One of the qualities that most people admire in others is the willingness to admit one's mistakes. It is extremely hard sometimes to say a simple thing like “I was wrong about that.” and it is even harder to say, “I was wrong, and you were right about that.”
I had an experience recently with someone admitting to me that he had made a mistake fifteen years ago. He told me he had been the manager of a certain grocery(食品) store in the neighbourhood where I GREw up, and he asked me if I remembered the egg cartons(纸板箱). Then he told an incident and I began to remember vaguely(模糊地) the incident he was describing.
I was about eight years old at the time, and I had gone into the store with my mother to do the weekly grocery shopping. On that particular day, I must have found my way to the dairy food department where the incident took place.
There must have been a special sale on eggs that day because there was an impressive display of eggs in dozen and half-dozen cartons. The cartons were stacked(堆积) three or four feet high. I must have stopped in front of a display to admire the stacks. Just then a woman came by pushing her grocery cart and knocked down the stacks of cartons. For some reason, I decided it was up to me to put the display back together, so I went to work.
The manager heard the noise and came rushing over to see what had happened. When he appeared, I was on my knees examining some of the cartons to see if any of the eggs were broken, but to him it looked as though I was the culprit(罪犯). He severely reprimanded(训诫) me and wanted me to pay for any broken eggs. I protested my innocence and tried to explain, but it did no good. Even though I quickly forgot all about the incident, it seemed that the manager did not.
(337 words)
Choose the best answer:
1. How old was the writer when he wrote this article?
A. 8. B. 18. C. 23. D. 15.
2. Who was to blame for knocking off the stacks of cartons?
A. The writer. B. The manager.
C. A woman. D. The writer's mother.
3. Which of the following can serve as the best title for the passage?
A. It's harder to admit one's mistake
B. I was once the culprit
C. I remember an incident
D. An experience of being mistaken
4. The writer writes the article to show _________ .
A. admiration for the manager's willingness to admit mistakes
B. anger to the manager for his wrong accusation(责备)
C. looking down upon the woman who knocked down the stacks of cartons
D. reGREt for the mistake he made in the store
参考答案：1.C 2.C 3.D 4.A
