One cold January evening in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, America, I went with my father on an oil burner service call. My father was in his forties at that time and I was about twelve years old. He was always working hard trying to support us seven kids. I enjoyed hanging out with him whenever I could — he taught me so much.
We arrived at the call and after walking over snow and ice, we knocked on the customer’s door. A senior citizen opened the door and let us into her very cold home. She was wearing an old, worn-out brown coat that went down to her knees. On her head, covering her gray hair, was an old and worn hat. The home wasn’t furnished very well and was quite dark, except for a single light bulb over the dining room table. Below the light was an older man counting change from several old coffee cans. He looked up at us as we passed by to get to the kitchen where my dad would fix the oil burner. He didn’t say anything. He just looked up at us. He couldn’t speak English, nor could his wife. She only pointed to the kitchen and smiled at us.
After a short while, my father had the heater up and running, and it began to heat their cold home. The lady asked my dad in poor English how much she owed him for fixing the heater. My dad looked around the house and said that he had to go out to the truck and write the bill.
Once in the truck he marked the bill “no answer at home, no charge”, so they wouldn’t be charged for his work. He looked over at me and said, “He was counting his change to pay me. They need their money more than I do.”
As usual, my father taught me something important that time, which was to be kind to the poor.
51. According to Paragraph 1, we know that the writer’s father .
A. often taught the writer how to work
B. worked several jobs at the same time
C. had a very big family to support
D. brought up his children alone
52. The description in Paragraph 2 shows that the old couple .
A. had no job
B. led a very poor life
C. didn’t know how to save money
D. were not very friendly to strangers
53. What can we infer from the passage?
A. The old couple had no children in America.
B. The old man didn’t plan to pay money.
C. The old woman felt very embarrassed all the time.
D. The old couple were not native Americans.
54. The writer’s father didn’t charge for his work because .
A. he didn’t need that money
B. he felt pity for the old couple
C. he was not satisfied with his work
D. he wanted to set a good example to others