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2013年职称英语综合类阅读理解专项强化练习题二十一(附答案)(1)

2012-06-06 
综合类阅读理解专项强化练习题

  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, it's my first day back in New York in seven years. I've 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 I'd just been fired. "This is America," a Haitian driver said. "One door is closed. Another is open." He argued against my plan to burn down my boss's 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. Don't worry. Take a new job."

  One very hot weekday in July, while wearing a red ski mask and holding a stuffed pillowcase with the work "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.

  "Let's go across the park," I said. "I just robbed the bank there. I got $25,000."

  "$25,000?" he asked.

  "Yeah, you think it was wrong to take it?"

  "No, man, I work 8 hours and I don't 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, there's another bank," I said, "could you wait here a minute while I go inside?"

  "No, I can't wait. Pay me now." His reluctance may have had something to do with money -taxi drivers think the rate for waiting time is too low -but I think he wanted me to learn that even a bank robber can't expect unconditional support.

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