1 . Having worked at a 7-Eleven store for two years, I thought I had become successful at what our manager calls “customer relations”. But the other night an old woman shattered my belief that a glib(非诚恳的) response could smooth over the rough spots of dealing with other human beings.
The moment she entered the store, the woman presented a sharp contrast to our shiny store with its bright lighting and neatly arranged shelves. On a zero-degree night, she was wearing only a faded print dress, a thin sweater too small to button, and black slippers with the backs cut out to expose heels. There were no stockings or socks on her blue-veined legs.
After strolling around the store for several minutes, the old woman stopped in front of the rows of canned vegetables. She picked up some corn niblets and stared with a strange intensity at the label. At that point, I decided to be a good employee and asked her if she needed help.
“I need some food,” she muttered(嘟囔) in reply to my bright “Can I help you?”
“Are you looking for corn, ma’am?”
“I need some food,” she repeated. “Any kind. But I can’t pay.” She said.
For a second, I was tempted to say, “Take the corn.” But the employee rules flooded into my mind. I responded dutifully, “ I’m sorry, ma’am, but I can’t give away anything for free.”
The old woman’s face collapsed a bit more, and her hands trembled as she put the can back on the shelf. She shuffled(蹒跚) past me toward the door, her torn and dirty clothing barely covering her bent back.
Moments after she left, I rushed out the door with the can of corn, but she was nowhere in sight. For the rest of my shift, the image of the woman kept coming to my mind. I had been young, healthy. She had been old, sick and desperate. Wishing with all my heart that I had acted like a human being rather than a robot, I was saddened to realize how fragile a hold we have on our better instincts(本能).
1. What does the underlined world “shatter” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Maintain. | B．Hold. |
| C．Break. | D．Lose. |
| A．She was attracted by the shiny store with neatly arranged shelves. |
| B．She left the store in disappointment without any food. |
| C．She declined the writer’s offer of a can of corn. |
| D．She was very healthy and was not afraid of the cold weather. |
| A．He was actually very mean. |
| B．He followed the employee rules. |
| C．He disliked the woman’s appearance. |
| D．He wanted to give her after she went out of the store. |
| A．A Lady and I | B．Working at A Store |
| C．Sadness | D．If Only …… |
