"Two books per visit per week,"said the unsmiling librarian as she handed a library card.
Neither the limits nor her attitude __1__ me, a 9yearold Jewish girl growing up in Berlin in
the 1950s.I needed those visits.The books were filled with stories in which, however__2__
things seemed, everything__3__ well in the end, __4__ justice, bravery, and wisdom-a
striking contrast (对比) to my everyday experiences.
Thirty years later, I, a recent immigrant to the US with a daughter aged 13, stood in front
of another librarian.This librarian was__5__.
"What did she say?" I asked my daughter, who already knew a little English and often
__6__as my interpreter.
"She said 'Can I help you?'"
"Ask if they have any books in__7__," I requested.
"No, they don't." translated my daughter.
While hunting for a job, I was told that the library needed people to__8__ books.The
interview was short－the job didn't require much English, just a__9__ of the alphabet.I started
the next day.Every day, I handled hundreds of books whose meaning was__10__ from me,
mentally dividing them by size and color. One day, while shelving, I found English for
Beginners and began studying it on my own.__11__ English letters started forming words
I could__12__, words combined into phrases, and-oh,__13__!-I was reading.It was a slow
process, supported by dictionaries and __14__ by tears, but it was progress.Afterwards I got
promoted to the front desk-__15__ books in and out and answering simple questions.
Every day I receive dozens of people.Sometimes I spot new immigrants.They come from
all over the world, so they look different, but the hesitant expression on their faces and their
__16__ manners are similar.My heart goes out to them,__17__ they are people like me.I fully
understand the __18__roads on which they have stepped."They've come to the right place," I
think to__19__.Then I smile and say-just the__20__ a librarian said to me a long time ago "
Can I help you?" |
( )1.A.surprised
( )2.A.attractive
( )3.A.went out
( )4.A.rewarding
( )5.A.chatting
( )6.A.introduced
( )7.A.Spanish
( )8.A.shelve
( )9.A.list
( )10.A.vague
( )11.A.All of a sudden
( )12.A.recognize
( )13.A.challenge
( )14.A.inspired
( )15.A.checking
( )16.A.rough
( )17.A.though
( )18.A.difficult
( )19.A.me
( )20.A.means | B．comforted
B．dull
B．turned out
B．affecting
B．staring
B．instructed
B．French
B．register
B．knowledge
B．simple
B．In no time
B．realize
B．wonder
B．accompanied
B．classifying
B．elegant
B．until
B．Smooth
B．myself
B．approach | C．puzzled
C．terrible
C．ended in
C．completing
C．reading
C．guided
C．Russian
C．record
C．line
C．hidden
C．Step by step
C．define
C．opportunity
C．blocked
C．borrowing
C．polite
C．for
C．endless
C．them
C．method | D．shocked
D．strange
D．came up
D．denying
D．smiling
D．served
D．German
D．mark
D．competence
D．clear
D．Now and then
D．interpret
D．news
D．excited
D．lending
D．shy
D．unless
D．straight
D．themselves
D．way |
