B
(An excerpt from Shoes Were for Sunday by Molly Weir)
One of the phrases which greatly puzzled(使……困惑) me was “entertaining angels(天使) unaware”. How could anybody be unaware of entertaining an angel? I’ve never thought that angelic qualities could hide under very ordinary(平凡的) voices and in everyday bodies.
My angel, as it turned out, hid inside the little body of my school teacher, Miss McKenzie. To me she was always a little old lady, with her grey hair framing a round rosy face and caught up in an old-fashioned bun(发髻) on top of her head.
Although I enjoyed Miss McKenzie’s approval(赞同), I never really felt very close to her. I had never asked her advice as to what I should do when I left school. Surely there was only one thing to do: Get a job and make money as quickly as possible. But Miss McKenzie had other ideas. We in our house knew nothing of scholarships for fatherless children. The idea of a child from a working-class family going to college was the very thing of storybooks.
Unknown to us, she forced the headmaster to put my name forward for a special scholarship open to children who showed a gift, and who would receive further education. He agreed, although he was a bit worried about the cost of keeping me at college for a whole year. No earnings from me, and costs and clothes to be covered, for, of course, only the fees(学费) would be paid if I won.
Miss McKenzie brushed all argument(争论) aside. To this day I remember my complete surprise when, on being asked if she felt I had any special qualities, this elderly teacher banged the desk with her hand, and declared(断言) in an American saying I never thought she knew, “I’d stake(以……打赌) my bottom dollar on this girl!”
I shook at the passion(激情) in her voice, and at her trust in me. “What if I fail her?” I thought to myself. “What if she has to pay all the money back if I let her down?” I had a sense of responsibility(责任感) and I shouldn’t let her down.
The time at college went by quickly. At the end of my year at college I was able to lay before her the college gold medal as the year’s top student and a whole pile of awards.
And suddenly as I looked at her, and saw her eyes shining with pride behind the gold-rimmed glasses, I realized how widely she had thrown open the door of chance for me. And I knew for the first time what the phrase “entertaining angels unaware” meant. For there, standing before me in class, was my very own angel, Miss McKenzie.
(
B
) 5. The writer writes Paragraphs 2-5 in order to ______.
A. explain why she always kept a safe distance from Miss McKenzie
B. compare(对比) the inner qualities of McKenzie with her ordinary appearance
C. point out that she and Miss McKenzie both came from an ordinary family
D. show the influence of the strong trust Miss McKenzie had in her
(
A
) 6. The underlined sentence in Paragraph 3 shows that it was ______ for a child from a working-class family to go to college.
A. highly impossible B. of no use C. quite common D. of great importance
(
A
) 7. In Paragraph 6, the writer felt ______ when she heard Miss McKenzie’s passionate voice.
A. surprised and encouraged B. ashamed and unwilling
C. uncertain and stressed D. worried and purposeful
(
B
) 8. The writer’s main purpose of writing this passage is to ______.
A. think back on her schooldays and her past achievements
B. express her thankfulness to one of her school teachers
C. stress the importance of equal chance of education
D. encourage readers to find the angels around them
