2010年全国高等教育自学考试综合英语真题(5)_自考_历年真题

II．阅读理解。认真阅读下面两篇短文，每篇短文后有五个问题，根据短文的内容从A、B、
C、D四个选项中选择一个最佳答案，并将所选答案的字母写在答题纸相应的位置上。
(本大题共10小题，每小题2分，共20分)
Passage 1
Nikolai arrived in the United States from Eastern Europe with his wife and two small children. Despite the fact that Nikolai spoke three languages (Russian, German, and Polish), neither he nor his wife spoke any English. They came to the United States as refugees. Nikolai thought he was fortunate to have located a distant cousin, who sponsored him and his family and offered them temporary housing in the apartment building that he owned. Very soon Nikolai began picking up English words. He needed a job to support his family, but because of his poor English and lack of formal education, he worried about his job prospects in the United States.
A neighbor in the apartment building told him that job advertisements were frequently posted on a nearby bulletin board (公告牌). Nikolai went to the bulletin board together with an acquaintance, who read and spoke both Russian and English, to see what jobs were available. Nikolai listened intently as the acquaintance read several job announcements to him. One particular job listed on the board caught his attention. A nearby military base was advertising for barbers. What made the announcement most attractive to Nikolai was the fact that the announcement included the words “license not required”. Nikolai had never cut anyone’s hair, but he remembered watching sailors give each other haircuts. It seemed pretty easy since the haircuts all looked about the same — just cutting off all the hair. He spent the evening practicing short sentences that he had learned from his cousin that afternoon, including “Hello, it’s nice to meet you” and “Yes, I can!”
The next day Nikolai took the first bus out to the base．After showing the ad to an MP at the front gate，he received a map of directions to the barber shop．After an exchange of greetings，the barber shop manager asked Nikolai，“Can you give someone a haircut?”
“Yes，” Nikolai answered，“I can．Cut it all off!”
Not only did Nikolai get the j ob，but within just two years，he had learned to do the job so well that he became the manager of the barber shop．He was the one who now did all of the hiring．His English language skills had improved immensely, and he was often invited over to the top officers’ homes for dinner．He also fell in love with country music，since many of the base personnel were from southern states，and this type of music was constantly played in the shop．