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1、Read the following professional essay. Then answer the questions and read the comments that follow.Lous Placeby Beth Johnson1Imagine a restaurant where your every whim is catered to, your every want satisfied, your every request granted without hesitation. The people on the staff live to please you.
2、 They hover anxiously as you sample your selection, waiting for your judgment. Your pleasure is their delight, your dissatisfaction their dismay.2Lous isnt that kind of place.3At Lous Kosy Korner Koffee Shop, the mock abuse flows like a cup of spilled Folgers. Customers are yelled at, lectured, blam
3、ed, mocked, teased, and ignored. They pay for the privilege of pouring their own coffee and scrambling their own eggs. As in a fond but dysfunctional family, Lou displays his affection through criticism and insults, and his customers respond in kind. If Lous had a slogan, it might be, “If Im polite
4、to you, ask yourself whats wrong.”4Lous is one of three breakfast joints located in the business district of a small mid-Atlantic town. The county courthouse is nearby, supplying a steady stream of lawyers, jurors, and office workers looking for a bite to eat. A local trucking firm also provides Lou
5、 with customers as its drivers come and go in town. Lous is on the corner. Beside it is a jewelry shop (“In Business Since 1946Watch Repairs Our Speciality”) and an upscale home accessories store that features bonsai trees and hand-painted birdhouses in its window. Theres a bus stop in front of Lous
6、. Lou himself has been known to storm out onto the sidewalk to shoo away people whove dismounted from the bus and lingered too long on the corner.5The sign on Lous front door says “Open7 A.M.3 P.M.” But by 6:40 on a brisk spring morning, the restaurants lights are on, the door is unlocked, and Lou i
7、s settled in the booth nearest the door, with thePhiladelphia Inquirerspread over the table. Lou is sunk deep into the booths brown vinyl seat, its rips neatly mended with silver duct tape. He is studying the box scores from the night before as a would-be customer pauses on the sidewalk, unsure whet
8、her to believe the sign or her own eyes. She opens the door enough to stick her head in.6“Are you open?” she asks.7Without lifting his eyes from the paper, Lou answers. “Im here, arent I?”8Unsure how to interpret this remark, the woman enters and sits at a booth. Lou keeps studying the paper. He beg
9、ins to hum under his breath. The woman starts tracing a pattern on the glass-topped table with her fingernail. She pulls out her checkbook and pretends to balance it. After a few long minutes, Lou apparently reaches a stopping point in his reading. He rises, his eyes still on the folded newspaper he
10、 carries with him. His humming breaks into low-volumesong as he trudges behind the counter. “Maaaaaaaake someone happy Make-makemaaaaaake someone happy,” he croons as he lifts the steaming pot that has infused the room with the rich aroma of freshly brewed coffee. He carries it to the womans table,
11、fills her cup, and drops two single-serving containers of half-and-half nearby. He then peers over the tops of his reading glasses at his customer. “You want anything else, dear?” he asks, his bushy gray eyebrows rising with the question.9She shakes her head. “Im meeting someone. Ill order when he g
12、ets here.”10Lou nods absently, his eyes back on his paper. As he shuffles back to his seat, he mutters over his shoulder, “Hope he shows up before three. I close then.”11Lou reads his paper; the woman drinks her coffee and gazes around the room. Its a small restaurant: just an eight-seat counter and
13、 seven padded booths. A grill, coffeepots, and a huge stainless-steel refrigerator line the wall behind the counter. Under the glass top of the tables is the breakfast menu: it offers eggs, pancakes, home fries, bacon, and sausage. A wall rack holds Kelloggs Jumbo Packs of single-serving cereals: sm
14、iling toucans and cheerful tigers offer Froot Loops and Frosted Flakes.12Two poster-size photographs hang side by side at the far wall. One is of Lou and his wife on their wedding day. They appear to be in their midtwenties. He is slim, dark-haired, beaming; his arm circles the shoulders of his fair
15、-haired bride. The other photo shows the same couple in an identical poseonly in this one, Lou looks much as he is today. His short white hair is parted at the side; a cropped white beard emphasizes his prominent red mouth. His formerly slim figure now expands to take up much of the photograph. But
16、the smile is the same as he embraces his silver-haired wife.13The bell at the door tinkles; two sleepy-eyed men in flannel shirts, work boots, and oil company caps walk in. Lou glances up and grunts at them; they nod. One picks up anInquirerfrom the display stand and leaves two quarters on the cash register. They drop onto seats at the counter, simultaneously swivel to look at the woman in the booth behind them, and t
