Question

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.”
【小題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

【小題2】The underlined expression “a sitting duck” (paragraph 2) is closest in meaning to “        ”.

A．an easy target	B．a frightened person
C．a foolish animal	D．a still position

【小題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

【小題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.

【小題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.

Answer 1

【小題1】C
【小題2】A
【小題3】D
【小題4】B
【小題5】C

解析試題分析：這個故事講述的是一個女士以為有人跟蹤她感到緊張但最后是虛驚一場。
【小題1】細節理解題。由文章第一段的第一句話及第三段可知那位女士感到緊張是因為有人跟蹤她。選C
【小題2】猜詞題：從前面的句子She was alone可知這個詞組的意思是很容易的目標。選A。
【小題3】細節理解題。由文章內容可知這名女子先在酒吧里喝了點酒,后走在大街上聽到身后有腳步聲,故a在前c在后;同樣地再比較a、e可知e(下班前在班上給丈夫打電話)在前,a在后,由此可知本題答案是D。
【小題4】細節理解題。根據文章第四段最后一句話可以判斷出:那位女士因為看到那個巷子是個死胡同而令她沒法逃生,所以她對原先想從巷子逃跑的想法苦笑了一下。選B
【小題5】推理判斷題。根據第三段第二句中“as each short hot breath hit the night air,it turned to steam”可以推斷那天晚上天氣寒冷,溫度很低。選C
考點：考查故事類短文
點評：文章篇幅較長，但主要是細節題為主，較為簡單，可以使用跳讀的方式，提高閱讀速度。