Taxi Riding
In a moment of personal crisis, how much help can you expect from a New York taxi driver? I began studying this question after watching the Taxicab Confessions, a series of documentaries in which hidden cameras record the secrets of unsuspecting taxi riders. I found the results varied.
One morning I got into three different taxis and announced: Well, its my first day back in New York in seven years. Ive been in prison. Not a single driver replied, so I tried again. Yeah, I shot a man in Reno, I explained, hoping the driver would ask me why, so I could say casually, Just to watch him die. But nobody asked. The only response came from a Ghanaian driver: Reno? That is in Nevada?
Taxi drivers were uniformly sympathetic when I said Id just been fired. This is America, a Haitain driver said. One door is closed. Another is open. He argued against my plan to burn down my bosss house: If you do something silly and they put you away, you cannot look for another job. A Pakistani driver even turned down a chance to profit from my loss of hope: he refused to take me to the middle of the George Washington Bridge, a $20 trip. Why you want to go there? Go home and relax. Dont worry. Take a new job.
One very hot weekday in July, while wearing a red ski mask and holding a stuffed pillowcase with the word BANK on it, I tried hailing a taxi five times outside different banks. The driver picked me up every time. My ride with Guy-Caaude Thevenain, a Haitian driver, was typical of the superb assistance I received.
Is anyone following us?
No, said the driver, looking in his rearview mirror at traffic and me.
Lets go across the park, I said. I just robbed the bank there. I got $2, 5000.
$25, 000? he asked.
Yeah, you think it was wrong to take it?
No, man. I work 8 hours and I dont make almost $70. If I can do that, I do it too.
As we approached 86th and Lexington, I pointed to the Chemical Bank.
Hey, theres another bank, I said, could you wait here a minute while I go inside?
No, I cant wait. Pay me now. His reluctance may have had something to do with moneytaxi drivers think the rate for waiting time is too lowbut I think he wanted me to learn that even a bank robber cant expect unconditional support.
1. Form the Ghanaian drivers response, we can infer that
A. he was indifferent to the killing.
B. he was afraid of the author.
C. he looked down upon the author.
D. he thought the author was crazy.
2. Why did the Pakistani driver refuse to take the author to the middle of the George Washington Bridge?
A. Because he didnt want to help the author get over his career crisis.
B. Because he wanted to go home and relax.
C. Because it was far away from his home.
D. Because he suspected that the author was going to commit suicide.
3. What is the authors interpretation of the drivers reluctance to wait outside the Chemical bank ?
A. The driver thought that the rate for waiting time was too low.
B. The driver thought it wrong to support a taxi rider unconditionally.
C. The driver was frightened and wanted to leave him as soon as possible.
D. The driver wanted to go home and relax.
4. Which of the following statements is true about New York taxi drivers?
A. They are ready to help you do whatever you want to.
B. They refuse to pick up those who would kill themselves.
C. They are sympathetic with those who are out of work.
D. They work only for money.
5. What does the passage mainly discuss?
A. How to make taxi riders comfortable.
B. How to deal with taxi riders.
C. The attitudes of taxi drivers towards the taxi riders having personal crises.
D. The attitudes of taxi drivers towards violent criminals.
Goal of American Education
Education is an enormous and expensive part of American life. Its size is matched by its variety.
Differences in American schools compared with those found in the majority of other countries lie in the fact that education here has long been intended for everyone not just for a privileged elite. Schools are expected to meet the needs of every child, regardless of ability, and also the needs of society itself. This means that public schools offer more than academic subjects. It surprises many people when they come here to find high schools offering such courses as typing, sewing, radio repair, computer programming or driver training, along with traditional academic subjects such as mathematics, history, and languages. Students choose their curricula depending on their interests, future goals, and level of ability. The underlying goal of American education is to develop every child to the utmost of his or her own possibilities, and to give each one a sense of civic and community consciousness.
Schools have traditionally played an important role in creating national unity and Americanizing the millions of immigrants who have poured into this country from many different backgrounds and origins. Schools still play a large role in the community, especially in the small towns.
The approach to teaching may seem unfamiliar to many, not only because it is informal, but also because there is not much emphasis on learning facts. Instead, Americans try to teach their children to think for themselves and to develop their own intellectual and creative abilities. Students spend much time, learning how to use resource materials, libraries, statistics and computers. Americans believe that if children are taught to reason well and to research well, they will be able to find whatever facts they need throughout the rest of their lives. Knowing how to solve problems is considered more important than the accumulation of facts.
This is Americas answer to the searching question that thoughtful parents all over the world are asking themselves in the fast-moving time: How can one prepare todays child for a tomorrow that one can neither predict nor understand?
1. Which of the following best states the goal of American education?
A. To teach every learner some practical skills.
B. To provide every learner with rich knowledge.
C. To give every student the opportunity to fully develop his/her ability.
D. To train every student to be a responsible citizen.
2. It is implied in the passage that
A. all high-school students take the same courses.
B. every high-school student must take some practical ability training courses.
C. every public school offers the same academic subjects.
D. the subject every student takes may vary.
3. American schools place great emphasis on the learners
A. enrichment of knowledge.
B. accumulation of facts.
C. acquisition of the ability to be creative.
D. acquisition of the ability to work with his hands.
4. According to the passage, American education meets the needs of all the following EXCEPT
A. the brightest students.
B. the slow students.
C. the students from foreign countries.
D. the immigrants.
5. Which of the following best states the feature of American education that makes it different from education in other countries?
A. The large number of its schools.
B. The variety of the courses offered in its schools.
C. Its special consideration given to immigrants.
D. Its underlying goal to develop every childs abilities to the fullest extent.