There, ______ Mrs． Tailor, stretching out to gather her precious eggs laid by her hen．

It was on a cold winter evening _____ his father left home and was never back.

Every person leaves a footprint. That’s what I learnt when I started to work as a private investigator 10 years ago．People pay restaurant bills with their bank card，check into hotels or travel around. In every case，they leave a trace．And because of this，I’m able to track them down even when they don’t want to be found．

The first thing I do when I want to find out where someone is staying is to go to the neighbourhood where he used to live．It’s human nature to tell stories―which is why neighbours will tell me all they know when I ring at their houses．Sometimes，someone even talks about his friend’s dishonesty．Then I produce a pattern of my subject’s life：if he likes to have a holiday in Spain or in Italy，if he prefers two- or three- star hotels and where he might hide his assets(资产)．When I’ve got this life pattern，I start my rescarch．

Nine times out of l0，I find the people I’m looking for．I once investigated a lorry supplier who owed ￡500,000 to a subcontractor(分包商)．The subcontractor wanted to find out if it was worth bringing charges against the supplier．I found out the supplier had moved assets to his son，who founded a new company offering the same product．It was a11 done within the law．There was no money to be got from that operation．

However, I asked the son if I could speak to his father and he told me that his parent was on a long holiday in Spain and wouldn’t be back for a while．It didn’t take me long to find out that the father wasn’t in Spain．

I went back to the son and this time he told me that his father might be in Bulgaria,and I found him doing winter sports in a beautiful mountain area．He was 1iving in a big house on a 1arge piece of land he had bought for є 400，000．This was exactly the kind of asset my customer was loooking for．

52．We learn from the text that a private investigator is one who_______.

    A．follows people reports on what they do

    B．helps people start businesses

    C．gives advice to people about the law

    D．settles arguments between companies

53．Why does the author visit the place where his subject used to stay？

    A．To find out hi hidden assets．

    B．To gather information about him．

    C．To discover why he is dishonest．

    D．To find out where he spends his holiday．

54．The lorry supplier moved his assets to his son in oder to______．

    A．pass on his debt to his son

    B．double the business of his company

    C．le this son take over his lorry business

    D．prevent paying back the money he owed

55．We may infer from the text that the subcontractor might______.

    A．bring charges against the lorry supplier’s son

    B．give up hope of settling the debt

    C．sell the big house in Bulgaria

    D．get his money back

Hercule Poirot looked over the small gate which gave admission to Pine Crest. It was a modern nicely-built house. It was on a hill top, and the hill top was planted with a few sparse pines. It had a small neat garden and a large elderly man was watering with a big tin.

Spence’s hair was now grey all over. He had not shrunk much in girth（围长）, though. He stopped watering and looked at the visitor at the gate. Hercule Poirot stood there without moving.

“God bless my soul,” said Spence. “It must be. It can’t be but it is. Yes, it must be Hercule Poirot!”

“Aha,” said Poirot, “you remember me. I’m grateful.”

Spence abandoned the watering can and came down to the gate.

“What brings you down here?”

“What has brought me to many places in my time,” said Poirot, “and what once a good many years ago brought you to see me. Murder, Spence.”

“I’m done with murder since I retired,” said Spence, “except in the case of weeds. Killing weeds is never easy as you think, something’s always wrong. How did you know where to find me?” he asked as he opened the gate and Poirot passed through.

“You sent me a Christmas card. It had your new address on it.”

“Ah yes, so I did. I’m old-fashioned, you know, I like to send round cards at Christmas time to a few old friends. I’m an old man now.”

“We both are.”

“Not much grey in your hair,” said Spence.

“I take care of my hair with a bottle,” said Poirot. “There is no need to appear in public with grey hair unless you wish to do so. By the way, why have you come to live in Woodleigh Common?”

“As a matter of fact, I came here to join forces with a sister of mine. She lost her husband, her children are married and living abroad. So I moved in here. Pensions（退休金）don’t go far nowadays, but we do comfortably living together.”

1.From their dialogue, we can learn about _______.

A. their common friends?? ????????????? ????????????? ????????????? B. Spence’s sister’s characters

C. their relationship?? ????????????? ????????????? ????????????? ????????????? D. Poirot’s recent life

2.Which statement is TRUE according to the passage?

A. Spence used to deal with murder.??

B. Poirot didn’t care about his appearance.

C. Spence moved to join his sister for lack of money.

D. Poirot came specially to reunite with his old friend.

3.From the passage we can infer that they might _______ next.

A. meet Spence’s family??? ????????????? ????????????? ????????????? B. discuss about a murder

C. visit Spence’s new home????????????? ????????????? ????????????? D. water the garden together?

In 1985 a France television company sent its reporters to the Paris Metro（地铁）．They took ___21___ to see what passengers would do if they saw someone ___22___ on the platform or trains．The incidents looked ___23___ and they were all done with the help of actors．However, very ___24___ people tried to help, and most passengers ___25___ not to notice．In one of the ___26___, a foreigner was attacked by three men．The attack was on a ___27___ which was quite full, and although the man tried to get ___28___ passengers to help, they all refused．This is not only a French ___29___．A British newspaper reported in 1991 that a professor of Social Psychology in New York had ___30___ his students out to rob their own cars．The students didn’t try to ___31___ what they were doing．About 80 people ___32___ 250 car thefts, and only twelve of them tried to ___33___ the student robbers．In a typical incident, one man stopped, looked, and then put his hands over his ___34___ and shouted “I didn’t see that!” About forty people ___35___ to help the thieves, and two people ___36___ sat down next to the car and ___37___ to buy a camera and a television set a student was ___38___ from the back seat of his own car．The professor ___39___ whether it is a problem of big cities or would be the ___40___ thing as happens anywhere．

1.A．notes              B．trains           C．cameras          D．newspapers

2.A．attacked           B．stolen           C ．wounded         D．struck

3.A．great              B．real             C．serious          D．terrible

4.A．many               B．old              C．few              D．large

5.A．pretended          B．seemed           C．managed          D．asked

6.A．passengers         B．actors           C．accidents        D．incidents

7.A．plane              B．train            C．truck            D．bus

8.A．another    B．all  C．more             D．the other

9.A．situation          B．agreement        C．problem          D．accident

10.A．brought           B．sent             C．took             D．put

11.A．expose            B．hide             C．tell             D．find

12.A．watched    B．discovered              C．found            D．realized

13.A．help              B．refuse           C．stop             D．report

14.A．face              B．head             C．eyes             D．ears

15.A．expected          B．offered          C．hated            D．liked

16.A．bravely           B．surely           C．actually         D．certainly

17.A．wanted            B．loved            C．needed           D．waited

18.A．sending           B．taking           C．offering         D．robbing

19.A．knows             B．wonders          C．learns           D．asks

20.A．former        B．different        C．same             D．small