As the sound of footsteps behind her grew louder, she
quickened her pace. She didn’t want to turn around as the memory of that
morning’s newspaper headline made her afraid of what she would see: “City
Killer Claims Fourth Victim.”
“Why did I stop for a few drinks in the bar after
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 the night
air, it turned to steam, coating her glasses in a thin film so all she saw
seemed covered in fog.
The footsteps were closer now. She needed to get off
this street. Her eyes began a useless search for an open store or lighted
window. Passing a small lane she looked through，for a
possible escape route. But the lane was a dead - end and she laughed to herself
at the irony.
The sound of a car behind her turning onto the street
interrupted her self – pity. Escape was at hand. But as she was about to throw
herself onto the road and shout for the car to stop, the car’s headlights cast
a shadow that paralyzed （使癱瘓） her with terror.
It was the footsteps’ owner. The figure was huge and
in its raised arm it held what looked like a lead-pipe, no doubt the one that
was about to claim victim number five.
The shadow dissolved as the car passed by and
disappeared into the distance. She felt a hand on her shoulder. It was all
happening as if in slow – motion. She was waiting for her life to flash before
her eyes like all those novels said it would – but it didn’t. The only thing
she thought of was her dear husband. She recalled phoning him from work that
very afternoon and joking about, of all things, the city killer. It was a night
full of ironies.
There was a voice talking to her now but she was lost
in thoughts of her fate and didn’t respond. The hand then began turning her
around. It was surprisingly gentle given what was about to come. She allowed it
to guide her without resistance. （抵抗；反抗）
She looked up. She recognized the face, but she didn’t
know from where. Its mouth was still talking to her but she couldn’t
understand. Then she remembered. The face belonged to the foreign looking man
who had served her at the bar. She looked down to his hand and saw in it not a
lead – pipe but a rolled up copy of a work report she had been correcting in
the bar as she drank.
His words suddenly started to register in her brain
and she could hear him. “Miss, Miss. Are you OK? You left this in the bar and
it looked important so I thought I’d better give it to you.”
1.The woman was feeling nervous
because .
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
2.The underlined expression “a sitting duck”
(paragraph 2) is closest in meaning to
“ ”.
A．a(chǎn)n easy
target B．a(chǎn) frightened
person
C．a(chǎn) foolish
animal D．a(chǎn) still
position
3.What is the correct order of events that happened to
the woman on the day of the story?
a. She went for a drink in a bar. b. She
corrected the report.
c. She heard loud footsteps. d. She
read the newspaper.
e. She called her husband. f. She felt a hand on
her shoulder.
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
4.Why did the woman laugh when she looked into the
lane?
A．She was
excited because she thought it may be a way to escape.
B．She felt
bitter because she had no chance to escape.
C．She was
becoming more and more nervous.
D．She realized
that she was behaving foolishly.
5.Which of the following can be inferred from the
passage?
A．It was
raining when she left the bar.
B．The woman had
felt nervous about the city killer for days.
C．The
temperature was very low that evening.
D．The woman was
behaving unreasonably.
