首页
登录
职称英语
A group of the townspeople stood on the station siding of a little Kansas to
A group of the townspeople stood on the station siding of a little Kansas to
游客
2023-12-05
36
管理
问题
A group of the townspeople stood on the station siding of a little Kansas town, awaiting the coming of the night train, which was already twenty minutes overdue. The snow had fallen thick over everything: in the pale starlight the line of bluffs across the wide, white meadows south of the town made soft, smoke-colored curves against the clear sky. The men on the siding stood first on one foot and then on the other, their hands thrust deep into their trousers pockets, their overcoats open, their shoulders screwed up with the cold: and they glanced from time to time toward the southeast, where the railroad track wound along the river shore. They conversed in low tones and moved about restlessly, seeming uncertain as to what was expected of them. There was but one of the company who looked as though he knew exactly why he was there: and he kept conspicuously apart: walking to the far end of the platform, returning to the station door, then pacing up the track again, his chin sunk in the high collar of his overcoat, his burly shoulders drooping forward, his gait heavy and dogged. Presently he was approached by a tall, spare, grizzled man clad in a faded Grand Army suit, who shuffled out from the group and advanced with a certain deference, craning his neck forward until his back made the an-gle of a jackknife three-quarters open.
"I reckon she’s going to be pretty late again tonight, Jim," he remarked in a squeaky falsetto. "Suppose it’s the snow?"
"I don’t know," responded the other man with a shade of annoyance, speaking from out an astonishing cataract of red beard that grew fiercely and thickly in all directions.
The spare man shifted the quill toothpick he was chewing to the other side of his mouth. "It isn’t likely that anybody from the East will come with the corpse, I suppose," he went on reflectively.
"I don’t know," responded the other, more curtly than before.
"It’s too bad he didn’t belong to some lodge or other. I like an order funeral myself. They seem more appropriate for people of some reputation," the spare man continued, with an ingratiating concession in his shrill voice, as he carefully placed his toothpick in his vest pocket. He always carried the flag at the G. A. R. funerals in the town.
The heavy man turned on his heel, without replying, and walked up the siding. The spare man shuffled back to the uneasy group. "Jim’s as full as a tick, as usual," he commented commiseratingly.
Just then a distant whistle sounded, and there was a shuffling of feet on the platform. A number of lanky boys of all ages appeared as suddenly and slimily as eels wakened by the crack of thunder: some came from the waiting room, where they had been warming themselves by the red stove, or half-asleep on the slat benches: others uncoiled themselves from baggage trucks or slid out of express wagons. Two clambered down from the driver’s seat of a hearse that stood backed up against the siding. They straightened their stooping shoulders and lifted their heads, and a flash of momentary animation kindled their dull eyes at that cold, vibrant scream, the world-wide call for men. It stirred them like the note of a trumpet: just as it had often stirred the man who was coming home tonight, in his boyhood.
The night express shot, red as a rocket, from out the eastward marsh lands and wound along the river shore under the long lines of shivering poplars that sentineled the meadows, the escaping steam hanging in gray masses against the pale sky and blotting out the Milky Way. In a moment the red glare from the headlight streamed up the snow-covered track before the siding and glittered on the wet, black rails. The burly man with the disheveled red beard walked swiftly up the platform toward the approaching train, uncovering his head as he went. The group of men behind him hesitated, glanced questioningly at one another, and awkwardly followed his example. The train stopped, and the crowd shuffled up to the express car just as the door was thrown open, the spare man in the G. A. B. suit thrusting his head forward with curiosity. The express messenger appeared in the doorway, accompanied by a young man in a long ulster and traveling cap.
"Are Mr. Merrick’s friends here?" inquired the young man.
The group on the platform swayed and shuffled uneasily. Philip Phelps, the banker, responded with dignity: "We have come to take charge of the body. Mr. Merrick’s father is very feeble and can’t be about." [br] The simile "as suddenly and slimily as eels" in Paragraph Eight indicates that
选项
A、the boys of all ages were as slimy as eels.
B、the boys were suddenly waked by the thundering.
C、the boys were quick in action to come out.
D、the boys were threatened by the distant whistle.
答案
C
解析
修辞题。由题干直接定位至第八段。由“a distant whistle sounded”,“a shuffling of feet”可知,火车来了,但人们早已等得不耐烦了,一听到火车的鸣笛声,赶紧从各处赶往月台上。“lanky boys of all agesappeared as suddenly and slimily as eels”意为瘦高的男孩们像鳗鱼一样动作快速,突然出现在月台上,因此选[C]。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3247120.html
相关试题推荐
Accordingtotheinterview,controversyoverthebook"AMillionLittlePieces"
Accordingtotheinterview,controversyoverthebook"AMillionLittlePieces"
Accordingtotheinterview,controversyoverthebook"AMillionLittlePieces"
Hewasanundersizedlittleman,withaheadtoobigforhisbody—asickly
Hewasanundersizedlittleman,withaheadtoobigforhisbody—asickly
Hewasanundersizedlittleman,withaheadtoobigforhisbody—asickly
"Thefogcomes/Onlittlecatfeet"isquotedfromFog,writtenby______,atypic
IntheUnitedStates,thepresidingofficeroftheHouseofRepresentative,the
Whichofthefollowingphrasesisanexocentricconstruction?A、Threelittlechil
PresidentLincolnpraised______as"thelittlewomanwhowrotethebookthatmade
随机试题
[originaltext]M:Igota"C"againinthemathsexam.WhatdoyouthinkIshoul
如何计算分析门市、柜组以及员工个人工作业绩、经营成果和利益分配?
在敞开式循环冷却水系统中,水的浓缩是由下述哪项原因引起的?()A.蒸发 B
糖原分子中主要的化学键是A.3,5-糖苷键 B.2,6-糖苷键 C.1,4-
基金销售人员从事基金销售活动的禁止性情形包括()。 Ⅰ.在销售活动中为自己或
A.阳偏盛 B.阳偏衰 C.阴偏盛 D.阴偏衰 E.阴阳两虚"壮水之主,
A.向下移动一些 B.保持不变 C.向上移动一些 D.与水的深度有关,无法
下列关于网络的说法中,正确的有( )。 A.网络是地域经济空间中线状要素的
公司为简化员工的花费报销流程,决定统一更换全体员工花费套餐,财务部李欣负责此事。
理财人员向客户提供理财顾问服务后,客户根据理财顾问服务来管理和运用资金,所产生的
最新回复
(
0
)