单选题

The Body Thieves

In the early nineteenth century in Britain, many improvements were being made in the world of medicine. Doctors and Surgeons were becoming more knowledgeable about the human body. Illnesses that had been fatal a few years before were now curable. However, Surgeons had one problem. They needed dead bodies to cut up, or dissect (解剖). This was the only way that they could learn about the flesh and bones inside the body, and the only way to teach new surgeons to carry out operations.
The job of finding these dead bodies was carried out by an unpleasant group of people called "body snatchers". They went into graveyards (墓地) at night and, using wooden shovels to make less noise, dug up any recently buried bodies. Then they took the bodies to the medical schools and sold them. A body could be sold for between ￡5 and 10, which was a lot of money at that time. The doctors who paid the body snatchers had all agreement with them—they never asked any questions. They did not desire to know where the bodies came from, as long as they kept arriving.
The most famous of these body snatchers were two men from Edinburgh called William Burke and William Hare. Burke and Hare were different because they did not just dig up bodies from graveyards. They got greedy and thought of all easier way to find bodies. Instead of digging them up, they killed the poorer guests in Hare's small hotel. Dr. Knox, the respected surgeon they worked for, never asked why all the bodies they brought him had been strangled (勒死).
For many years Burke and Hare were not caught because, unsurprisingly, the bodies of their victims were never found by the police. They were eventually arrested and put on trial in 1829. The judge showed mercy to Hare and he was released but Burke Was found guilty and his punishment was to be hanged. Appropriately, his body Was given to the medical school and he ended up on the dissecting table, just like his victims. In one small way, justice was done.
Now, over 150 years later, surgeons do not need the help of criminals to learn their skills. However, the science of surgery could not have developed without their rather gruesome (令人毛骨悚然的) help.

单选题 The problem facing British surgeons in the early 19^th century was that ______.

A. some illnesses remained incurable
B. few people were willing to work as surgeons
C. medical expenses were too high
D. dead bodies were not easily available

单选题 The body snatchers used wooden shovels because ______.

A. they did not wish to spoil the dead bodies
B. they wanted to keep the bodies to themselves
C. they were afraid of being caught
D. they were careful not to disturb anyone

单选题 Burk and Hare differed from other body snatchers in that ______.

A. they got other people to dig up bodies for them
B. they sold the bodies only to one surgeon
C. they dug up bodies not just from graveyards
D. they resorted to murder to get bodies

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。根据题干关键词Burke and Hare可以定位到文章第三段“Burke and Hare were different because they did not just dig up bodies from graveyards. They got greedy and thought of all easier way to find bodies. Instead of digging them up, they killed the poorer guests in Hare's small hotel.”意为“Burke and Hare与其他盗尸者不同，他们不只是从墓地挖尸体。他们变得贪婪，并想采取所有简单的方法来找到尸体。代替挖尸体，他们杀了在Hare的小酒店里较穷的客人。”所以选项D是正确答案。

单选题 The bodies of Burke's and Hare's victims couldn't be found by the police because ______.

A. they had been stolen
B. they had been strangled
C. they had been dissected
D. they had been buried

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。利用题干关键词Burke and Hare和police定位到文章第四段倒数第二句“Appropriately, his body was given to the medical school and he ended up on the dissecting table, just like his victims.”意为“恰当地，他的身体被给予了医学学校，他最终在解剖台上结束了其一生，就像他的受试者。”由此可知，警察之所以发现不了受害者的尸体是因为尸体卖掉后都被解剖了，所以选项C正确。