Ⅳ. Reading Comprehension (60 points)

Directions:

There are four reading passages in this part. Each passage is followed by five questions. For each question there are four suggested answers marked A, B, C and D. Choose one best answer and blacken the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet.

Passage One

According to an old story, a farmer once found that a bag of corn had been stolen from his house. He went to the judge and told him about his loss. The judge ordered all the people of the farm to come before him. He took a number of sticks of equal length and gave one stick to each man.

He then said, “Come before me again tomorrow. I shall then know which of you is the thief because the stick given to the thief will be one inch longer than the others.”

The thief was afraid of being found out, and so the cut an inch off his stick. The next day the thief’s stick was found to be one inch shorter than any of the others. In this way the thief was found out, and was at once taken away to prison.

61. A bag of corn was found ________.

A. to be stolen B. stolen C. being stolen D. having stolen

62. The judge gave each man a stick _______.

A. to change back the farmer’s corn B. to beat the thief

C. as a tool to find out the thief D. so as to play a game together

63. According to the judge, the next day the thief’s stick would be one inch longer than the others’ because _______.

the thief’s stick would grow one inch longer

the other’s sticks would become one inch shorter

something wrong would happen to the thief’s stick

the judge had given the longer stick to the thief

64. Since the thief cut the stick short, ________.

he was found out

the judge couldn’t catch him

his stick had an equal length with the others’

his stick wouldn’t be any longer

65. The wise way the judge found out the thief in the end was to make ______.

the thief to cut an inch off the stick

the thief cut an inch off the stick

the stick grow an inch longer

the thief tell him what he had done