he published The Sun Also Rises, a novel with which he scored his first solid success. The writing of books occupied Hemingway for most of the postwar years. He remained based in Paris, but he traveled widely for bullfighting(斗牛), fishing, and hunting that by then had become part of his life and formed the background for much of his writing. Hemingway’s love of Spain and bullfighting resulted in Death in the Afternoon (1932). His position as a master of short fiction had been advanced by Men Without Women in 1927. The harvest of Hemingway’s considerable experience of Spain in war and peace was the novel For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940). In the public view, however, the novel A Farewell to Arms (1929) overshadowed such works.
Shortly after he published The Old Man and the Sea in 1952, Hemingway went to Africa, where he was almost killed in a plane crash that left him in pain or ill-health for much of the rest of his life. Hemingway lived in Florida and Cuba during the 1930s and 1940s, but in 1959 he moved from Cuba to Ketchum, Idaho, where ended his life in the summer of 1961.
【小题1】Which best arranges Hemingway’s works in the correct order of time?
a. A Farewell to Arms b. Men Without Women
c. The Old Man and the Sea d. Death in the Afternoon
e. The Sun Also Rises f. For Whom the Bell Tolls
| A．e, a, b, f, d, c | B．e, b, a, d, f, c |
| C．b, a, d, f, e, c | D．b, d, a, e, c, f |
| A．was thought to be better than other works of Hemingway’s |
| B．was considered to make a show in Hemingway’s life |
| C．was only as excellent as the other works of Hemingway’s |
| D．was believed to be among the worst works of Hemingway’s |
| A．Hemingway produced most of his works in Africa |
| B．Hemingway led a very happy life in his last few years |
| C．most of Hemingway’s works were based on his life experience |
| D．Hemingway’s writing style affected the life of later generations |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
When Julio Diaz stepped off the subway after work one night, he was simply planning to go to his favorite local diner for a meal. But when a teenage boy approached him with a knife, Diaz knew the evening was about to take a more dramatic(巨大而突然的) turn.
The young man demanded Diaz’s wallet, and Diaz passed it over without objection(异议). But just as he turned to walk away, Diaz called, “Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something.”
The young man turned around, surprised.
“If you’re going to rob people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep warm.”
The teenager looked at Diaz in disbelief, and asked why he would do such a thing. Diaz replied, “If you’re willing to risk your freedom for a few dollars, I guess you must really need the money.”He said he was heading out for dinner, and that he would be happy to take someone with him.
The young man decided to take Diaz up on his offer. As they were sitting at the table, the manager, dishwashers and waiters all stopped over to say hello to Diaz, and the young man was amazed at his popularity.
“Haven’t you been taught that you should be nice to everybody?”Diaz asked him.
“Yeah, but I didn’t think people actually behaved that way,” the teenager replied. Thanks to Diaz, he was beginning to see that kindness wasn’t so strange, after all.
When the bill came, Diaz told the teen that he’d have to get the check. After all, he still had Diaz’s wallet.
But the teenager put the wallet on the table without a moment’s thought, and Diaz treated him to dinner. Diaz also gave the would-be robber a $20 bill — in exchange for his knife. “I figure, you know, if you treat people right, you can only hope that they treat you right,” Diaz said.
【小题1】When a teenage boy approached him with a knife, Diaz was on his way ________.
| A．to the subway station. | B．to his workplace. |
| C．to have a meal. | D．to see a drama. |
| A．stepped off the subway platform |
| B．passed the wallet over without objection |
| C．called him to wait for a moment |
| D．invited him to have dinner together |
| A．follow | B．understand | C．check | D．accept |
| A．Diaz was so popular with people in the restaurant |
| B．he began to realize people should be nice to others |
| C．Diaz had to pay for the meal they had together |
| D．he had been given a $20 bill to take with him |
| A．relaxed and happy | B．worried and helpless |
| C．angry and scared | D．surprised and anxious |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
(2013·高考福建卷，A)When I was 12，all I wanted was a signet (图章) ring.They were the “in” thing and it seemed every girl except me had one.On my 13th birthday，my Mum gave me a signet ring with my initials(姓名首字母) carved into it.I was in heaven.
What made it even more special was that it was about the only thing that wasn’t being “replaced”．We’d been burnt out in fires that swept through our area earlier that year and had lost everything—so most of the “new” stuff (东西) we got was really just to replace what we’d lost.But not my ring.My ring was new.
Then，only one month later，I lost it.I took it off before bed and it was missing in the morning.I was sad and searched everywhere for it.But it seemed to have disappeared.Eventually，I gave up and stopped looking for it.And two years later，we sold the house and moved away.
Years passed，and a couple of moves later，I was visiting my parents’ when Mum told me that she had something for me.It wasn’t my birthday，nor was it Easter or Christmas or any other giftgiving occasion.Mum noticed my questioning look.“You’ll recognize this one，”she said，smiling.
Then she handed me a small ring box.I took it from her and opened it to find my beautiful signet ring inside.
The family who had bought our house 13 years earlier had recently decided to do some redecorations，which included replacing the carpets.When they pulled the carpet up in my old bedroom，they found the ring.As it had my initials carved into it，they realized who owned the ring.They’d had it professionally cleaned up by a jeweler before sending it to my mother.
And it still fits me.
【小题1】The underlined word “in” in the first paragraph probably means“________”．
| A．fashionable | B．available |
| C．practical | D．renewable |
| A．13 years old | B．15 years old |
| C．26 years old | D．28 years old |
| A．The writer’s family moved several times. |
| B．The writer never stopped looking for her ring. |
| C．The writer’s ring was cleaned up by the new house owner. |
| D．The writer lost her ring in the morning when she took it off. |
| A．My New Ring | B．Lost and Found |
| C．Lost and Replaced | D．An Expensive Ring |
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