1 . When I was a boy growing up in New Jersey in the 1960s, we had a milkman delivering milk to our doorstep. His name was Mr. Basille. He wore a white cap and drove a white truck. As a 5-year-old boy, I couldn’t take my eyes off the coin changer fixed to his belt. He noticed this one day during a delivery and gave me a quarter out of his coin changer.
Of course, he delivered more than milk. There was cheese, eggs and so on. If we needed to change our order, my mother would pen a note — “Please add a bottle of buttermilk next delivery” — and place it in the box along with the empty bottles. And then, the buttermilk would magically (魔术般) appear.
All of this was about more than convenience. There existed a close relationship between families and their milkmen. Mr. Basille even had a key to our house, for those times when it was so cold outside that we put the box indoors, so that the milk wouldn’t freeze. And I remember Mr. Basille from time to time taking a break at our kitchen table, having a cup of tea and telling stories about his delivery.
There is sadly no home milk delivery today. Big companies allowed the production of cheaper milk, thus making it difficult for milkmen to compete. Besides, milk is for sale everywhere, and it may just not have been practical to have a delivery service.
Recently, an old milk box in the countryside I saw brought back my childhood memories. I took it home and planted it on the back porch (门廊) . Every so often my son’s friends will ask what it is. So I start telling stories of my boyhood, and of the milkman who brought us friendship along with his milk.
1. Mr. Basille gave the boy a quarter out of his coin changer to __________.| A．show his magical power | B．pay for the delivery |
| C．satisfy his curiosity | D．please his mother |
| A．He wanted to have tea there. | B．He was a respectable person. |
| C．He was treated as a family member. | D．He was fully trusted by the family. |
| A．Nobody wants to be a milkman now. | B．It has been driven out of the market. |
| C．Its service is getting poor. | D．It is not allowed by law. |
| A．He missed the good old days. | B．He wanted to tell interesting stories. |
| C．He needed it for his milk bottles. | D．He planted flowers in it. |
2 . The village of Okere Mom-Kok was destroyed during the Ugandan Civil War in the 1980s. Now, pupils at the early childhood centre are noisily having a break, and a market is coming to life, as is local beer making, in what has become known as Okere City.
Okere City began in 2019.It has a school, a clinic, and a community hall that also serves as a nightclub.Electricity and clean water are available to everyone.
Ojok Okello started the project of Okere City with an investment（投资） from his own pocket to change the destroyed village of 4,000 people.The development expert had worked for several charities but grew sad seeing projects fail because communities weren’t involved in decisions about their own future.When he returned to Okere Mom-Kok to visit relatives, he decided to create a project that was truly led by the people who lived there.
Okere now produces income.Every project, from the school to the local bar, can fund itself, something that has been possible because the project is being built not as a charity, but as a social enterprise（事业）, Okello says.
This year, after local people said they needed a way to make money, Okello began to experiment with processing shea nuts（加工乳木果）, which locals collect and turn into butter for cooking.Soon, Okere Shea Butter arrived on the market.
Okello says the thought came to him when watching the movie Black Panther, as he sat under a shea tree one afternoon.“I realised that we have this important natural resource and we were not using it,” Okello says.“I thought, in the movie Wakanda and Black Panther had vibranium and this shea tree could be our vibranium.So I invest everything within my means into it.”
Once a week an investment club meets in the community hall.Member’s dues（会费） are carefully recorded before being offered as loans（贷款） to members who need them.When borrowers repay the loan, the cycle continues.
“This style of banking plays a big role because it’s uniquely African,” Okello says.“It’s been about community, patience, and long-term investment.”
1. What is the village of Okere Mom-Kok like now?| A．It’s lively. | B．It’s a wasteland. |
| C．It’s in poor condition. | D．It’s a tourist attraction. |
| A．It was built as a charity. |
| B．It was created by poor villagers. |
| C．It has cost little money up to now. |
| D．It includes the community in decision-making. |
| A．Making shea butter. |
| B．Protecting shea trees. |
| C．Directing a film about shea trees. |
| D．Attracting investment in shea nuts. |
| A．It is important to local people. |
| B．It will take a long time to improve. |
| C．It will be used in other communities. |
| D．It mainly encourages short-term investment. |
| A．Okere City was rebuilt successfully due to several charities started by Ojok Okello. |
| B．A nightclub lies in the community hall of the Okere City now. |
| C．Pupils at the early childhood centre find it hard to have a break because the environment it noisy. |
| D．Ojok Okello made full use of vibranium as Wakanda and Black Panther did. |
