Question

　Some plays are so successful that they run for years on end. In many ways, this is　 36　for the poor actors who are required to go on repeating the sane　 37　 night after night. One would
 38　 them to know their parts by heart and　 39　 have cause to falter（結巴）.Yet　40　is not always the case.
　　A famous actor in a　 41　 successful play was once cast in the role of an aristocrat　 42　had been imprisoned in Bastille for twenty years. In the last act，a gaoler（監獄長，看守）would always come on to the stage with a letter which he would hand to the prisoner.　 43　 the noble was expected to read the letter at each　 44　 ,he always insisted that it should be written out in full.
　　One night, the gaoler decided to play a joke　 45　 his colleague to find out if, after so many performances, he had managed to learn the　 46　 of the letter by heart. The curtain went up on the final act of the play and revealed（使顯露）the aristocrat sitting alone behind bars in his dark cell. Just then，the gaoler　 47　with the precious letter in his hands. He entered the　 48　and presented the letter to the aristocrat. But the copy he gave him had not been written out in　
 49　 as usual. It was simply a blank sheet of paper. The gaoler looked on eagerly,　50　 to see if his fellow actor had at last learnt his lines. The noble stared at the blank sheet of paper for a few seconds. Then，squinting（瞇著眼看）his eves，he said,“The light is　51　.Read the letter to me.”And he promptly handed the sheet of paper to the gaoler.　52　 that he could not remember a word of the letter either, the gaoler replied，“The light is indeed dim，sir. I must get my　 53　”With this, he hurried off the stage. Much to the aristocrat’s　54　，the gaoler returned a few moments later with a pair of glasses and the　 55　 copy of the letter which he proceeded（繼續進行）to read to the prisoner.

36．A. fortunate	B. unfortunate	C. happy	D. unhappy
37．A. lines	B. words	C. plays	D. roles
38．A. want	B. ask	C. expect	D. wish
39．A. always	B. never	C. sometimes	D. often
40．A. such	B. the thing	C. one	D. this
41．A. highly	B. high	C. poorly	D. poor
42．A. where	B. what	C. which	D. who
43．A. Because	B. Even though	C. When	D. Though
44．A. play	B. performance	C. role	D. case
45．A. with	B. in	C. on	D. to
46．A. pages	B. joke	C. lines	D. contents
47．A. appeared	B. disappeared	C. came out	D. came in
48．A. room	B. cell	C. stage	D. office
49．A. English	B. French	C. order	D. full
50．A. worded	B. surprised	C. anxious	D. afraid
51．A. bright	B. dim	C. dark	D. out
52．A. To see	B. To find	C. Seeing	D. Finding
53．A. glasses	B. lines	C. light	D. letters
54．A. surprise	B. satisfaction	C. anger	D. amusement
55．A. usual	B. old	C. unusual	D. new

Answer 1

36-40 BACBB 41-45 ADBBC 46-50 DABDC 51-55 BDADA 　

　
36．B　提示：劇目成功，以致連續上演好幾年，這對可憐的演員來說可倒霉了。因為下文說他們必須夜夜重復同樣的臺詞，故unfortunate（不幸的，倒霉的）為最佳答案。
　　37．A　提示：重復同一臺詞是令人厭煩的。
38．C　提示：expect意為“期待，認為”。人們認為演員一定要把臺詞背得爛熟。　
39．B　提示：人們認為演員絕對不會結巴的。
　　40．B　提示：指代前面所說的情況。
　  41．A　提示：high意為“高的”。highly意為“高度地，極為”。
　　42．D　提示：此處先行詞為人，故要用who引導定語從句。
　　43．B　提示：盡管那個貴族每場戲都得念一遍那些信，但他還是堅持要求將信的全文寫在信紙上。even though引導讓步狀語從句，比though語氣更強。
　　44．B　提示：在下文第三段有暗示。
　　45．C　提示：play a joke on sb意為“戲弄某人”。
　　46．D　提示：熟記信的內容。
　　47．A　提示：appeared意為“出現，露面”，此處指上場。
　　48．B　提示：cell意為“牢房”，在上文有暗示。
　　49．D　提示：in full意為“全文”，這在第二段已有暗示。
　　50．C　提示：獄卒熱切地觀察著，急于想了解他的同事是否熟記了臺詞。
　　51．B　提示：“光線太暗”這是貴族委婉而又聰明的托辭，因為他記不住臺詞。
　　52．D　提示：分詞短語作狀語，表示時間。當獄卒發現自己連一個字也記不得時，也找了個借口。
　　53．A　提示：下文：“with a pair of glasses”作了暗示。
　　54．D　提示：“much to one’s＋表示感情的名詞”結構，有“給某人帶來很大的……”的意思，此處獄卒的表現使貴族感到可笑。
55．A　提示：the usual copy平時使用的那封信。