首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
I am afraid to sleep. I have been afraid to sleep for the last few weeks. I am so tired that, finally, I do sleep, but only for
I am afraid to sleep. I have been afraid to sleep for the last few weeks. I am so tired that, finally, I do sleep, but only for
admin
2010-08-07
92
问题
I am afraid to sleep. I have been afraid to sleep for the last few weeks. I am so tired that, finally, I do sleep, but only for a few minutes. It is not a bad dream that wakes me; it is the reality I took with me into sleep. I try to think of something else.
Immediately the woman in the marketplace comes into my mind. I was on my way to dinner last night when I saw her. She was selling skirts. She moved with the same ease and loveliness I often saw in the women of Laos. Her long black hair was as shiny as the black silk of the skirts she was selling. In her hair, she wore three silk ribbons, blue, green, and white. They reminded me of my childhood and how my girlfriends and I used to spend hours braiding ribbons into our hair.
I don’t know the word for "ribbons", so I put my hand to my own hair and, with three fingers against my head, I looked at her ribbons and said "Beautiful". She lowered her eyes and said nothing. I wasn’t sure if she understood me (I don’t speak Laotian very well).
I looked back down at the skirts. They had designs in them: squares and triangles and circles of pink and green silk. They were very pretty. I decided to buy one of those skirts, and I began to bargain with her over the price. It is the custom to bargain in Asia. In Laos bargaining is done in soft voices and easy moves with the sort of quiet peacefulness.
She smiled, more with her eyes than with her lips. She was pleased by the few words I was able to say in her language, although they were mostly numbers, and she saw that I understood something about the soft playfulness of bargaining. We shook our heads in disagreement over the price; then, immediately, we made another offer and then another shake of the head. She was so pleased that unexpectedly, she accepted the last offer I made. But it was too soon. The price was too low. She was being too generous and wouldn’t make enough money. I moved quickly and picked up two more skirts and paid for all three at the price set; that way I was able to pay her three times as much before she had a chance to lower the price for the larger purchase. She smiled openly then, and, for the first time in months, my spirit lifted. I almost felt happy.
The feeling stayed with me while she wrapped the skirts in a newspaper and handed them to me. When I left, though, the feeling left, too. It was as though it stayed behind in marketplace. I left tears in my throat. I wanted to cry. I didn’t, of course. I have learned to defend myself against what is hard; without knowing it, I have also learned to defend myself against what is soft and what should be easy.
I get up, light a candle and want to look at the skirts. They are still in the newspaper that the woman wrapped them in. I remove the paper, and raise the skirts up to look at them again before I pack them. Something falls to floor. I reach down and feel something cool in my hand. I move close to the candlelight to see what I have. There are five long silk ribbons in my hand, all different colors. The woman in the marketplace! She has given these ribbons to me!
There is no defense against a generous spirit, and this time I cry, and very hard, as ff I could make up for all the months that I didn’t cry.
Why did the writer finally decide to buy three skirts?
选项
A、The skirts were cheap and pretty.
B、She liked the patterns on the skirts.
C、She wanted to do something as compensation.
D、She was fed up with further bargaining with the woman.
答案
A
解析
细节题。文章第五段给出了原因——是由于价格便宜。所以应选A。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/qExd777K
本试题收录于:
公共英语四级笔试题库公共英语(PETS)分类
0
公共英语四级笔试
公共英语(PETS)
相关试题推荐
Whichofthefollowinglawisrelatedtoeducation?Peoplefavortheindependenceofschoolforthereasonthat
TheU.S.SupremeCourthasforbiddenprayersinpublicschools,butmanyAmericansclingtotheideathattheireducationalsys
TheU.S.SupremeCourthasforbiddenprayersinpublicschools,butmanyAmericansclingtotheideathattheireducationalsys
WithanewCongressdrawingnear,DemocratsandRepublicansarebusilydesigningcompetingeconomicstimuluspackages.TheRepub
【B1】Thelegalquestionaboutwhetherandtowhatextentitisappropriatetoauditandmonitorcompanycomputersystemsisnoty
Mostpublishingisnow"electronic"inthesensethatbooks,magazinesandnewspapersarepreparedoncomputers,andexistasco
Ifyouintendusinghumorinyourtalktomakepeoplesmile,youmustknowhowtoidentifysharedexperiencesandproblems.Your
Ifyouintendusinghumorinyourtalktomakepeoplesmile,youmustknowhowtoidentifysharedexperiencesandproblems.Your
Whenthevotewasfinallytaken,itwas3:45inthemorning.Aftersixmonthsofarguingandafinal16hoursofhotparliame
Whenthevotewasfinallytaken,itwas3:45inthemorning,Aftersixmonthsofarguingandthefinal16hoursofhotparliamen
随机试题
根据下列资料,回答下列问题。独角静公司是投资界术语,一般指成立不超过10年,估值超过10亿美元,少部分估值超过100亿美元的企业,其不仅是优质和市场潜力无限的绩优股,而且商业模式很难被复制。行业集中度,是指某行业的相关市场内前N家最大的企业(头部
Howwillthepresent-daysciencedevelopinthenearfuture,i.e.thenextdecadeorso?To【36】with,wecanexpect【37】scienc
患者,19岁。因贫血乏力入院治疗,血常规:Hb60g/L,WBC31.5×109/L,RBC2.8×1012/L,PLT60×109/L。临床诊断为骨髓增生异常。配血不合进一步检查。实验室检查结果见表给这类患者输血时应
艾宾浩斯发现的遗忘规律是遗忘的进程不均衡,表现为
A.布洛卡区受损B.角回受损C.颞上回后部受损D.额中回后部E.顶叶受损感觉性失语
可以明显降低冬季和夏季的采暖和制冷费用的玻璃是()。
将经营决策分为静态决策和动态决策,这种划分是按经营决策()的不同划分的。
下面是一篇初中学生的习作,阅读并完成第以下问题。心的正方向①那些名家大师的狂草、潇洒飘逸的字体从来都是或仰或倒或倾或俯的。而这些姿态各异的字却无疑组成了一副副佳作。
Istheresomethingastruth?Foragoodmanycenturies"thesearchfortruth"hasbeen【31】thenoblestactivityofthehumanmind
ISO9000族标准中的位置,它是计算机软件机构实施(3)的(4)标准,由于(5)标准本来是针对传统的制造业制定的,而软件业又有许多不同于制造业的特必(6)起了桥梁作用。(7)将整个软件生产周期分成17个过程,并且对每一个过程按“过程—活动—任务”的三个
最新回复
(
0
)