女士厌倦邻居让自己送其女儿上学却难以拒绝
It’s no secret that the English are often far too polite and struggle to say no to an act of kindness. But it’s this inability to say no that upsets one mum, as she is frequently being asked by her next-door neighbor if she can take her daughter to school.
The anonymous(不知姓名的) mum took to an online parenting forum(论坛) to ask for some advice, telling how she likes the young girl, but that it is a bit awkward on the school run as she’s not friends with her own two children. Moreover, the woman says the daughter is often not ready when she goes to pick her up and she’s confused as to why she has to keep taking the girl to school when the neighbor’s husband works from home.
She said: “Am I being unreasonable to say no to my neighbor? I’m unsure if I’m being petty here. My children are nine and six. They don’t see Jenny socially but go to the same school as her. Her mum is always pleasant to me, but only ever messages me if she wants something—‘Hi, how are you, can I borrow some eggs?’.” She goes on to say that there have been a few occasions when the neighbor has had an “emergency” and asked her to take Jenny to school.
The mum has never been bothered about helping out—until she recently asked the neighbor to return the favour while she was sick with COVID and the neighbor was annoyed about doing it. Since then the neighbor has asked her to do the school run when it clearly wasn’t an “emergency”, with Jenny not even being dressed and ready to go when she agreed to come and collect her. All of this has left the mum feeling torn over whether to keep agreeing to the neighbor’s requests.
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1.How does the woman feel being unable to say no?
A Shameful.
B Pitiful.
C Sorry.
D Frustrated.
解析：选D。D推理判断题。根据第一段第二句的“But it’s this inability to say no that upsets one mum”可知不会说“不”让这位女士很沮丧。故选D。
2.What can we infer from paragraph 2?
A The neighbor’s daughter waits for the woman every day.
B The woman was confused about how to help others.
C The neighbor may get no support from her husband.
D Jenny often plays with the woman’s children.
解析：选C。C推理判断题。根据第二段“she’s confused as to why she has to keep taking the girl to school when the neighbor’s husband works from home one day”可知这位女士很困惑为什么当她邻居的丈夫在家工作时，还需要她去送邻居的女儿上学。由此可知，邻居可能没有从丈夫那里得到任何支持。故选C。
3.Which word best describes the neighbor according to the underlined part?
A Old-fashioned.
B Well-educated.
C Goal-directed.
D Cold-blooded.
解析：选C。C细节理解题。根据第三段划线部分可知，这位邻居只有在需要帮助的时候才会给这位女士发信息，即她是有目的、有意图的。故选C。
4.Why did the woman ask her neighbor for a favour?
A She wanted to bother the neighbor.
B She needed her to return the favor.
C She taught her daughter how to dress.
D She suffered from a terrible disease.
解析：选D。D细节理解题。根据最后一段第一句的“until she recently asked the neighbor to return the favour while she was sick with COVID”可知她是因为感染了新冠才求助邻居的。故选D。