单选题
It's funny, isn't it, how smells, sounds, and things
can take you back to things that happened such a long time ago? The other day,
for instance, somebody offered me a tangerine. Now, I can't bear the smell of
tangerines. I can't eat them, either. You know why? Well, when I was eight, I
was sick and I had to be in a room on my own. My grandmother who lived in a
country sent me a huge box of tangerines, and my mother made me eat them all
before they went bad. "Don't waste them," she said, "they'll make you feel much
better." I never forget that. For a whole day, I had nothing to eat but
tangerines. I've never been able to eat one since. It's the
same with the circus. Whenever I take my children to a show, the performances
recall the first time I was taken to the circus. On that day, there was a
Persian performer who, as an introduction to his act, ate some kinds of glasses
and teased a huge snake which he had carried into the ring in a box, until the
women in the audience were frozen with fright. Then, as the climax to his
performance, he lay down on the ground, placed a huge slab of concrete on his
chest and in a loud and confident voice shouted, "Who is going to come and break
this on my chest?" He went on, "You have my promise no harm will come to
you!" As soon as he got ready, a tall figure rose to accept
this challenge. He walked evenly into the ring picking up a sledgehammer as he
approached the performer whose eyes were glistening with anticipation as though
his greatest desire were about to be fulfilled. The crowd was momentarily
stilled. They seemed to sense that he could do it. He lifted the hammer
head-high and effortlessly brought it crashing down, breaking the slab into a
dozen pieces. Some of the onlookers pressed forward to see what had happened to
the luckless Persian under this rubble of stone. Bruised,
battered and somewhat the worse for wear, the performer stood up unsteadily
helped by the tall man and together they disappeared from the ring to a loud
applause. This was over forty years ago, but is still vivid in my memory. It's
really incredible, isn't it?
单选题
The author cannot eat tangerines any more because
A. they tasted too sour when he was ill
B. they smelled awful when he was ill
C. the tangerines his grandmother gave him were bad
D. he got sick from eating too many when he was little
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】
单选题
After the opening, the Persian performer
A. played with a huge snake
B. teased the people in the audience
C. put the snake into a box
D. performed a trick with the snake and a box
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】
单选题
Then the performer asked someone in the audience to
A. break the piece of concrete on his body
B. Let him break the concrete on their body
C. Break the concrete while he was on it
D. Let him break the concrete while they were on it
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】
单选题
As the challenger approached, the performer
A. seemed frightened with his eyes wide open
B. seemed to be amused as he smiled at the challenger
C. looked as though he regretted the challenge
D. looked as though this was what he had been waiting for