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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. "
The expression "as suddenly and slimilv as eels" in Para. 8 indicates that________.
选项 A、the boys of all ages were as slimy as eels
B、the boys were suddenly wakened by the thunder
C、the boys were quick in action to come out
D、the boys were threatened by the distant whistle
答案C
解析 事实细节题。as suddenly and slimily as eels出现在第八段第二句。男孩们被远方汽笛声响吵醒，作者将瘦高的男孩比作被雷惊醒的鳗鱼，身材瘦高且动作迅速；接着用一系列的动作描写进行证实，如came(过来)，uncoiled(伸直身体)，slid(滑下来)，clambered down(爬下来)等。因此作者用此比喻是为了说明男孩们的动作迅速，故答案为C项。
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