根据下面资料，回答26-30题。

Late last year, I needed to transport some furniture from our house in Sussex to my son′ s fiat in central London. I should have paid a man to do it for me, but foolishly confident in my driving ability, I decided to hire a van and drive it myself. It was a Ford Transit 280, long and wide; you couldn′ t see out of the back. You never really knew how close you were to anything else on the road.

Reversing in my home yard, I crashed into a small shed, causing permanent damage. At least I owned the shed.

I loaded up the furniture and set out. By now it was rush hour. My nerves broke down, as I steered the huge van through ever-shifting lanes, across oncoming vehicles, between distances of buses, at last to Charlotte Street.

Here, I found an available parking space. As I reversed into it, I noticed three people at a pavement café waving to me. I got out, trembling violently, like one who has just endured a storm-y Atlantic crossing. "You′ ve shifted the car parked behind you three feet," they said, and it be-longed to a disabled person. I examined the car. There were white scratches along its front bumper.

It bore a disabled sign. So, now I was a bad driver and a bad man. Under the stern gaze of the three, I left an apologetic note on the damaged car′ s windscreen, giving my phone number.

I unloaded the furniture, dripping with sweat. Wanting only to escape the monster, I drove the van back to its base on the Edgware Road. On arrival, the hire man told me I must fill it up with petrol before returning it. "Just charge me," I cried, still shaking with fear. He gazed at me with understanding. No doubt he′d witnessed others in this state before. "How about I drive you to a petrol station, you fill up, and I drive her back?" he asked.

He danced the great van through the traffic so casually that it would have shamed me if I had not been so grateful.

26[单选题] The writer felt regretful that he had__________．

A.hired someone to drive for him

B.asked his son to do the delivery

C.rented a small van for his goods

D.delivered the furniture himself

27[单选题] On his way to Charlotte Street，the writer felt__________．

A.frightened

B.annoyed

C.relaxed

D.excited

28[单选题] In the parking lot，the writer__________．

A.saw a disabled man

B.ran into his friends

C.hit another vehicle

D.examined his van

29[单选题] The writer uses the word“monster”(para．5)to refer to__________．

A.the bad experience

B.the heavy furniture

C.the guy at the base

D.the vehicle he drove

30[单选题] Watching the hire man drive，the writer felt__________．

A.doubtful

B.grateful

C.ashamed

D.worried

材料题

根据下面资料，回答31-35题。

By the time you retire, there′ s no doubt about it, your brain isn′ t what it used to be. By 65,most people will start to notice the signs: you forget people′ s names and the teapot occasionally turns up in the fridge.

There is a good reason why our memories start to let us down. At this stage of life, we are steadily losing brain cells in critical areas. This is not too much of a problem at first; even in old age, the brain is flexible enough to compensate. At some point, though, the losses start to make themselves felt.

Clearly, not everyone ages in the same way, so what′ s the difference between a happy, intelli-gent old person and a forgetful, bad-tempered granny? And can we improve our chances of becoming the former?

Exercise can certainly help. Numerous studies have shown that gentle exercise three times a week can improve concentration and abstract reasoning in older people, perhaps by encouraging the growth of new brain cells. Exercise also helps steady our blood sugar. As we age, our blood sugar control worsens, which causes a large increase in blood sugar levels. This can affect an area that helps form memories. Since physical activity helps control blood sugar, getting out and about could reduce these peaks and, potentially, improve your memory.

Coordination training could also help. Studies have shown that specifically targeting motor control and balance improves learning function in 60 to 80-year-olds.

"Brain training" was once considered strange, but a study concludes that computerised brain exercises can improve memory and attention in the over 65s. Importantly, these changes were large enough that participants reported significant improvements in everyday activities, such as remembe-ring names or following conversations in noisy restaurants.

Avoiding the complaints is even easier. In fact, your brain is doing all it can" to ensure a con-tented retirement. By 65, we are much better at increasing the experience of positive emotion, says Florin Dolcos, a neurobiologist at the University of Alberta in Canada. In experiments, he found that people over the age of 60 tended to remember fewer emotionally negative photographs com-pared with positive ones than younger people.

31[单选题] It is usual for retired people to have__________．

A.a distant memory

B.a terrible memory

C.a painful memory

D.a changeable memory

32[单选题] According to the text，mild exercise helps old people__________．

A.avoid a bad temper

B.feel happy with their life

C.practise creative thinking

D.improve their mental ability

33[单选题] It is learned from the text that high blood sugar may__________．

A.encourage brain cells to grow

B.result in poor concentration

C.affect physical activity

D.lead to memory loss

34[单选题] Through“brain training，”old people can__________．

A.improve their physical balance

B.cope better with daily activities

C.cooperate better with each other

D.become skillful at using computers

35[单选题] According to Florin Dolcos，when it comes to retirement，most old people tend to feel__________.

A.satisfied

B.depressed

C.hopeful

D.regretful