Question

King William was in the habit of putting riddles and puzzles to his people. He often asked        which were strange. His people had to use words in a       way to answer these questions.

Once William asked a very strange question. He looked at his people.      he looked, one by one the heads began to hang low in search of an answer. It was at that moment that George entered the palace. George      the habit of the king. He understood the      at once and asked, “May I know the question so that I can      for an answer?”

William said, “How many crows(乌鸦) are there in the city?”

      even a moment’s thought, George replied, “There are fifty thousand five hundred and eighty nine crows, My Lord.”

“How can you be so     ?” asked William.

George said, “Make your men      , My Lord. If you find more crows it means some have come to visit their relatives(亲戚) here. If you find     crows it means some have gone to visit their relatives somewhere else.”

William was pleased very much by George’s wise answer.

1.A. questions B. help C. promises D. advice

2.A. commonB. friendlyC. cleverD. silent

3.A. ThoughB. BecauseC. IfD. As

4.A. knewB. developedC. hatedD. doubted

5.A. orderB. informationC. dangerD. situation

6.A. askB. waitC. tryD. reach

7.A. BeforeB. WithoutC. ThroughD. In

8.A. smartB. braveC. funnyD. sure

9.A. catchB. discussC. countD. visit

10.A. fewerB. largerC. fasterD. older

Answer

1.A

2.C

3.D

4.A

5.D

6.C

7.B

8.D

9.C

10.A

【解析】

试题分析：本文讲述了国王阿克巴有个好猜谜的习惯。经常让他的大臣们猜谜并热衷于那些奇怪的谜语。有一次他问了一个非常奇怪的问题，这时伯巴勒走进了大殿。伯巴勒知道国王这个猜谜的习惯。在国王问城市里有多少只乌鸦时，伯巴勒机智地作出了回答。国王很满意他的这个答案。

1.

2.句意：他的臣民在回答这些问题时不得不用聪明的方式来使用措辞。前文had to “不得不”，提示下文用形容词clever表示“明智的；聪明的”。故选C。

3.连词及语境的理解。A. Though虽然；B. Because因为；C. If如果；D. As当……时候，下文“他的臣民们低下头寻找答案”可知前文是时间状语从句，用as引导时间状语从句表示“当……时候”。故选D。

4.知道；B. developed发展；C. hated讨厌；D. doubted怀疑，根据下句“他立刻明白了当前的形势”可知上文是伯巴勒“知道”国王猜谜的习惯。用动词knew表示“知道；了解”。故选A。

5.命令；B. information信息；C. danger危险；D. situation情景，承接上文“他了解国王的习惯”，说明他明白当时的“形势”，用situation表示“情况；形势”。故选D。

6.问；B. wait等待；C. try尝试；D. reach到达，句意：我能否知道问题以便于我能尝试找出问题的答案？动词try 和for连用，try for 表示“谋求；尝试”，和answer构成动宾关系，表示“寻找一个答案”。故选C。

7.在……之前；B. Without没有；C. Through通过；D. In在……里面，下文他立刻说出了一个具体数字，和even“甚至”的提示意义说明上文是“甚至没有经过片刻的思索”，用介词without表示“无；没有”，表示否定意义。故选B。

8.聪明的；B. brave勇敢的；C. funny滑稽的；D. sure确信的；对于他说出的具体数字，根据常理，国王是询问“你如何能这么确信？”be sure表示“确信的；有把握的”。故选D。

9.抓；B. discuss讨论；C. count数；D. visit参观，承接上文，伯巴勒回答国王的问题是“让你的臣民们数一下”，用动词count表示“数”，和上面的数字对应。 故选C。

10.更少的； B. larger更大的；C. faster更快的；D. older更老的，综合这两句话的意义“如果多了就是有来走亲戚的；如果少了，是去走亲戚了”可以推断空格处用fewer，表示“少”这一意义，和上句的more对应。 故选A。

考点：故事类短文阅读。