Track 48

Mrs. White is an old woman of seventy. She married Mr. White when she was twenty-two. They had three children and kept a shop in the small town. And they lived a happy life until her husband died in a traffic accident five years ago.
Now all her children live in big cities. Only she won’t leave the small town where she has lived for nearly fifty years. Her children want her to live with them，but she doesn’t like the noisy life there.
One day her daughter wrote to tell her that she had a baby. She was so happy that she decided to have a look at the baby. She took a yellow bus and started out early in the morning. Four hours later the bus stopped，it was time for lunch. Mrs. White got off the bus，and found there were many yellow buses around. She watched the number plate of her bus very carefully and tried to learn its number by heart. Then the conductor said to her，“It’s easy to remember，1732，the year in which Washington was born.”
Ten minutes later the lady came back，but she couldn’t find her bus. She forgot the number. She had to ask a young man，“Excuse me，sir. Could you tell me in which year Washington was born？”
生词
noisy
/ˈnɔɪzi
/ adj.喧嚣的，吵闹的：The clock was so noisy that it kept me awake. 那钟太吵了，我无法入睡。
plate
/pleɪt
/ n.（车辆的）号码牌：I couldn’t read the car’s number plate. 我看不清那辆汽车的号牌。
learn sth. by heart背下来，记住：The teacher wanted us to learn the whole poem by heart. 老师要求我们把整首诗背下来。
❶ Mrs. White was a _.
A. driver
B. conductorC. farmer
D. shopkeeper
❷ When Mrs. White was_____，her husband died.
A. twenty-two
B. fifty
C. sixty-five
D. seventy
❸ Mrs. White won’t leave the town because _.
A. she likes to live in the quiet placeB. she doesn’t like to live with her children
C. she has to look after the shop
D. she wants to go on working
❹ Four hours later the bus stopped because _.
A. it reached where Mrs. White’s daughter lives
B. it couldn’t move any longer
C. they wanted to have something to eat
D. they lost their way
❺ Mrs. White wanted to know when Washington was born because _.
A. she was interested in history
B. she liked him very much
C. she wanted to find her bus
D. she wanted to find out how old Washington was when he died
参考译文
怀特夫人是一名70高龄的老妇人。她22岁时嫁给了怀特先生。他们有3个孩子，在小镇上开了一家店。他们过着幸福的生活，直到5年前丈夫在一场车祸中丧生。
现在，她所有的孩子都生活在大城市。只有她不想离开已经生活了近50年的小镇。孩子们想让她和他们一起生活，但她不喜欢城市喧嚣的生活。
一天，女儿给她写信，告诉她自己生了小宝宝。她很高兴，决定去看看小家伙。她登上一辆黄色的公共汽车，一大早就出发了。4小时后，公共汽车停了下来，因为午餐时间到了。怀特夫人下了车，发现周围有多辆黄色公共汽车。她仔细地看了看自己的车牌，想记住车牌号。这时，售票员对她说：“这很容易记，1732，也就是华盛顿出生的那年。”
10分钟后，老太太回来了，但却找不到自己的车。她忘了车牌号。她只得问一名年轻人：“对不起，先生。你能告诉我华盛顿是哪年出生的吗？”