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 were a whole lot of antique 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 went into 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’m 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 five?” He was a very nice man and was greatly amused （感到有趣） 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 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3:How much did the writer pay ?
A．£5．
B．£7
C．£20．
D．£27．小题4: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:C
小题3:A
小题4:C
题目分析：本文叙述了作者想修理一把椅子，结果带着它跑了四家门市，都不理作者，也不给修理，到了第五家他变了一方法，进门就问你要这把椅子吗，这次店主很快给出答应，20元要这把椅子，紧接着作者又问，你要坏椅子做什么，店主说买了修好后再卖，最后作者以25元把椅子又给买回来，其实作者花了5元修好了椅子。
小题1:推理判断题。根据作者进入第五家的门市说的话，可以推知，故选D。
小题2:词义猜测题。根据Yes , I know but I’ve changed my mind ．I’m sorry , I’ll give you twenty-seven pounds for it .You must be crazy I know what you want 可知选C。
小题3:细节理解题。根据I’ll mend this for you , shall we say for a five?故选A。
小题4:推理判断题。根据作者去了前四家说了同样的话，可是没有人理会，于是就换了一种思维，结果愿望实现了，可以看出作者爱动脑思考，是非常聪明的，故选C。
点评：词义猜测题旨在考查学生根据上下文对生词做出理解判断的能力。近几年来，阅读理解中的词义猜测题呈上升趋势。在阅读过程中根据选材、背景、及上下文等线索推测出生词词义是真实语言活动中的重要技巧。这一能力可以说是体现阅读理解能力的一项重要指标。