It was fifteen past nine as Made hurried into the office building where she was going to work. Her bus had inched along through heavy morning traffic, making her a few minutes late for her very first job. She decided to start out half an hour earlier the next day.
Once inside the lobby, she had to stand at the elevators and wait several minutes before she could get on one going to the sixth floor. When she finally reached the office marked "Smith Enterprises", she knocked at the door nervously and waited. There was no reply. She tapped on the door again, but still there was no answer. From inside the next office, she could hear the sound of voices, so she opened the door and went in.
Although she was sure it was the same office she had been in two weeks before when she had the interview with Mr. Smith, it looked quite different now. In fact, it hardly looked like an office at all. The employees were just standing around chatting and smoking. In the front of the room, somebody must have just told a good joke, she thought, because there was a loud burst of laughter as she came in. For a moment she had thought they were laughing at her.
Then one of the men looked at his watch, clapped his hands and said something to the others. Quickly they all went to their desks and, in a matter of seconds, everyone was hard at work. No one paid any attention to Made. Finally she went up to the man who was sitting at the desk nearest to the door and explained that this was her first day in the office. Hardly looking up from his work, he told her to have a seat and wait for Mr. Smith, who would arrive at any moment. Then Marie realized that the day' s work in the office began just before Mr. Smith arrived. Later she found out that he lived in Connecticut and came into Manhattan on the same train every morning, arriving in the office at 9:35,so that his staff knew exactly when to start working.
46. Made felt nervous when she knocked at the door because
A．it was her first day in a new job
B．she was a little bit late for work
C．she was afraid that she had gone to the wrong place
D．there was no answer from inside the office
47. Made could hardly recognize the office she went into as
A．she had been there only once
B．Mr. Smith was not in the office
C．nobody was doing any work
D．the office had a new appearance
48. The people in the office suddenly started working because
A．they saw a stranger in the office
B．their morning break was ended
C．no one wanted to talk to Made
D．the boss was about to arrive
49. We can infer from the text that the employees of the enterprise
A．would start their work by listening to a joke
B．were cold to newcomers
C．were always punctual for work
D．lacked devotion to the company
50. The best title for this text would be
A．Punctual Like a Clock
B．A Cold Welcome
C．An Unpunctual Manager
D．Better Late Than Never
参考译文
9点15的时候，玛丽急匆匆地走进她工作的办公大楼。她乘坐的公车在早晨高峰期，慢得像蜗牛一样。所以她第一天上班就迟到了几分钟。她决定明天提前半个小时出门。
她走进大厅后，不得不站在电梯那儿等上几分钟才能搭上电梯上6楼。当她最终到达标着“史密斯企业”的办公室时，她紧张地敲了敲门，等待着，但没人应。她又敲了两下还是没人应。她听到隔壁的办公室里传出说话声，于是她打开门，走了进去。
虽然她肯定这就是两周以前她接受史密斯先生面试的那间办公室，但现在变化真的很大。实际上，这里根本就不像办公室。雇员们在四下里站着，边抽烟边聊天。她猜一定是有人在屋子的前面讲了个很有趣的笑话，因为她走进来的时候那边爆发出很大的笑声。刚开始她还以为他们在笑她。
这时有个男人看了看表，拍了拍手并对其他人讲了几句话。在几秒钟的时间内，每个人都迅速地回到他们的办公桌旁，开始努力工作起来。没有人注意到玛丽。最后，她走向靠门口办公的一位男士，向他说明她是第一天上班。那人几乎连头都没抬，只让她坐下等史密斯先生，他随时都可能走进来。稍后她意识到原来员工们每天的工作都是在史密斯先生走进来的前一刻才开始的。一段时间以后，玛丽得知史密斯先生住在康涅狄格，每天早晨都乘同一趟火车来曼哈顿，9：35到达办公室，所以他的员工很清楚该什么时候开始工作。 |
