____twenty years since the old man left home.

A. It is　　　 　 B. It was

C. Those are　　 D. There have been

 

The policeman moved up the avenue impressively. It was barely 10 o’clock at night, but the chilly wind with rain had kept people out of the streets.

The policeman suddenly slowed his walk. In the doorway of a darkened store a man leaned, with an unlighted cigar in his mouth. As the policeman walked up to him the man spoke up quickly.

“It’s all right, officer,” he said, “I’m just waiting for a friend. It’s an appointment made twenty years ago. Well, about that long ago there used to be a restaurant where this store stands —‘Big Joe’ Brady’s restaurant.”

“Until five years ago,” said the policeman. “It was torn down then.”

The man in the doorway struck a match and lit his cigar. The light showed a pale, square-jawed face with keen eyes, and a little white scar near his right eyebrow. His scarf pin was a large diamond.

“Twenty years ago tonight,” said the man. “I dined here at ‘Big Joe’ Brady’s with Jimmy Wells, my best friend, and the finest guy in the world. He and I were raised here in New York, just like two brothers, together. I was eighteen and Jimmy was twenty. The next morning I was to start for the West to make my fortune. You couldn’t have dragged Jimmy out of New York; he thought it was the only place on earth. Well, we agreed that night that we would meet here again exactly twenty years from that date and time, no matter what our conditions might be or from what distance we might have to come. We figured that in twenty years each of us ought to have our fortunes made, whatever they were going to be.”

“It sounds pretty interesting,” said the policeman. “Rather a long time between meets, though, it seems to me. Haven’t you heard from your friend since you left?”

“Well, yes, for a time we corresponded,” said the other. “But after a year or two we lost track of each other. Yet I know Jimmy will meet me here if he’s alive, for he always was the truest guy in the world. He’ll never forget. I came a thousand miles to stand in this door tonight, and it’s worth it if my old partner turns up.”

The policeman twirled his club(警棍) and took a step or two, saying: “I’ll be on my way. Hope your friend comes around all right.”

“I’ll give him half an hour at least. If Jimmy is alive he’ll be here by that time. So long, officer.”

“Good-night, sir,” the policeman went away.

The man who had come a thousand miles to fill an appointment with the friend of his youth, smoked his cigar and waited.

About twenty minutes he waited, and then a tall man in a long overcoat, with collar tuned up to his ears, hurried across from the opposite side of the street. He went directly to the waiting man.

“Is that you, Bob?” he asked, doubtfully.

“Is that you, Jimmy Wells?” cried the man in the door.

“Bless my heart!” exclaimed the new arrival, grasping both the other’s bands with his own. “It’s Bob, sure as fate. I was certain I’d find you here, Well, twenty years is a long time.”

“You’ve changed lots, Jimmy. I never thought you were so tall by two or three inches.”

“Oh, I grew a bit after I was twenty. Come on, Bob; we’ll go around to a place I know of, and have a good long talk about old times.”

The two men started up the street, arm in arm. The man from the West, his egotism(自负) enlarged by success, was beginning to outline the history of his career. The other, hidden in his overcoat, listened with interest.

At the corner stood a drug store, brilliant with electric lights. When they came in, each of them turned to gaze upon the other’s face.

The man from the West stopped suddenly and released his arm.

“You’re not Jimmy Wells,” he said sharply. “Twenty years is a long time, but not long enouth to change a man’s nose from straight to flat.”

The tall man said, “You’ve been under arrest for ten minutes, Bob. Chicago thinks you may have dropped over our way and asks us to have a chat with you. Going quietly, are you? That’s sensible. Now, before we go on to the station here’s a note to you. You may read it here at the window. It’s from Patrolman （巡警） Wells.”

The man from the West unfolded the little piece of paper. His hand was steady when he began to read, but it trembled a little when he had finished. The note was rather short.

“Bob: I was at the appointed place on time. When you struck the match to light your cigar I saw it was the face of the man wanted in Chicago. Somehow I couldn’t do it myself, so I went around and got a plain clothes man to do the job. JIMMY.”

55．The man leaning in the doorway was waiting to      .

       A．tell a policeman an extremely moving story                                B．keep an appointment made 20 years before

       C．help the police to catch a wanted criminal                                 D．show off his great success in his adventure

56．Twenty years before, Jimmy used to be        .

       A．a policeman                                              B．a boss of a restaurant

       C．Bob’ best friend                                       D．a keen-eyed guy

57．The underlined word “corresponded” here means “      ”.

       A．agreed with each other                           B．were equal or similar

       C．suffered from loneliness                           D．exchanged some letters

58．The policeman went away in order to          .

       A．get he man from the West caught           B．keep going on guard of the street

       C．find the man wanted by the police          D．get off duty and go home for good

59．Bob in the story is described as a man who     .

       A．was good at cheating                               B．was modest by nature

       C．stuck to his promise                                                                    D．betrayed his friend

60．The end of the story shows that      .

       A．time will wait for no man                        B．friendship is precious

       C．justice can hardly be done                       D．life is hard to predict

At 4:00 A.M. on Sunday morning, my friend, Tim, awoke me. He was sleeping in the living room right next to the front door and said there was a man pounding on my front door and screaming. At first, I was like, "Shut up and leave me alone," but then I heard one of the scariest voices of my life. The man sounded of Spanish descent (血统), older, and in pain.

I was home alone for the week, so I had two guns loaded with bullets. I had a rifle (步枪) next to my bed and a shotgun next to my front door. I grabbed my rifle. Tim asked me, "What are you doing?"

"Getting my gun, what do you think I'm doing?" I asked.

As I headed down the hall towards the front door, I remembered Chad, my older brother, telling me to protect myself when he left. Immediately, I grabbed the shotgun and gave it to Tim. Thinking that it might scare the person off, I went to my back door and shot my rifle into the dark cold sky. However, this did not work. "Protect yourself, Sarah," kept going through my head. The man kept yelling and pounding on my door. I would have just opened the door, but I watched too many "America's Most Wanted" shows, where that is how they get the little girls to open the door. So, I then called 911 myself.

The operator said, "911. What is your emergency?"

I replied, "My name is Sarah Miller and I am at Juniper Lane in Hotchkiss and there is a man beating on my front door and telling me to let him in." That was the start of all the excitement. I continued to tell her what was going on and what had already gone on. Our conversation was still going when I heard the man walk off my door. During this time, the police were having a discussion of whether they should respond to the call. When I heard the man walk off my door, I thought that he was going to leave.

I was still on the phone when I heard the man in my basement. "Protect yourself, Sarah," went through my head again. The basement stairs lead right up to a door entering our house. We leave our garage door open to cool off our house when the weather is good. The man was yelling, "Help me" from the bottom of the stairs. I walked over and made sure the door was locked and made sure there was a bullet in the rifle. I stood there with the phone in one hand and my trusty old rifle in the other just waiting for him to start coming up the stairs.

My conversation with the operator went from "Hi, how are you now?" to "What are you doing to help me here?" About this time, the operator told me that the policeman should be at the bottom of my driveway, so I turned on all of the lights, inside and outside. I still had my rifle in my hands when the policeman walked up the stairs to my front door. "Did you see an older Spanish man walking down my driveway by any chance?" I asked him.

"Um, no," he answered. I then asked him if he had seen anyone in the basement, and again he said, "No". So at this time, he went back down the stairs and approached my garage. For some reason, I knew that there was still someone in there. I crouched (猫着腰) down to where I could see into the garage / basement area. As the policeman approached the basement, he yelled, "Whoa, put your hands up. Freeze."

"I’ve got you," were the first words out of my mouth; I don't know what I was thinking. After this happened, I realized that those words weren't exactly the smartest choice of words. About this time, another policeman pulled into my driveway with his lights on followed by a police officer. As I approached the basement with my rifle, I was worried about what I would see. What I saw will always stick with me forever. A poor twenty-nine year old Spanish man was crapping (拉屎) there, and I almost shot him because he was coming to my house to find help. His face was all bloody, his nose was broken, his clothes were torn, and worst of all, he didn't speak English, and none of the policemen who were there spoke Spanish. I had taken three years of Spanish before, so I translated what the Spanish guy, Jose, was saying to the policemen. About this time an ambulance came up my driveway with its lights on. So, I had three police cars and an ambulance, all with their lights on, in my driveway. I'm sure my neighbors all came out, since nothing had ever happened in my small community.

I did protect myself that night. My brother was right when he said that you could never be too careful. "Wake up Sarah. It's time for school," my mom said a couple of mornings later. That is how I prefer to be woken up. I will always have a loaded gun next to my bed after this incident.

55. The moment Tim awoke her, the author ______.

A. screamed            B. felt annoyed     C. heard the voice           D. grabbed the rifle

56. Why did the author go to the back door and shot into the sky?

A. Because she wanted to scare the man off.   B. Because she wanted to kill the man.

C. Because she wanted to call for help.       D. Because she wanted to remind the police.

57. The Spanish man pounded the author’s door so early ______.

A. to practise speaking English                            B. to meet his old friend

C. to seek help                                            D. to hide himself

58. By saying “That was the start of all the excitement”, maybe the author ______.

A. thought they talked too much exciting things

B. was excited that she could talk with the operator

C. was sure that the police would come

D. wanted to say their conversation lasted a long time

59. What did the author learn from the incident?

A. She regretted what she had done to the Spanish

B. She felt it fortunate to know a little Spanish

C. She thought it couldn’t be too careful about her safety.

D. She would never live alone in a big house.

60. Which of the following can be used as the title of this passage?

A. Make ends meet      B. As busy as a bee    C. A piece of cake    D. A false alarm