Some time ago I discovered that one of my chairs had a broken leg. I didn't think there would be any difficulty in getting it mended, as there are a whole lot of antique(古董) shops near my home. So I left home one morning carrying the chair with me. I went into the first shop expecting a friendly reception. I was quite wrong. The man wouldn't even look at my chair.
The second shop, though slightly more polite, was just the same, and the third and the fourth—so I decided that my approach must be wrong.
I entered the fifth shop with a plan in my mind. I placed the chair on the floor and said to the shopkeeper, “Would you like to buy a chair?” He looked it over carefully and said, “Yes, not a bad chair. How much do you want for it, sir?”“Twenty pounds,”I said. “OK,”he said. “I'll give you twenty pounds.”“It's got a slightly broken leg,” I said. “Yes, I saw that, it's nothing.”
Everything was going according to plan and I was getting excited. “What will you do with it?” I asked. “Oh, it will be easy to sell once the repair is done.”“I'll buy it,” I said. “What do you mean?” “You've just sold it to me,” he said. “Yes, I know but I've changed my mind. I am sorry. I'll give you twenty seven pounds for it.” “You must be crazy,”he said. Then, suddenly the penny dropped. “I know what you want. You want me to repair your chair.” “You're right,”I said. “And what would you have done if I had walked in and said,‘Would you mend this chair for me?’”“I wouldn't have agreed to do it,”he said. “We don't do repairs, not enough money in it and too much trouble. But I'll mend this for you, shall we say for a fiver(五英镑钞票)?” He was a very nice man and was greatly amused by the whole thing.
小题1:We can learn from the text that in the first shop the writer_________.
A．was rather impolite
B．was warmly received
C．asked the shopkeeper to buy his chair
D．asked the shopkeeper to repair his chair小题2:The underlined word “approach” in the second paragraph means _________.
A．plan for dealing with things
B．decision to sell things
C．idea of repairing things
D．way of doing things小题3:The expression “the penny dropped” in the last paragraph means the shopkeeper ____.
A．changed his mind
B．accepted the offer
C．saw the writer's purpose
D．decided to help the writer小题4:How much did the writer pay?
A．￡5.
B．￡7.
C．￡20.
D．￡27.小题5:From the text, we can learn that the writer was _________.
A．honest
B．careful
C．smart
D．funny
小题1:D
小题2:D
小题3:C
小题4:A
小题5:C
题目分析：本文介绍了自己家的椅子坏了以后连续找了好几家店来帮助修理，但是都被拒绝了，最后作者想出了一个好方法。
小题1:D 推理题。根据文章第一段和第三段内容I went into the first shop expecting a friendly reception. I was quite wrong.可知一开始的时候我直接让别人帮助修理我的椅子但是都被拒绝了，故D正确。
小题2:D 推理题。根据第一段最后一行so I decided that my approach must be wrong连续在几家碰壁让我意识到自己的方式可能有问题，故D正确。
小题3:C 推理题。根据he said. Then, suddenly the penny dropped. “I know what you want. You want me to repair your chair.”说明他知道我的目的，故该词是指C项的意思。
小题4:A 细节题。根据文章最后2行But I'll mend this for you, shall we say for a fiver(五英镑钞票)?” He was a very nice man and was greatly amused by the whole thing.说明最后以5镑的价格成交。故A正确。
小题5:C 推理题。作者从自己之前所犯的错误中迅速的扭转了过来说明他是非常聪明的，能够审时度势，做出调整。故C正确。
点评：本文讲述了自己修椅子的故事，来告诉我们要能够审时度势，做出调整。测试考生在阅读基础上的逻辑推理能力，要求考生根据文章所述事件的逻辑关系，对未说明的趋势或结局作出合理的推断；或根据作者所阐述的观点理论，对文章未涉及的现象、事例给以解释。考生首先要仔细阅读短文，完整了解信息，准确把握作者观点
