0ur village carpenter(木匠)，John Hill, came one day and made a dining table for my wife.  He made it just the right size to fill the space between the two window.  When I got home that evening, John was drinking a cup of tea and writing out his bill( 賬單) for his job.
My wife said to me quietly, “That’s his ninth cup of tea today. ”But she said in a loud voice, “It’s a beautiful table, dear, isn’t it?” “I’ll decide about that when I see the bill,” I said.  John laughed and gave me his bill for the work.  I read:
One dining table                 10^th November, 2011
Cost of wood                    $ 17:00
Paint                           $1. 50
Work, 8 hours($1 an hour)          $8. 00
Total                           $36. 50
When I was looking at the bill, John said,” It’s been a fine day, hasn’t it? Quite sunny. ”
“Yes,” I said.  “I’m glad it’s only the 10^th of November. ”
“Me, too,” said John, “you wait—it will be a lot colder by the end of the month. ”
“Yes, colder—and more expensive! Dining table will be $20 more expensive on November 30^th, won’t they, John?”
John looked hard at me for half a minute.  Was there a little smile in his two blue eyes? I gave his bill back to him.
“If it’s not too much trouble, John,” I said,“Please add(加) it up again, You can forget the date-------”
I paid him $26. 50 and he was happy to get it.
【小題1】Why did John talk about the weather when the writer was looking at the bill?

What would happen if you tried to blow a soap bubble in freezing weather? Would it freeze solid(固體) and fall to the ground? Would you have to hit it to break it? These questions happened to me on a cold winter day. It was too cold to play in the snow, but it was a perfect time to experiment with blowing frozen bubbles.

To blow frozen bubbles, I used dishwashing soap and a drop of glycerin（甘油） to make it even better. I chose a place out of the wind, and blew bubbles the same way I always do. I watched to see what would happen. Here’s what I learned.

If the temperature is low enough, the skin of the bubbles frosts over (結(jié)霜), becoming cloudy instead of clear. And what about those rainbow swirls（旋轉(zhuǎn)） you see in soap bubbles? The rainbow colors stay even when the bubbles frost, but they don’t swirl anymore. The bubbles still stay in the air. They don’t fall to the ground any faster than they would on a warm summer day.

When these frozen bubbles break, they don’t turn into small water drops as summer bubbles do. They turn into flashing rainbow confetti（碎屑） and move slowly to the ground. Sometimes a frozen bubble will roll across the snow without breaking. If nothing disturbs the bubble, it may stay there for a long time. Sometimes I could catch a bubble and hold it until the heat of my hand made it pop.

I learned another thing about blowing frozen bubbles. It’s so interesting that I want to try it again next year.

1.It is the perfect time to blow frozen bubbles on a ___________day.

A．cold winter        B．warm spring        C．hot summer        D．sunny autumn

2.When the frozen bubbles break, _________.

A．they make a big sound                   B．they turn into small drops

C．they fall to the ground like rain             D．they become rainbow confetti

3.The purpose of the passage is _______.

A．to learn how to do a science experiment

B．to show the experiment of blowing frozen bubbles

C．to discover games that are fun to play in the snow

D．to invent a new kind of soap that makes stronger bubbles

A: How was your day off, Tina?
B: Oh, it was awful.
A: Really?      66
B: Well, we wanted to go camping, but the weather was terrible.      67
A: Oh, that’s too bad. Then what did you do? Did you watch TV at home?
B: No.      68     . It was boring.
A: Sounds terrible, Tina.
B:      69
A: I think I had great fun. I went to the museum and met a famous actor.      70      And I got his autograph.
B: That sounds wonderful.