2. 职称英语
  3. My wandering eye alighted on a rather portly middle-aged man who was talking

My wandering eye alighted on a rather portly middle-aged man who was talking

游客2024-12-29  11
问题     My wandering eye alighted on a rather portly middle-aged man who was talking earnestly from the platform to a young lady at the next window but one to ours. His fine profile was vaguely familiar to me. The young lady was evidently American, and he was evidently English; otherwise I should have guessed from his impressive air that he was her father. 1 wished I could hear what he was saying. I was sure he was giving the very best advice; and the strong tenderness of his gaze was really beautiful. He seemed magnetic, as he poured out his final injunctions. I could feel something of his magnetism even where I stood. And the magnetism like the profile, was vaguely familiar to me. Where had I experienced it?
    In a flash I remembered. The man was Hubert Le Ros. But how changed since last I saw him! That was seven or eight years ago, in the Strand. He was then as usual out of an engagement, and borrowed half a crown. It seemed a privilege to lend anything to him. He was always magnetic. And why his magnetism had never made him successful on the London stage was always a mystery to me. He was an excellent actor, and a man of sober habit. But, like many others of his kind, Hubert Le Ros drifted speedily away into the provinces; and I, like every one else, ceased to remember him.
    It was strange to see him, after all these years, here on the platform of Euston, looking so prosperous and solid. It was not only the flesh that he had put on, but also the clothes, that made him hard to recognize. In the old days, an imitation fur coat had seemed to be as integral a part of him as were his ill-shorn lantern jaws. But now his costume was a model of rich and somber moderation, drawing, not calling attention to itself. He looked like a banker. Any one would have been proud to be seen off by him.
    ’Stand back, please!’ The train was about to start, and I waved farewell to my friend. Le Ros did not stand back. He stood clasping in both hands the hands of the young American. ’Stand back, sir, please!’ He obeyed, but quickly darted forward again to whisper some final word. I think there were tears in her eyes. There certainly were tears in his when, at length, having watched the train out of sight, he turned round. He seemed, nevertheless, delighted to see me. He asked me where I had been hiding all these years; and simultaneously repaid me the half-crown as though it had been borrowed yesterday. He linked his arm in mine, and walked with me slowly along the platform, saying with what pleasure he read my dramatic criticisms every Saturday.
    I told him, in return, how much he was missed on the stage. ’Ah, yes,’ he said, ’I never act on the stage nowadays.’ He laid some emphasis on the ’stage’, and I asked him where, then, he did act. ’On the platform,’ he answered. ’You mean,’ said I, ’that you recite at concerts?’ He smiled. ’This,’ he whispered, striking his stick on the ground, ’is the platform I mean.’ Had his mysterious prosperity unhinged him? He looked quite sane. I begged him to be more explicit.
    ’I suppose,’ he said presently, giving me a light for the cigar which he had offered me, ’you have been seeing a friend off?’ I assented. He asked me what I supposed he had been doing. I said that I had watched him doing the same thing. ’No,’ he said gravely. ’That lady was not a friend of mine. I met her for the first time this morning, less than half an hour ago, here’, and again he struck the platform with his stick.
    I confessed that I was bewildered. He smiled. ’You may,’ he said, ’have heard of the Anglo-American Social Bureau?’ I had not. He explained to me that of the thousands of Americans who annually pass through England there are many hundreds who have no English friends. In the old days they used to bring letters of introduction. But the English are so inhospitable that these letters are hardly worth the paper they are written on. ’Thus,’ said Le Ros, The A.A.S.B. supplies a long-felt want. Americans are a sociable people, and most of them have plenty of money to spend. The A.A.S.B. supplies them with English friends. Fifty percent of the fees is paid over to the friends. The other fifty is retained by the A.A.S. B. I am not, alas! a director. If I were, I should be a very rich man indeed. I am only an employee. But even so I do very well. I am one of the seers-off.’
                                                             By Max Beerbohm [br] We can infer from this passage that people in general need the A.A.S.B.service because of all the following EXCEPT____.
选项 A、earning the respect of the guard
B、Saving them from being despised by their fellow-passengers
C、giving them a precious memory for the whole voyage
D、making themselves pleasant during the whole journey
答案 C
解析 本题为推断题。从最后一段可以看到，英美社会局是为在英国的美国人提供朋友的一个机构。我们根据常识判断，为什么人们需要朋友，特别是需要来自好朋友煽情的送别。选项A是说为了赢取站台保安的尊重；选项B是说为了不被同车厢乘客蔑视；选项C是说为了给他们整个旅程留下美好的回忆；选项D是说为了让他们的旅程心情愉悦。因此我们认为主要是顾客在心理方面，尤其是心理补偿方面的原因，只有C不是心理方面的，因此答案是C。
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