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  3. 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

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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 lines 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 Amy suit, who shuffled out from the group and advanced with a certain deference, craning his neck forward until his back made the angle of a jack-knife 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 grey 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 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 other, 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. R. suit thrusting his head forward with curiosity. The express messenger appeared in the doorway, accompanied by a young man in a long ulster and travelling 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. "
What can be inferred from this text?
选项 A、The train station was located in a downtown area.
B、The two men were upset about the coming of the corpse.
C、The corpse the two men were waiting for is Mr. Merrick’s.
D、Philip Phelps respected Mr. Merrick’s father very much.
答案C
解析 推理判断题。首段第一句描写车站的位置，旁边是一个小城镇，故排除A项；从两人的对话中不能看出两人有明显的情绪变化，故排除B项；最后两段的对话中，带着尸体的人询问是否有梅瑞克的朋友，菲利普回应说他们是来接管尸体的，并且解释梅瑞克的父亲身体虚弱，不能前来。由此可以推测，尸体是梅瑞克先生，故答案为C项；同时，从菲利普的话中无法看出他对梅瑞克父亲的态度，故排除D项。
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