河南省南阳市2016-2017届高二英语下学期第一次月考（3月）试题.docVIP

河南省南阳市2016-2017学年高二英语下学期第一次月考（3月）试题 第部分阅读理解（共两节,满分40分） （共15小题；每小题2分,满分30分） 阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中,选出最佳选项。 A The orderly came back in a few minutes with a rifle（步枪）and some Burmans. He told us that the elephant was in the rice fields below, only a few hundred yards away. As I started forward practically the whole population of the quarter flocked out of the houses and followed me. They had seen the rifle and were all shouting excitedly that I was going to shoot the elephant. It was fun to them, as it would be to an English crowd; besides, they wanted the meat. It made me a little uneasy. I had no intention of shooting the elephant—I had merely sent for the rifle to defend myself—and it is always uneasy to have a crowd following you. I marched down the hill, looking and feeling a fool, with the rifle over my shoulder and an ever-growing army of people knocking and pushing at my heels. Beyond the huts（小木屋）there was a rice field a thousand yards across, muddy from the first rains. The elephant was standing eight yards from the road. He took not the slightest notice of the crowd. He was tearing up bunches of grass, beating them against his knees to clean them and feeding them into his mouth. As soon as I saw the elephant I knew with perfect certainty that I ought not to shoot him. It is a serious matter to shoot a working elephant — it is comparable to destroying a huge and costly piece of machinery. There, peacefully eating, the elephant looked no more dangerous than a cow. I thought then and I think now that his attack of “must” was already passing off; in which case he would merely wander harmlessly about. Moreover, I did not in the least want to shoot him. But at that moment I glanced round at the crowd that had followed me. It was a huge crowd, two thousand at least and growing every minute. I looked at the sea of the faces above the colorful clothes—faces all happy and excited over this bit of fun, all certain that the elephant was going to be shot. They were