she felt. At the end of the program, she began helping her youngest son, Tony, a shy first grader, with his reading. She sat with him before he went to sleep and together they would read bedtime stories. When his eyes became wide with excitement as she read, pride was written all over her face, and she began to see how her own hard work in learning to read paid off. As she described this experience, I was proud of myself as well. I found that helping Marie to build her selfconfidence was more rewarding than anything I had ever done before.

As a literacy volunteer, I learned a great deal about teaching and helping others. In fact, I may have learned more from the experience than Marie did.

56．What did the author do last summer?

A．She worked in the supermarket.

B．She helped someone to learn to read.

C．She gave single mothers the help they needed.

D．She went to a training program to help a literacy volunteer.

57．Why didn’t Marie go to the supermarket by bus at first?

A．Because she liked to walk to the supermarket.

B．Because she lived far away from the bus stop.

C．Because she couldn’t afford the bus ticket.

D．Because she couldn’t find the right bus.

58．How did Marie use to find the goods she wanted in the supermarket?

A．She knew where the goods were in the supermarket.

B．She asked others to take her to the right place.

C．She managed to find the goods by their looks.

D．She remembered the names of the goods.

59．Which of the following statements is true about Marie?

A．Marie could do things she had not been able to do before.

B．Marie was able to read stories with the help of her son.

C．Marie decided to continue her studies in school

D．Marie paid for her own lessons.

B

As you move around your home, take a good look at the things you have. It is likely that your living room will have a television set and a video, and your kitchen a washing machine and a microwave oven. Your bedroom drawers will be filled with almost three times as many clothes as you need. You almost certainly own a car and possibly a home computer, holiday abroad at least once a year and eat out at least once a week.

Now, perhaps, more than ever before, people are wondering what life is all about, and what it is for. Seeking material success is beginning to trouble large numbers of people around the world. They feel that the long-hours work culture to make more money to buy more things is eating up their lives, leaving them very little time or energy for family or pastimes. Many are turning to other ways of living and downshifting is one of them.

Six percent of workers in Britain took the decision to downshift last year. One couple who downshifted is Daniel and Liz. They used to work in central London. He was a newspaper reporter and she used to work for an international bank. They would go to work by train every day from their large house in the suburbs(郊区), leaving their two children with a nanny（保姆）. Most evenings Daniel wouldn’t get home until eight or nine o’clock, and nearly twice a month he would have to fly to New York for meetings. They both earned a large amount of money but began to feel that life was passing them by.

Nowadays, they run a farm in the mountains of Wales. “I always wanted to have a farm