Karim Nasser Miran lives on a bench in the Charles de Gaulle Airport on the outskirts of Paris. He has been living there for 11 years. Amazingly, this little seat by a basement shopping mall, between a pizzeria and a fast-food stand has been the only place he has been allowed to stay for all that time. His possessions are crammed into an airport trolleys, which is always beside him. He has a sports bag which holds his few clothes, a shopping bag with his washing soap and other bathroom goods, and books and his diaries which he keeps in cardboard boxes. For years, the 54-year-old Miran has been trying to leave Charles de Gaulle Airport but authorities will not let him out of the air port. This strange set of circumstances has continued for 11 years. Miran was born in Iran, but is stateless] because he has no documents to prove his citizenry. They have been lost. For this reason he cannot get a passport. Miran says that his mother is Danish or Scottish. His father died when Miran was just over 20 years old, so he left I ran for Britain searching for his mother. He could not find her, and returned to Iran. He lost his citizenship and tried to return to Britain. When the British asked him about relatives who could guarantee him a job, he could not tell the immigration officials their names as he was still searching for,.them. He tried to enter Germany, Russia and Holland without success. He managed to get into Belgium where he was"given refugee status. Five years later he left for France, but he says the document which gave him refugee status, and the right to travel, was stolen from him. He could not leave the Charles de Gaulle Airport. This;vas in 1988. Eleven years later he was still searching for them. To start with, friendly airport workers gave him free meals, and let him use the shower and toilets there. They even gave him access to a phone, and called the airport doctor when Miran did not feel well. Miran became such a permanent fixture of Terminal One that all the workers started to call him Monsieur Alfred. Each day they greeted him, each day Miran wrote in his diary in order to keep trace of his own world, and each day he failed to release himself from his giant, glass-and-concrete prison. But in 1999, Miran became confident that he might be able to leave the airport terminal and start a new life. Officials told him they finally located a key document, issued in 1981 but lost in 1988, which could be his ticket to freedom. Even after eleven years in the airport terminal, Miran said he had not lost hope. He did a correspondence course to help to educate himself. Every day the airport post office carefully set aside all the mail addressed to him with his written lessons to be done. Every day he set, all alarm clock to ring at 7 a.m. and after his tea and food he would begin studying. The ambition he built up was to return to Brussels to do a degree.
单选题
The Charles de Gaulle Airport is located ______.
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】解析:本题考查确定词义的能力。文章第一句就交代了Charles de Gaulle Airport is on the outskirts of Paris关键是弄清outskirts一词的意思。即使不知道该词的意思,根据常识,我们可知道机场不会建在市中心,也不会建在远离这个城市的地方;urban area指城区,而outlying district是指a place which have a distance form the center or main area也就是郊区。故答案选项最符合题意。
单选题
Why Miran was not allowed to leave the Charles de Gaulle Airport?
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】解析:本题考查对文章具体内容的理解。文章第三段到第六段详细说明了为什么米兰先生不能离开Charles de Gaulle Airport,而在那儿住了11年。米兰出生于伊朗,父亲去世后,他去英国寻找生母,没有找到,再返回伊朗时,丧失了伊朗公民身份。他曾在比利时获得难民身份,但在前往法国时,被人偷去了那个证明他难民身份及给予他旅行权的文件。因此,米兰成了一个stateless person而无法离开机场。
单选题
Which of the following countries has Miran not been to?
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】解析:本题考查对文章细节的掌握。文章讲到Miran曾去过英国寻找过母亲,在比利时获得了难民身份,而他在法国的机场呆了11年。文章第五段中还提到"He tried to enter Germany,Russia and Holland without success"。他曾试图进入德国、俄罗斯和荷兰,结果都没有成功。因此,四个选项中,只有德国他没去过。
单选题
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】解析:本题考查对文章细节内容的理解。机场的员工一开始很友善,后来就冷淡了,这与文章的内容并不符,文章谈到机场的员工一直都对他很友善,"Each day they greeted him";另外,文章讲到"Officials told him they finally located a key document...which could be his ticket to freedom";以及到1999年,米兰相信他或许可以离开机场大楼,开始新的生活,但这并不意味他在1999年被允许离开机场。因此只有答案选项正确,其他选项均错误。
单选题
Where would Miran probably go if he could leave the airport?
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】解析:本题考查根据支章内容作推断的能力。文章最后一句提到"The ambition he built up was to return to Brussels to do a degree".他多年以来的志向就是到布鲁塞尔读一个学位。因此,米兰离开机场以后最可能去比利时。