Question

They will be here in a minute, surely. I’ll just stare at my shoes a little while longer to pass the time. Wish I’d brought a book. Hang on, though, what if I’ve got the wrong day? The wrong place? Have the clocks gone back? No, damn it, I’m off home. Whoever I’m waiting for clearly lives in a different time zone from me.

I am always 10 minutes early, so if you’re 10 minutes late, I’ve been foot-tapping for 20 minutes. I know it’s not fair to hold the first 10 against you, but I just can’t help myself. I never wait more than 20 minutes beyond the meeting time we decided upon, not for anyone, ever.

OK, that’s not strictly true. I have, on occasion, hung around anxiously and heart-brokenly for up to an hour, but the bitter anger that follows is never a pretty sight. If you’ve made me wait that long, you will wish you hadn’t bothered turning up at all.

How come some people are always late and some are always on time? If I can manage to be punctual, why can’t you? Because I left a hot cup of coffee at home while you sat down to roll another cigarette. Because I spilled jam on my pants and quickly wiped it off whereas you took time to change your whole outfit. Because I switched off midway through a TV series, but you had to ride out the end, didn’t you? And don’t even think about blaming the traffic. How do you think I got here? By flying carpet? Only carelessness or arrogance (傲慢) can explain a habit of lateness.

Some people are always late because they can’t make realistic calculations about how long it takes to do things. There are 60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in an hour. Just deal with it. Painful as it may be, you have to accept that, as you’ve agreed to meet at eight and it’s now a quarter to, you don’t have time to phone your girlfriend.

Much worse, though, are those with big egos (自我). Being late is just rude. Being late on purpose really means that you hate the person you are meeting.

Of course, there are some perfectly lovely latecomers out there. I just never wait long enough to find out.

1.Which of the following words best describes how the author feels in the first paragraph?

A. Anxious. B. Curious.

C. Thankful. D. Joyful.

2.What does the author think contributes to people always being late?

a. Their big egos.

b. Traffic jams.

c. Their carelessness.

d. Being picky when choosing clothes.

e. Their realistic calculations of how long it takes to do things.

A. a, b B. a, c C. b, d, e D. c, d, e

3.We can learn from the article that the author ___________.

A. is tolerant of people being late

B. has missed lots of meetings

C. has trouble getting along with others

D. has a strong preference for good timekeeping

4.According to the author, people should ____________.

A. be patient when waiting for a latecomer

B. keep in mind that being late is rude and selfish

C. always arrive 10 minutes early for an appointment

D. ask people around them to remind them about an appointment

Answer 1

1.A

2.B

3.D

4.B

【解析】本文是一篇記敘文。作者以自己的視角表達(dá)了對遲到的看法。遲到能體現(xiàn)出一個人的自大，也能讓我們知道那個人很粗魯。

1.雜亂無章的內(nèi)容來看，我們可以知道作者是很焦慮的。該段意思為：當(dāng)然，他們將會在1分鐘之內(nèi)到達(dá)。我只是盯著我的鞋子時間有點(diǎn)長，并以此來消磨時間。真希望我?guī)Я吮緯�。�?jiān)持下去。要是這是一個錯誤的日子、錯誤的地點(diǎn)怎么辦？時鐘能倒走么？不，真見鬼。我不在家，我等待的那個人一定和我不在一個時區(qū)！由此可以判斷作者這一段話表達(dá)出了他的焦慮故選A

2. carelessness or arrogance (傲慢) can explain a habit of lateness. 只有不小心或者傲慢才能解釋遲到的習(xí)慣，故選B

3. never wait more than 20 minutes beyond the meeting time we decided upon, not for anyone, ever. 我從來不會在我們決定好的開會時間后為某人多等20分鐘。從這里可以推斷出，作者對守時有很強(qiáng)烈的偏好。

4. Much worse, though, are those with big egos (自我). Being late is just rude. 更糟糕的是，盡管遲到和自大有關(guān)系。遲到更是粗魯?shù)�，故選B

考點(diǎn)：考察記敘文閱讀。