Question

     He's an old cobbler  (修鞋匠)  with a shop in the Marais, a historic area in Paris. When I took him my shoes, he at first told me: “I haven't time. Take them to the other fellow on the main  street ; he'll fix them for you right away.”

     But I'd had my eye on his shop for a long time. Just looking at his bench loaded with tools and pieces of leather, I knew he was a skilled craftsman  (手藝人).  “No,” I replied, “the other fellow can't do it well.”

      “The other fellow” was one of those shopkeepers who fix shoes and make keys “while-U-wait”— without knowing much about mending shoes or making keys. They work carelessly, andwhen they have finished sewing back a sandal strap (鞋帶) you might as well just throw away thepair.

      My man saw I wouldn't give in, and he smiled. He wiped his hands on his blue apron ( 圍裙), looked at my shoes, had me write my name on one shoe with a piece of chalk and said,“Come back in a week.”

      I was about to leave when he took a pair of soft leather boots off a shelf.

      “See what I can do?” he said with pride. “Only three of us in Paris can do this kind of work.. ”

      When I got back out into the street, the world seemed brand-new to me. He was something out of an ancient legend, this old craftsman with his way of speaking familiarly, his very strange,dusty felt hot, his funny accent from who-knows-where and, above all, his pride in his craft.

      These are times when nothing is important but the bottom line, when you can do things any old way as long as it “pays”, when, in short, people look on work as a path to ever-increasing consumption  (消費) rather than a way to realize their own abilities. In such a period it is a rare comfort to find a cobbler who gets his greatest satisfaction from pride in a job well done.

60. Which of the following is true about the old cobbler.'?

     A. He was equipped with the best repairing tools. B. He was the only cobbler in the Marais.

     C. He was proud of his skills.                             D. He was a native Parisian.

61. The sentence “He was something out of an ancient legend.” ( paragraph 7 ) implies that      

     A. nowadays you can hardly find anyone like him

     B. it was difficult to communicate with this man

     C. the man was very strange                               D. the man was too old

62. According to the author, many people work just to           .

     A. realize their abilities   B. gain happiness          C. make money             D. gain respect

63. This story wants to tell us that            .

     A. craftsmen make a lot of money                       B. whatever you do, do it well

     C. craftsmen need self-respect                             D. people are born equal

Answer 1

C 61.A 62.C 63.B

解析:

60．解析：這是一道細節推斷題。從第六段“he said with pride,‘Only three of us in Paris can do this kind of work.’”可知，他說在巴黎只有三個鞋匠能做這項工作，因此他對于自己的手藝很自豪。

61．解析：這是一道推測詞義題。劃線句子的意思是“他好像是從遠古時代出來的一樣”。作者在說這句話的時候一點貶義也沒有，作者很尊重他，這句話只是表明他跟現在的人不一樣，現在很難找到像他這樣的人了。

62．解析：這是一道細節推斷題。從最后一段“people look on work as a path to ever-increasing consumption”可知，人們工作的原因是為了增加消費。掙錢才能消費。因此，人們工作的原因是掙錢。

63．解析：這是一道主旨題。最后一段講到現在的人不認真工作，只是為了掙錢。最后一句話“In such a period it is a rare comfort to find a cobbler who gets his greatest satisfaction from pride in a job well done.” 作者認為，看見一個鞋匠從做好一個工作中得到最大的滿足是一種安慰。由此可得，作者希望人們應該認真工作。