I am a German by birth and descent. My name is Schmidt. But by education I am quite as much an Englishman as a 'Deutscher', and by affection much more the former. M
y life has been spent pretty equally between the two countries, and I flatter myself I speak both languages without any foreign accent.
I count England my headquarters now: it is “home” to me. But a few years ago I was resident in Germany, only going over to London now and then on business. I will not mention the town where I lived. It is unnecessary to do so, and in the peculiar experience I am about to relate I think real names of people and plac
es are just as well, or better avoided.
I was connected with a large and important firm of engineers. I had been bre
d up to the profession, and was credited with a certain amount of “talent”; and I was considered—and, with all modesty, I think I deserved the opinion—steady and reliable, so that I had already attained a fair position in the house, and was looked upon as a “rising man”. But I was still young, and not quite so wise as I thought myself. I came close once to making a great mess of a certain affair. It is this story which I am going to tell.
Our house went in largely for patents—rather too largely, some thought. But the head partner's son was a bit of a genius in his way, and his father was growing old, and let Herr Wilhelm - Moritz we will call the family name—do pretty much as he chose. And on the whole Herr Wilhelm did well. He was cautious, and he had the benefit of the st
ill greater caution and larger experience of Herr Gerhardt, the second partner in the firm.
P
atents and the laws which regulate them are strange things to have to do with. No one who has not had personal experience of the complications that arise could believe how far these spread and how involved they become. Great acuteness as well as caution is called for if you would guide your patent bark safely to port—and perhaps more than anything, a power of holding your tongue. I was no chatterbox, nor, when on a mission of importance, did I go about looking as if I were bursting with secrets, which is, in my opinion, almost as dangerous as revealing them. No one, to meet me on the journeys which it often fell to my lot to undertake, would have guessed that I had anything on my mind but an easy-going young fellow's natural interest i
n his surroundings, though many a time I have stayed awake through a whole night of railway travel if at all doubtful about my fellow-passengers, or not dared to go to sleep in a hotel without a ready-loaded gun by my pillow. For now and then - though not through me - our secrets did ooze out. And if, as has happened, they were secrets connected with Government orders or contracts, there was, or but for the exertion of the greatest energy and tact on the part of my superiors, there would have been, to put it plainly, the devil to pay.
小題1: The writer preferred to be called ________.
| A．a German | B．an Englishman |
| C．both a German and an Englishman | D．neither a German nor an Englishman |
小題2:Which of the following words cannot be used to describe the writer?
| A．Talented | B．Modest | C．Reliable | D．Wise |
小題3:The head of the company where the writer works is ________.
| A．Schmidt | B．Moritz | C．Wilhelm’s father | D．Gerhardt |
小題4: The writer often stayed awake on the train or kept a ready-loaded gun in the hotel, because ________.
A．some peo ple sometimes let out the secrets of his company |
| B．the writer occasionally didn’t keep the secrets of his company |
| C．patents and the laws are strange things to have to do with |
| D．the secrets were connected with Government orders or contracts |
ome were painful memories from 24 when I felt hurt, confused, lonely and insecure. I 25 pieces of dreams and personal feelings of anger and hatred, 26 things I enjoyed such as magic shops and coin dealers.
itten the following, “God bless you. I’m 35 like you, only I 36 keep a diary, and I’m 37 to know there are others like me. I hope things turn out well for you.”
ditionally in China, teachers at school and parents were_44_ the ones to tell teenagers what they should and shouldn’t do. The young are _45_ to doing what they are told, rather than thinking by themselves. But then their ideas would be locked in their brain and not be _46_. 
“What a nuisance!” He complained over it with his wife. “No sooner had we settled down than the neighbor came to __48__ things.”
a piton(巖釘) into the rock. Fastening one end of a 165-foot rope to the piton, he let one end of the rope fall down. Mark caught the rope and fastened it to his belt with a special instrument. This instrument would allow Mark to move upward, but would prevent him from falling even as much as a single inch. He next reached above his head and fastened a T-shaped bar to the rope, using the same kind of instrument.
had fallen while mountain climbing, injuring his backbone. The fall cost him the use of his legs, but he never lost his love of adventure or his joyful spirit.
terminedly pushing up the T-bar and pulling himself up. In spite of that, he had to admit that he felt a lot better when the wind finally died down and his body touched solid rock again.
wall is too high, no dream impossible.
s condition.
d
r
difficulty
love