As the sound of footsteps behind her grew louder, she quickened her pace. She di

As the sound of footsteps behind her grewlouder, she quickened her pace. She didn’t want to turn around as the memory ofthat morning’s newspaper headline made her afraid of what she would see: “CityKiller Claims Fourth Victim.”

“Why did I stop for a few drinks in the barafter work?” she thought to herself. Now it was dark and the streets deserted.She was alone and a sitting duck.

She felt as if she was walking in the rain.Her clothes were damp from nervous sweat and as each short hot breath hit thenight air, it turned to steam, coating her glasses in a thin film so all shesaw seemed covered in fog.

The footsteps were closer now. She neededto get off this street. Her eyes began a useless search for an open store orlighted window. Passing a small lane she looked through, for a possible escaperoute. But the lane was a dead - end and she laughed to herself at the irony ( 具有讽刺意味的事 ).

The sound of a car behind her turning ontothe street interrupted her self – pity. Escape was at hand. But as she wasabout to throw herself onto the road and shout for the car to stop, the car’sheadlights cast a shadow that paralyzed ( 使瘫痪 ) her with terror.

It was the footsteps’ owner. The figure washuge and in its raised arm it held what looked like a lead-pipe, no doubt theone that was about to claim victim number five.

The shadow dissolved as the car passed byand disappeared into the distance. She felt a hand on her shoulder. It was allhappening as if in slow – motion. She was waiting for her life to flash beforeher eyes like all those novels said it would – but it didn’t. The only thingshe thought of was her dear husband. She recalled phoning him from work thatvery afternoon and joking about, of all things, the city killer. It was a nightfull of ironies.

There was a voice talking to her now butshe was lost in thoughts of her fate and didn’t respond. The hand then beganturning her around. It was surprisingly gentle given what was about to come.She allowed it to guide her without resistance ( 抗拒 ).

She looked up. She recognized the face, butshe didn’t know from where. Its mouth was still talking to her but she couldn’tunderstand. Then she remembered. The face belonged to the foreign looking manwho had served her at the bar. She looked down to his hand and saw in it not alead – pipe but a rolled up copy of a work report she had been correcting inthe bar as she drank.

His words suddenly started to register inher brain and she could hear him. “Miss, Miss. Are you OK? You left this in thebar and it looked important so I thought I’d better give it to you.”

71. The woman was feeling nervousbecause        .

A. she had left her report in the bar

B. there was a killer in the city

C. she was being followed by someone

D. the streets were dark and empty

72. The underlined expression “a sittingduck” (paragraph 2) is closest in meaning to“        ”.

A. an easytarget             B. a frightened person

C. a foolishanimal            D. astill position

73. What is the correct order of eventsthat happened to the woman on the day of the story?

a. She went for a drink in abar.       b. She corrected the report.

c. She heard loudfootsteps.    d. She read the newspaper.

e. She called herhusband.       f. She felt a hand on hershoulder.

A. d,c,a,e,b,f    B.c,d,a,e,f,b    C. d,a,b,e,c,f    D. d,e,a,b,c,f

74. Why did the woman laugh when she lookedinto the lane?

A. She was excited because she thought itmay be a way to escape.

B. She felt bitter because she had nochance to escape.

C. She was becoming more and more nervous.

D. She realized that she was behavingfoolishly.

75. Which of the following can be inferredfrom the passage?

A. It was raining when she left the bar.

B. The woman had felt nervous about thecity killer for days.

C. The temperature was very low thatevening.

D. The woman was behaving unreasonably.

试题答案

【答案】

71-75  CADBC 

【解析】略