Atraveleroncevisitedacitywhereeveryoneworeblue.Puzzledhewenttoadyer(染匠)andsaid“Pleasedye（染）thehandkerchiefred.”“Idon’tknowhowtodyered.”“Thendyeitgreen.”“Ican’tdyeitgree

Question

A traveler once visited a city where everyone wore blue. Puzzled he went to a dyer (染匠) and said “ Please dye（染） the handkerchief red.”

“I don’t know how to dye red.”

“Then dye it green.”

“I can’t dye it green. There are forty master dyers in this city and every one of us can dye only blue.” “I can dye all colors ” said the traveler “Hire me and I’ll teach you my art.”

“We never allow a stranger to enter our craft (行业)” said the dyer.

The traveler made the same offer to the other master dyers but none would hire him. So he began his own dye shop. Folks soon crowded around asking “What are all these beautiful colors called?”

He answered “This is red and that is yellow ” and so on. Everyone began bringing him cloth to dye. When the master dyers saw this they quickly apologized for their past insults (侮辱) begging him to hire them and teach them his art.

 

56. To the traveler the strangest thing about the city was that _______.

A. it was a nice and old city                B. there were forty master dyers

C. everyone wore the same color        D. the dyers didn’t use machines

57. The traveler visited the first dyer in order to ______.

A. have his handkerchief dyed yellow       

B. have all his clothes dyed blue

C. see if the dyer could dye different colors  

D. sell the dyer some new materials for dyeing

58. None of the dyers would hire the traveler because he ______.

A. made fun of them                          B. wanted too much money

C. knew nothing about dyeing             D. was a stranger

59. This story could be taken as a warning against _______.

A. wearing only blue clothes               B. refusing to learn new ways

C. hiring a stranger                            D. visiting strange cities

Answer 1

CCDB