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, and I should try another way.
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．way of doing things
C．idea of repairing things
D．decision to sell things小题3:The expression “the penny dropped” in the last paragraph means the shopkeeper _______.
A． saw the writer’s purpose
B．accepted the offer
C． changed his mind
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． funny
D．clever
小题1:D
小题2:B
小题3:A
小题4:A
小题5:D
题目分析：文章中讲述了作者在开始的4家店里都没有能够修理好自己的椅子，在第五家他使用了另外一种方法，获得了成功。说明我们做事情的时候要转换思维。
小题1:D 推理题。根据文章第一段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.可知作者是想去修理他坏了的椅子。故D正确。
小题2:B 推理题。根据文章第二段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, and I should try another way.可知该词是与后面一句的another way是近义词，表示我的方法有问题。故B正确。
小题3:A 推理题。根据Then, suddenly the penny dropped. “I know what you want. You want me to repair your chair.”可知该短语与后句I know what you want. You want me to repair your chair.”意思一致表示理解了对方的想法，故A正确。
小题4:A 细节题。根据文章倒数2,3行But I’ll mend this for you, shall we say for a fiver(五英镑钞票)?”可知最后花了5英镑，故A正确。
小题5:D 推理题。文章中讲述了作者在开始的4家店里都没有能够修理好自己的椅子，在第五家他使用了另外一种方法，获得了成功，说明他是一个很聪明的人。故D正确。
点评：文章中讲述了作者在开始的4家店里都没有能够修理好自己的椅子，在第五家他使用了另外一种方法，获得了成功。考查推理题较多，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。