Passage 26

When I told my family that I was thinking of taking a cooking job, the roars of laughter were rather discouraging. No one believed that I could cook at all, as I had never had a chance to practise at home. Our cook had ruled in the kitchen for thirty years and had an annoying tendency to regard the pans, stove and all the kitchen fittings as her own property.

I once crept down there when I thought she was asleep in her room to try out an omelette(炒蛋). Noiselessly I removed a frying pan from its hook and the eggs from their cupboard. It was the pop of the gas that woke her, I think, for I was just breaking the first egg when a pair of slippered feet moved round the door and a shriek(尖叫声) of horror caused me break the egg on the floor. This disaster upset her so much that she locked herself in the storeroom with all the food and we had to make our Sunday dinner of bananas.

If the family weren’t going to be helpful, I would look for a job all by myself and not tell them about it till I’d got one. I had seen an agency in a local paper, so as soon as there was no one about to say “Where are you going?” I rushed out of the house in search of it.

I sat on the edge of a chair and could see my nose shining out of the corner of my eye. I thought perhaps it was a good thing; it might look more earnest. The woman at the desk examined me through her glasses. Having asked me a few questions, she told me that it would be difficult to get a job without experience. “But”, she said, “I’ve got someone who needs a cook badly.” She wrote down a number, and my spirits went up as I took the slip of paper she held out to me, saying: “Ring up this lady. She wants a cook. You would have to start tomorrow by cooking dinner for ten people. Could you manage that?”

“Oh yes,” said I—never having cooked for more than four in my life.

1. Which of the following best describes the response of the author’s family to her plan of taking a cooking job?________________.
A. Pleased 
B. Doubtful
C. Uncomfortable 
D. Positive

2. One reason for the author’s lack of practice in cooking was that_____________.
A. no one in her family would like her to practise cooking
B. everything in the kitchen was property belonging to the cook
C. the cook would never allow her to do any cooking
D. she was not yet born when the cook came to the house

3. The cook felt uncomfortable when__________.
A. she heard a shriek of horror
B. she heard the sound of a pair of slipped feet moving round the door
C she saw the author enter the kitchen
D she saw the author break an egg on the floor

4. The family had to have bananas for dinner that Sunday because _________
A. the cook was on strike
B. they preferred bananas to omelette
C. the author cooked so badly
D. no one in the family had cooking ability

5. When there was no one about, the author rushed out of the house because__________.
A. she was independent in searching for a cooking job
B. she wouldn’t answer the question her family would ask
C. that was the only chance for her to leave the house
D. she didn’t want to reveal what she was going to do