A Surprising Answer
江苏铜山郑集中学。宋德富选编
Mr Richards worked in a shop which sold. cleaned and repaired hearing-aids(助听器).One day an old gentleman entered and put one down in front of him without saying a word.
"What's the matter with it? Mr. Richards said. The man did not answer. Of course Mr. Richard thought that the man must be deaf(聋)and that his hearing-aid must be faulty(有毛病)，so he said again, more loudly. “What’s wrong with your hearing-aid, sir?” Again the man said nothing, so Mr. Richards shouted his question again as loudly as he could.
The man then took a pen and a piece of paper and wrote: "It isn't necessary to shout when you are speaking to me. My ears are as good as yours. This hearing-aid is my wife’s, not mine. I’ve just had a throat（喉咙）operation and my problem is not that I can't hear, but that I can't speak”
1. Who was deaf?
A. Mr. Richards B. The old gentleman
C. The old gentleman's wife D. None of them
2. The old gentleman came to the shop to ________.
A. buy a hearing aid. B. have the hearing-aid repaired
C. have hearing-aid cleaned D. either B or C or both B and C
3. The old gentleman didn't answer Mr. Richards’s question because he ________.
A. couldn't speak B. couldn’t hear
C. got too angry to speak. D. couldn’t see
4. Mr. Richards ________.
A. wrote his question down because the old gentleman could not hear him
B. shouted his question as loudly as he could so that the old man gentleman could hear him
C. shouted his question as loudly as he could so that the old gentleman heard him
D. often met such a thing
5. How did the old gentleman make Mr. Richards understand what he wanted?________.
A. He showed the hearing-aid to Mr. Richards
B. He showed his throat to Mr. Richards
C. He showed his ears to Mr. Richards
D. He expressed his idea in writing
Key:
1. C 2. D. 3. A. 4. B. 5. D
河南大学英语语言文学研究所《中学英语园地》编辑部
中学英语园地4/1991
