高考英语一轮复习限时阅读训练12.doc

2014届高考英语一轮复习限时阅读训练12ai try not to be biased, but i had my doubts about hiring stevie. his social worker assured me that he would be a good, reliable busboy. but i had never had a mentally handicapped employee. he was short, a little fat, with the smooth facial features and thick-tongued speech of downs syndrome(唐氏综合症). i thought most of my customers would be uncomfortable around stevie, so i closely watched him for the first few weeks.i shouldnt have worried. after the first week, stevie had my staff wrapped around his stubby little finger, and within a month my trucker regulars had adopted him as their official truck stop mascot. after that, i really didnt care what the rest of the customers thought of him. he was like a 21-year-old in blue jeans and nikes, eager to laugh and eager to please, but fierce in his attention to his duties. every salt and pepper shaker was exactly in its place, not a coffee spill was visible, when stevie got done with the table. our only problem was convincing him to wait to clean a table until after the customers were finished.over time, we learned that he lived with his mother, a widow who was disabled. money was tight, and what i paid him was probably the difference between them being able to live together and stevie being sent to a group home. thats why the restaurant was a gloomy place that morning last august, the first morning in three years that stevie missed work. he was at the mayo clinic in rochester getting a heart surgery. his social worker said that people with downs syndrome often had heart problems at an early age, and there was a good chance he would come through the surgery in good shape and be back at work in a few months.a ripple of excitement ran through the staff later that morning when word came that he was out of surgery, in recovery and doing fine. frannie, my head waitress, let out a war whoop and did a little dance in the aisle when she heard the good news. belle ringer, one of our regular trucker customers, stared at the sight of the 50-year-old grandmother of four doing a victory shimmy beside his table. he ginned. “ok, frannie, what was that all about?” he asked. “we just got word that stevie is out of surgery and going to be okay.” “i was wondering where he was. i had a new joke to tell him. what was the surgery about?”frannie quickly told belle ringer and the other two drivers sitting at his booth about stevies surgery, the sighed. “but i dont know how he and his mom are going to handle all the bills. from what i hear, theyre barely getting by as it is.” belle ringer nodded thoughtfully, and frannie hurried off to wait on the rest of her tables.after the morning rush, frannie walked into my office. she had a couple of paper napkins in her hand. “whats up?” i asked. “i cleared off the table where belle ringer and his friends were sitting after they left, and i found this. this was folded and put under a coffee cup.”she handed the napkin to me, and three $20 bills fell onto my desk when i opened it. on the outside, in big, bold letters, was printed “something for stevie”. that was three months ago. today is thanksgiving day, the first day stevie is supposed to be back to work. his social worker said hes been counting the days until the doctor said he could work. i arranged to have his mother bring him to work, met them in the parking lot and invited them both to celebrate his day back. i took him and his mother by their arms. “to celebrate you coming back, breakfast for you and your mother is on me.”i led them toward a large corner booth at the rear of the room. i could feel and hear the rest of the staff following behind as we marched through the dining room. we stopped in front of the big table. its surface was covered with coffee cups, saucers and dinner plates, all sitting slightly crooked on dozens of folded paper napkins. “first thing you have to do, stevie, is clean up this mess,” i said. stevie looked at me, then pulled out one of the napkins. it had “something for stevie” printed on the outside. as he picked it up, two $10 bills fell onto the table. stevie stared at the money, then at all the napkins peeking from beneath the tableware, each with his name printed on it. i turned to his mother. “theres more $10,000 in cash and checks on that table, all from truckers and trucking companies that heard about your problems. happy thanksgiving.” well, it got real noisy about that time, with everybody hollering and shouting, and there were a few tears, as well but you know whats funny? while everybody else was busy shaking hands and hugging each other, stevie, with a big, big smile on his face, was busy clearing all the cups and dishes from the table.52why did the author have doubts about hiring stevie?a. stevie was not that reliable. b. stevie was mentally disabled.c. stevie was too short and fat. d. stevie was bad-tempered.53. what made the author not fully satisfied with stevies work? a. he made customers uncomfortable. b. he couldnt pay attention to his duties. c. he often spilled cups of coffee. d. he usually cleaned the table too early.54. by saying the underlined words in para.3, the author meant that the money she paid stevie_. a. could help stevie out of the trouble. b. couldnt thoroughly solve stevies problem. c. could make a great difference to stevies life. d. could send stevie a group home55. according to this text, frannie sighed for stevies _. a. health problem b. work problem c. finance problem d. mental problem56. why did the author ask stevie to clean up the mess on the table? a. it was stevies duty to clean the table. b. the table was so dirty that it needed cleaning. c. stevie could pick up the money that was given to him. d. she wanted to congratulate stevie on his coming back.bstreamwood, ill.for years, attendance was small at tefft middle schools yearly parent-teacher conferences, but the principal did not blame families for their poor response. instead, she blamed the poor way the conferences were conducted. “five years ago, the most important personthe studentwas left out of the parent-teacher conference,” teffts principal, lavonne smiley, said. “the old conferences were such a negative thing, so we turned it around,” allowing students not only to attend but also to lead the gatherings instead of anxiously awaiting their parents return home with the teachers opinion on their classroom performance.recently, 525 parents attended parent-teacher-student conferences, ms. smiley said, compared with 75 parents in 2003. no appointments were needed, and everyone was welcome at the conferences this year, spread over two days that school officials called a celebration of learning. “i think were learning that every school has its own dna, and there is not a prescription for conferences that works for every school,” ms. kinney said. “there is such an increasingly diverse population at our nations schools, the one-size-fits-all model conference just doesnt work anymore.” at some schools, not only are students on hand for conferences, but their siblings are also welcome, as are grandparents, aunts and uncles, even family friends.when mark heller accepted a job as an assistant principal at the middle school in his hometown of plano, ill., he discovered that the community had changed a lot in the eight years he had been a teacher in iowa. the population had nearly doubled to 10,000 residents, and 37 percent of the students at plano middle school were now from low-income families.the traditional parent-teacher conferences without a student present are always available by appointment, and sometimes necessary, for example, to discuss a private matter concerning a non-custodial (无监护权的) parent, a family crisis the child is unaware of or a special education diagnosis. still, mr. heller is convinced that a true dialogue concerning a students academic progress is impossible without both the child and the parent engaged and present, and with the teacher on hand to share impressions and answer any questions the parents have about homework, standardized test scores, behavior and other issues. “at the student-led conferences, our children are learning to be organized and capable adults someday,” ms. issa said. “when i was growing up, my parents went to my conference, and i waited at home, scared they would come back with some concerns. with this