I didn’t realize the food problem was so ________ in this city; with winter coming, many people would starve to death without more help.

ystudents, 15-year-old Mikey, gave me a note from his mother. It explained his absence (缺席)from class the day before. "Dear Mr. McCort, Mikeys grandmother, who is eighty years of age, fell down the stairsfrom too much coffee and I kept Mikey at home to take care of her and his baby sister so I could goto my job. Please excuse Mikey and hell do his best in the future. P.S. His grandmother is OK. "I had seen Mikey writing the note at his desk. I said nothing. Most parental-excuse notes Ireceived were penned by my students. If I were to deal with them, Id be busy 24 hours a day. Thewriters of those notes didnt realize that honest excuse notes were usually dull: "Peter was late be-cause the alarm clock didnt go off." The students always said it was hard putting 200 words together on any subject, but when theyproduced excuse notes, they were excellent. So I decided to type out a dozen excuse notes and gavethem to my classes. I said, "Theyre supposed to be written by parents, but actually they are not.true, Mikey？" The students looked at me nervously. "Now, this will be the first class to study the art of the excuse note -the first class, ever, topractice writing them. " Everyone smiled as I went on, "Today Id like you to write An ExcuseNote from Adam to God or An Excuse Note from Eve to God. " Heads went down. Pens racedacross paper. For the first time ever I saw students so immersed (专心的) in their writing, theyhad to be asked to go to lunch by their friends. The next day everyone had excuse notes. Heated discussions followed. But suddenly I saw theheadmaster at the door. He entered the classroom and walked up and down, looking at papers, andthen said, "Id like you to see me in my office." My heart sank. When I stepped into his office, he came to shake my hand and said, "I just want to tell youthat that lesson, that task, whatever the hell you were doing, was great. Those kids were writingon the college level. Thank you." 根据材料请回答下列各 How did the author know that most parental-excuse notes were written by students themselves？

A.The excuse notes were written in dull words.

B.The notes were more like stories than facts.

C.He called their parents and found out the truth.

D.The handwriting obviously looked like childrens.

carrier was hit by a passing vehicle and the damage was so bad it had to be written off. No problem, I thought: well buy another. But the insurance payout didnt even begin to cover the costs of buying a new car—I worked out that, with the loan wed need plus petrol, insurance, parking permits and tax, we could easily be looking at around ￡600 a month. And thats when I had my fancy idea. Why not just give up having a car at all？ The more I thought about it, the more sensible it seemed. I live in London. We have a railway station behind our house, a tube station 10 minutes walk away, and a bus stop at the end of the street. A new car club had just opened in our area, and one of its shiny little red Peugeots was parked nearby If any family in Britain could live without a car, I reasoned, then surely we were that family？ But my new car-free passion, sadly, wasnt shared by my family. My teenage daughters were horrified. What would their friends think about our family being "too poor to afford a car"？(I wasnt that bothered what they thought, and I suggested the girls could take the same approach.) My friends, too, were astonished at our plan. What would happen if someone got seriously ill overnight and needed to go to hospital？(an ambulance？)How would the children get to and from their many events？(buses and trains？)People smiled indulgently, as though this was another of my mad ideas, before saying they were sure Id soon realize that a car wasnt a luxury, it was a necessity. Eight months on, I wonder whether well ever own a car again. The idea that you "have" to own a car, especially if you live in a city, is all in the mind. I live— and many other city-dwellers do too—in a community that has never been better served by public transport, and yet car ownership has never been higher. We worry about rising car costs, but wed be better off asking something much more basic. Do I really need a car？ The answer turned out to be no, and Im a lot richer because I dared to ask the question.

The author decided to live a car-free life______.

A．after his car was damaged beyond repair

B．after he was hurt in a terrible car accident

C．because public transport was easily accessible

D．because the traffic jam was too much for him

A．Had I known， would ring him up

B．Should I know， would have rung him up

C．If I knew； would ring him up

D．Had I known； would have rung him up

Only when I began to do it ____ that I had made a mistake.

A I realized B I had realized C did I realize D would I realize

A．I realized

B．I have realized

C．did I realize

D．will I realize

It was not _______ he took off his glass ____I realize who he was.

A、when;that

B、until;when

C、until;that

A.I’m sorry,I didn’t realize it was that loud

B.Please forgive me

C.I’ll keep it down next time

A.A.in relation to

B.B.in proportion to

C.C.by means of

D.D.on behalf of

.

A.I realized

B.did I realize

C.I did realize

D.realized I

A.I realized

B.do I realize

C.I did realize

D.did I realize

Only then ______ that I had made a terrible mistake.

A) I realized B) did I realize

C) I had realized D) had I realized