2014年4月全国自主考试英语阅读(一)真题及答案

(67)

(66)

(64)

(65)

Apart from his evolutionary theory, what other contributions did Darwin make in his life?

In what way did Darwin's evolutionary theory challenge the basic beliefs of his day?

Because a friend of mine asked me, I called on good-natured, talkative old Simon Wheeler and asked him about my friend's friend, Leonidas W. Smiley. [(63)This story is the result of that visit. I have a deep suspicion that Leonidas W. Smiley doesn't exist; that my friend from the East never knew such a person; and that he made the request of me as a joke.][ (64)I think he imagined that if I went to Wheeler and asked him about Smiley, then Wheeler would make up a story and bore me to death with some terribly long, exasperating, useless tale. ]If that was my friend's plan, it succeeded.

    I found Simon Wheeler dozing comfortably by the barroom stove of the dilapidated tavern in the decayed mining camp of Angel's, and I noticed that he was fat and baldheaded. [(65)He looked gentle, and his face showed him to be a happy, peaceful man.] He awakened and greeted me enthusiastically. [(66)I told him that a friend of mine had asked me to ask around about an old friend of his from childhood. ]My friend's old friend was named Leonidas W. Smiley. I further explained that my friend thought that Smiley was a young minister of the Gospel and that he lived in Angel's Camp—or at least he used to. [(67)I told Wheeler that I would be very grateful if he could tell me anything about Smiley, since I wanted to honor my friend’s request.]

 (From The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County)

(63)

(58)

(60)

(59)