单选题 "Block patrol (巡逻，巡逻队)," "community watch" "civilian patrol. "
They may have different names in different cities across the country but they all are civilian volunteer groups that help police department in major metropolitan (大城市的) areas. In the volunteer groups, men and women are trained by local police to watch for potential trouble in their neighborhood. Spotting a suspicious looking vehicle or person can help police to fight crime in the neighborhood.
Aside from keeping an eye on the neighborhood, volunteers often perform other duties. Civilian volunteers may work at parades or other types of gatherings, freeing the police to do their main job—catching criminals. Volunteers in some cities also conduct surveys to make people aware of ways that they can protect themselves from being crime victims. Some volunteers help people to engrave identification numbers on their personal property. Such a number would make the retrieval (追回) of a stolen item easier. Other volunteers watch children who may need help going to and from school.
If you are interested in becoming a part of the volunteer group in your area, contact your local police department.

单选题 The author is primarily concerned with ______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】本题是一道要旨题。本文主要说明了由平民志愿者组成的街道巡逻队在帮助警察维护社会治安中所起的作用及他们的任务，因此作者主要关心的是这些平民志愿者是如何帮助警察的。

单选题 The author mentions all of the following as duties of civilian volunteers EXCEPT ______.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】本题可以通过排除法找到答案。文中第二段最后一句说：“在附近地区发现一辆看似可疑的车或可疑的人能帮助警察同罪犯展开斗争。”因此选项A“报告不寻常的车辆”是文中所涉及的平民志愿者的任务之一，应排除；文中第三段倒数第三句说“一些志愿者帮助人们在他们的私人财产上雕刻标识号码”，选项B“用标识码雕刻有价值的物品”也应排除；文中第三段最后一句说“另外一些志愿者照看上下学需要帮助的孩子”，选项C“在孩子们的上学路上提供帮助”可排除。唯有选项D“为老年人和残障人买东西”文中没有提及。

单选题 The author would probably consider civilian volunteer groups to be ______.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】本题是一道推断题。文中说平民志愿者小组的主要任务是帮助警察维护社会治安，同时他们也做一些社区服务工作。由此可知，他们的工作无论是对警察部门还是对社会都是有价值的、有帮助的。

单选题 As it is used in the third paragraph of the passage the word "engrave" means ______.

A、 cut or carve (words, designs, etc. ) on (a hard surface)
B、 occupy all the time or attention of (somebody)
C、 print (a design, the date, lettering, etc. ) on paper, cloth or some other surface
D、 make letters, pictures, etc. on paper by pressing an inked surface against it

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】文中第三段倒数第二句说：“这样的数字将会使被盗物品的追回工作更容易些。”结合上一句“…to engrave identification numbers on their personal property”我们可以这样推断：要在私人财产上作标记数字以便追回，最实际的办法就是把数字刻上去。因此选项A正确。