阅读理解。
Our house was directly across the street from the clinic entrance of John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
We lived downstairs and rented the upstairs rooms to out-patients at the clinic.
One summer evening as I was fixing supper, there was a knock at the door. I opened it to see a truly
awful looking man-no taller than my eight-year-old son-I thought as I stared at the shriveled (皱缩的) body.
But the shocking thing was his face-twisted from swelling.
He told me he'd been hunting for a room since noon but with no success." I guess it's my face…, but my
doctor says with a few more treatments …"
I told him we would find him a bed. When I had finished the dishes, he told me he fished for a living to
support his daughter, her five children, and her husband, who was hopelessly disabled from a back injury.
He didn't tell it by way of complaint; in fact, every other sentence began with a thanks to God for a blessing.
He was grateful that no pain accompanied his disease, which was apparently a form of skin cancer.
The next morning before he left for his bus, he asked if he could come back and stay the next time he
had a treatment. I told him he was welcome to come again.
In the years he came to stay overnight with us, there was never a time that he did not bring us fish or
oysters or vegetables from his garden.
When I received these little gifts, I often thought of a comment our next-door neighbor made after he left
that first morning." Did you keep that awful looking man last night? I turned him away. You can lose roomers
by accommodating such people!"
Maybe we did lose roomers once or twice. But oh! If only they could have known him, perhaps their
illnesses would have been easier to bear. I know our family always will be grateful to have known him; from
him we learned what it was to accept the bad without complaint and the good with gratitude.
1. The first time I met the man, _____.
A. I felt pity for his look
B. he frightened my kid
C. he was in need of something to eat
D. he was looking for a place to stay overnight
2. The next-door neighbor refused the man because _____.
A. he might lose roomers
B. the man was poor
C. he had no spare room
D. the man didn't bring him gifts
3. Which of the following is NOT true about the man?
A. He developed skin cancer.
B. He fished to support a large family.
C. God helped him to get over his disease.
D. He didn't complain about his sufferings.
4. What attitude did the man have toward life?
A. Grateful.
B. Confident.
C. Regretful.
D. Passive.
5. What might be the best title of the passage?
A. Never judge a book by its cover
B. Give others a hand
C. Be the architect of life
D. Accept good and bad with gratitude
