Bill Javis took over our village’s news-agency at a time of life when most of us

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Bill Javis took over our village’s news-agency at a time of life when most of us only wanted to relax. He just thought he would like something but not too much to do, and the news-a­gency was ready-made. The business produced little enough for him, but Bill was a man who only wanted the simplicity and order and regularity of the job. He had been a long-serving sailor, and all his life had done everything by the clock.
Every day he opened his shop at 6:00 a. m. to catch the early trade; the papers arrived on his doorstep before that. Many of Bill’s customers were city workers, and the shop was convenient for the station. Business was tailing off by 10 o’clock, so at eleven sharp Bill closed for lunch. It was hard luck on anybody who wanted a paper or magazine in the after­noon, for most likely Bill would be down on the river bank, fishing, and his neatest competitor was five kilometers away. Sometimes in the afternoon-, the evening paper landed on the doorway, and at 4 o’ clock Bill reopened his shop. The evening rush lasted till seven, and it was worthwhile.
He lived in a flat above the ship, alone. Except in the very bad weather, you always knew where to find him in the af­ternoon, as I have said. Once, on a sunny afternoon, I walked home along the river bank from a shopping trip to the village. By my watch it was three minutes past four, so I was aston­ished to see Bill sitting there on his little chair with a line in the, water. He had no luck, I could, see, but he was making no effort to move. “What’s wrong, Bill?” I called out from the path.
For answer, he put a hand in his jacket and took out a big, golden object. For a moment I had no idea what it could be, and then it suddenly went off with a noise like a fire en­gine. Stopping the bell, Bill held the thing up and called back, "Ten to four, you see, and this is dead right. "
I had never known anyone carrying a brass alarm clock round with him before.
5. Bill Javis became a news-agent when ________.
A. he need the money.                        B. he decided to take things easy
C. he was quite an old man                 D. he gave up clock-repairing
6. Bill opened the shop so early in the day because ________.
A. he liked to do as much as possible before he went to work
B. the shop had to be open when the morning papers came
C. he was never sure of time
D. it was then that he did a lot of business
7. On that sunny afternoon, the writer was surprised when he saw Bill because ________.
A. he thought it was late for Bill to be still fishing
B. he thought Bill was ill, since he was not moving at all
C. Bill had not caught anything, and that seemed strange
D. Bill stayed in his flat
8. From the information given in the passage, who or what do you think was wrong?
A. The bell was; it must have gone off at the wrong time.
B. Bill was; he had dropped off to sleep.
C. The writer’s watch was fast.
D. Bill’s clock was wrong; it was old.

答案

5-8  CDAC

解析

5.   推断题。at a time of life when most of us only wanted to relax和He had been a long-serving sailor这两点说明他已上了年纪。
6.   推断题。第二段开头说他6点开门，报纸在这之前已送到，而且还可以catch the early trade。
7.   推断题。Bill通常4点会重新开店，而那天作者的表已过4点，Bill还没有离开的意思，所以他非常惊讶。
8.   细节题。A项中go off是爆发，产生很大声音；B项中drop off to sleep是不知不觉入睡；文章中倒数第二段最后一句话this is dead right 中dead是“非常，完全”的意思，可见，Bill的clock没错。