2014高考英语阅读理解基础训练（19）及答案
(七)A (20 13·陕西，B)
In 1978, I was 18 and was working as a nurse in a small town about 270 km away from Sydney, Australia. I was looking forward to having five days off from duty. Unfortunately, the only one train a day back to my home in Sydney had already left. So I thought I'd hitch a ride (搭便车)．
I waited by the side of the highway for three hours but no one stopped for me. Finally, a man walked over and introduced himself as Gordon. He said that although he couldn't give me a lift, I should come back to his house for lunch. He noticed me standing for hours in the November heat and thought I must be hungry. I was doubtful as a young girl but he assured (使…放心)me I was safe, and he also offered to help me find a lift home afterwards. When we arrived at his house, he made us sandwiches. After lunch, he helped me find a lift home.
Twentyfive years later, in 2003, while I was driving to a nearby town one day, I saw an elderly man standing in the glaring heat, trying to hitch a ride. I thought it was another chance to repay someone for the favour I'd been given decades earlier. I pulled over and picked him up. I made him comfortable on the back seat and offered him some water.
After a few moments of small talk, the man said to me, “You haven't changed a bit, even your red hair is still the same.”
I couldn't remember where I'd met him. He then told me he was the man who had given me lunch and helped me find a lift all those years ago. It was Gordon.
文章大意：本文是一篇故事，讲述了二十五年前“我”被困高速路边，男人提供给我午餐并帮我搭便车回家。二十五年后，我看到一位老人站在烈日下搭便车，我想起了多年前有人对我的帮助，我让老人上了我的车。老人说：“你一点没变”。他就是多年前帮我的那个人。
1．The author had to hitch a ride one day in 19 78 because ________.
