Passage Three
The town in which Mr. Winkler lived was set back from the ocean against a wall of great cliffs, and the air around the houses smelled strongly of fish. One might have supposed that sick fish went up to be clipped in the air. As sick people sometimes go down to be dipped in the sea. There were a few small shops in the town and the harbor handled some shipping, but for the most part the town was less active than the sea. After he finished his lunch, Mr. Winkler usually went for a stroll on the beach. The beach was a desert of heaps of sand and stones tumbling about, and the sea did what it liked. What it liked most was to destroy. It thundered at the town, and thundered at the cliffs and washed away the coast line.
As the day declined into afternoon, and the air, which had been quite clear, began to fill with mist. Mr. Winkler's thoughts also seemed to cloud. They raced and mingled in such a helter-skelter fashion that by the time Mr. Winkler finished dinner, after dark, his mind was busily digging, digging,digging in the live red coals of the fireplace. Now a bottle of good wine after dinner does a digger in the coals no harm except that it has a tendency to throw him out of work, but Mr. Winkler, who had been idle for a long time, poured out his last glassful of wine with as complete an appearance of satisfaction as is ever to be found in an elderly gentleman who has reached the end of a bottle.
The town is described as all of the following Except ________.
本题需要选择错误答案。文章第一段中间部分提到“There were a few small shops in the town and the harbor handled some shipping, but for the most part the town was less active than the sea”。这句话暗示了这个小镇是一个静谧的地方，故选项C的表述不符原意。
The expression “throw him out of work” means most nearly ________.
由题干可定位至文章第二段中间部分。通过“Now a bottle of good wine after dinner does a digger in the coals no harm except that it has a tendency to throw him out of work...”可知“throw him out of work”表示“使……分心”，故选项D的描述最为符合。
During the afternoon, Mr. Winkler became ________.
文章第二段前两句指出“As the day declined into afternoon, and the air, which had been quite clear, began to fill with mist. Mr. Winkler’s thoughts also seemed to cloud”。时间步入午后，原本清澈的空气开始弥漫着薄雾。Winkler的思绪也变得朦胧起来。由此可知他在下午一直处于混沌的状态，故选项A符合题意。
The sea is described as ________.
由文章第一段最后两句“What it liked most was to destroy. It thundered at the town, and thundered at the cliffs and washed away the coast line”可知大海是肆虐的，它向城镇发出雷鸣，向悬崖发出雷鸣，它冲毁了海岸线，故选项A最为符合。
Mr. Winkler probably stayed on the beach until ________.
由文章第二段内容可推断出Winkler下午思绪万千地都待在沙滩上，在晚饭前后会回到住所进食晚餐，故选项C正确。