With my tail between my legs I asked her if she remembered me.Well， not only did she remember me， she asked about my brother and sisters， by name，and how my mother was doing， and where did everyone live now， and what was I studying in college， and how many children did everyone have， and a hundred other questions.She told me that her husband passed away five years earlier，and that she lost an arm to cancer.She and her husband never had children and she had a sister in a nursing home.She lived alone.Well， when I finally had her groceries in her house， unpacked， and put away， she thanked me and paid me for the fare.I put the best two bucks I ever made in my pocket，said goodbye， and went back to the cabstand to the end of a very long line.
1.When the driver says“I was sitting there for almost an eternity...”，we can infer that.
A.he was quite impatient and was eager to get a good， long fare.
B.the cabstand was his favorite， so he would rather wait there for ever.
C.he knew that he had to wait for a long time， because there were quite a lot cabs waiting there.
D.he was willing to wait for a long time so that he could rest 2.What does the word“gruff”mean in the sentence“Then I said in a rathergruff voice，‘Where to ？ ’ ”in the last line of Para.2？A.Loud. B.Impolite and angry.C.Glad. D.Respectful.
3.“With my tail between my legs I asked her if she remembered me.”This sentence tells us that.
A.the driver changed his rough attitude and became kind and polite.
B.the driver had to put the tail of his coat between his legs so that he could drive.
C.the driver had long hair and he did it into braid.
D.the driver was just joking.
4.From the last sentence we can conclude that.
A.the driver felt it was hard to earn even two dollars.
B.the driver felt glad that he had come across this old lady and though he earned only two dollars， yet he thought what he got from this fare was much more than two dollars.
C.the two dollars paid by the old lady would bring good luck to the driver.
D.the old lady paid the driver two more dollars.
One night I found myself stumbling out of a bar in the early hours of the morning on the lower east side.Being that this is a somewhat regular occurrence， I always struggle with myself as to whether I should select for the economical way home ( the subway)，or just spend the money and get home more quickly in a cab.This particular night I was particularly inebriated so I selected for the easy way home and caught a cab.
I had broken up with my girlfriend recently， and was feeling a little down on my luck.One might even say a bit self destructive.I was looking for a little adventure.I picked the right cabbie.The first red light we hit was down around 14th street.Now on a usual night it takes at least two or three lights to go up Park Ave to around 86th street， but since I was in a special kind of a mood， I leaned forward through the plexiglass (树 脂玻 璃) and offered the cabbie an extra ten dollar tip if he could make it up to 86th street without stopping for one more light.I was expecting an answer like，“sorry man， I can t risk my license”
or something like that which I would have understood completely， but instead he turned around， smiled and said，“you got it，man ！”Damn it，he s actually gone for this and I took a deep breath.
What followed was the most thrilling car ride I ve ever taken.There was really nobody else on the road heading up Park at that hour so we flew...
literally.We were going over a hundred miles an hour and catching air as we went over little bumps (马路上颠簸不平的地方).The few times we did have to pass other cars the cabbie managed it like a Nascar (全美汽车比赛协会) driver.
