首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
A group of the townspeople stood on the station siding of a little Kansas town, awaiting the coming of the night train, which wa
A group of the townspeople stood on the station siding of a little Kansas town, awaiting the coming of the night train, which wa
admin
2015-08-29
46
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."
Which word can best describe the feeling of most people waiting for the train?
选项
A、joyful.
B、anxious.
C、excited.
D、uncertain.
答案
B
解析
推断题。由题干定位至第一段。由“already twenty minutes overdue”(火车已经晚点20多分钟),“they glanced from time to time toward the southeast”(不停地朝东南方看,即火车来的方向),“moved aboutrestlessly”(不安地来回移动着)可以判断,人们是在焦急地等待着火车,故选[B]。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/34OO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
Therearesomanythingsaboutourlivesthatbelongtothecontentofculturethatitisimpossibletocoverthemall.Inthis
Therearesomanythingsaboutourlivesthatbelongtothecontentofculturethatitisimpossibletocoverthemall.Inthis
AmericanLiteratureAliteratureistherecordofhumanexperienceandpeoplehavealwaysbeenimpelledtowritedowntheirimpr
Contrasttoresearchers’expectations,dysfunctionalfamilyrelationshipsandpoor【M1】______.communicationstylesappearto
A、HeurgedthemtoprovidemoremedicationsforthesecountriesB、HeurgedthemtoreducetheproductionofthemedicationsC、He
Accordingtothenews,whatdidIranresumeonMonday?
历史的道路,不会是平坦的,有时走到艰难的境界。这是全靠雄健的精神才能够冲过去的。一条浩浩荡荡的长江大河,有时流到很宽阔的境界,平原无际,一泻万里。有时流到很逼狭的境界,两岸丛山叠岭,绝壁断崖,江河流于期间,回环曲折,极其险峻。民族生命的进展,其经历亦复如是
Americancritics’attitudetowardPresidentObama’sremarksaboutAmericanjobsis
Bahrainioppositionactivistssayateenageboy
随机试题
超声波在人体组织传播过程的声衰减与下列哪项无关
羟基ν-OH羰基νC=O
在行政许可的一般程序中,()质量直接影响行政许可的质量。
塔、容器的检查封闭是完成塔、容器的全面检查并符合要求后,加装规定垫片、封闭人孔,按要求顺序和力矩拧紧连接螺栓的过程。检查封闭应经()确认。
儿童一进商场就被漂亮的玩具吸引,儿童在这一刻出现的心理现象是()。
讲课时,教师的语调要()
虚拟局域网在功能和操作上与传统局域网基本相同,()。
有一个生活非常艰苦的孤寡老人,可以享受低保政策,但是他和一个小狗相依为命,如果让小狗和他分开,他死活不干,你是负责低保评定的工作人员,你该怎么处理?
下列存储保护方案中,不是针对“地址越界”访存违例的是()。
Inthefollowingtext,somesentenceshavebeenremoved.ForQuestions41-45,choosethemostsuitableonefromthelist(A、B、C、
最新回复
(
0
)