B
I am a person who does not like to wait in line. However, I realize anger will get me nowhere. Considering this, I have decided to turn my frustration(沮丧) to productive ends. In short, I am constantly hunting around for what I call “waiting in line books”, especially those that are designed for being read in snippets(文摘), so there is no extended story line to lose track of. Another requirement is that they be small enough to slip neatly into my back pocket.
The other day I went to the supermarket and was surprised to see that the place was crowded with shoppers, but no worries. I parked my cart behind five others and pulled out my vocabulary builder. Within a few seconds I was totally absorbed, and rather than seething at the 15 minutes it took to advance to the cashier, I learned that nankeen is “a yellow cotton cloth”, or, in the plural, “trousers made of it”. The acquisition of new words led me into a place where I would otherwise not have enjoyed myself so much.
Once, at a yard sale, I found two small pocket books titled Sidelights on American History (copyright 1919). The seller approached as I looked through the pages. “You want them?”
“First I need to see if they fit,” I told him. He watched as I slipped Volume 1 into my back pocket. “Perfect. I’ll take them.”
10 minutes later, I was at the carwash, where the waiting line was six vehicles long. Thank goodness for my books! By the time my car was being soaped and power sprayed, I had learned about the Annapolis Convention, the early life of Aaron Bur.
The more the world demands that I wait, the more I learn from my waiting library. In fact, I have become so fond of my “waiting” books that my spirits actually rise when I see a long line I must stand in. It is most likely I would be regarded as a bookish, lonely soul. But little would they realize that I was enjoying the company of those “waiting” books. And just as Disraeli said, “Everything comes if a man will only wait”.
60. When buying a book the writer _____.
A. has his own rules                        B. prefers books of small size
C. chooses books by famous writers            D. has no particular appetite
61. The truth behind the story is that the writer wants to tell us _____.
A. reading is not only important but also practical
B. one is expected to learn to adjust oneself rather than complain
C. reading is the best way to kill time
D. knowledge is power and wisdom is fortune
62. The underlined expression in paragraph 3 “seething at” probably means _____.
A. angry at                   B. delighted at              C. surprised at        D. excited at
63. The sentence in Paragraph 2 “there is no extended story line to lose track of” shows that _____.
A. what the writer reads is not difficult to understand
B. the writer likes to read interesting stories while waiting in line
C. the writer can stop wherever needed with no plot to leave out
D. the writer does not necessarily reach his understanding