A
Jim was a young man in his early twenties who was studying to be a carpenter(木匠). He was a good worker, honest and worthy of trust, so his boss was pleased with him. As he was such a likable man and easy to deal with, he was popular with his workmates, too. They also made fun of him a great deal but he never got angry with them and would only laugh.
But Jim's one great shortcoming was that he could never tell a lie, no matter how hard he tried, not even a little one. In fact, he was so honest and shy that he would blush even when he was telling the truth. He used to stand in front of the mirror and practise lying while looking himself in the eyes at the same time. But as soon as he saw his face starting to go red he had to look away.
One morning, however, he didn't feel like going to work because he had been to a party the night before and it hadn’t ended till the early hours of the morning. And so far the first time in his life he decided to take the day off. He rang his boss, pretending to be a woman. “I'm afraid Jim can't come to work today. He isn't feeling very well. ”
Poor Jim was thankful that his boss couldn't see him just at that moment because his hands were trembling and his face was bright red.
"Thank you for letting me know," said Mr. Woods, his boss, and then just as he was about to hang up, he said, “just a moment, madam, who’s speaking?
“Oh!” he stammered (口吃的说), going all out for making a voice like a woman, and cried in a voice: “This is my landlady(女房东) speaking!”
21. According to the passage, we know that Jim was a __________.
A. skillful worker B. skillful carpenter
C. being-trained carpenter D. researcher studying how to be a carpenter
22. What does the underlined word “blush" in Paragraph 2 probably mean?________
A. stammer B. look away C. go red D. feel hot
23. Why did Jim try to practise lying? __________
A. To avoid being laughed at by his workmates.
B. To overcome his shortcoming.
C. To get his boss pleased with him.
D. To get ready for asking for leave.
