阅读理解。
It was about 11:15 pm on the passenger ship California. The night was freezing cold and the water was
filled with ice from the North Pole, making it difficult for the ship to sail on.
In the radio room, operator Cyril Evans listened to the radio-talk between a nearby passenger ship and
the telegraph station on the Canadian island of Newfoundland. Evans interrupted it and said, "We're stopped
and surrounded by ice. Be careful as you pass through these waters." The radio operator on the nearby ship
replied, "I'm too busy to talk now. I have many messages to send to the telegraph station." Twenty minutes
later, as he turned off his radio and went to bed, Evans could still hear the ship sending its passengers'
telegrams.
Earlier in the evening the California's captain, Stanley Lord, had seen another ship approaching. It looked
about the size of his own, but attempts to contact the ship failed. It lay dark and mysterious about 10 miles
away. At 12:40 am there appeared a sudden flash of light just over the mystery ship. Captain Lord, thinking
the ship might need help, ordered his officers to signal the ship by lamp. There was no reply. Three more
rockets then exploded, none appeared to go higher than halfway up the mast of the mystery ship. Then at
about 2:00 am it turned and slipped into the darkness.
In the light of the dawn there was no mystery ship, but 20 miles away was the scene of a great disaster.
Unfortunately, the mystery ship had stopped directly in front of the California, preventing people on board
from seeing clearly. If this ship had not been there, Captain Lord would have recognized that the rockets
were SOS rockets that came not from the mystery ship but from a more distant ship which the California
could not see. If Cyril Evans had kept his radio on for just 30 minutes more he would have heard SOS signals
coming from that distant ship he spoke with the night before. That ship was the Titanic which was sinking
fast, leaving 1 500 0f its passengers dead. It was April 14,1912.
1. From whose point of view is the story told?
A. People on the Titanic.
B. People on the California.
C. People at the telegraph station.
D. People on Newfoundland.
2. Why were the rockets really fired?
A. To celebrate the journey.
B. To signal for help.
C. To contact the Titanic.
D. To warn other ships.
3. What is the main function of the last paragraph of this passage?
A. It shows how unlucky the Titanic was.
B. It describes how the Titanic sank.
C. It indicates that the people on the California were careless.
D. It lists how many people died in the disaster.
4. How many ships are mentioned in the passage?
A. One.
B. Two.
C. Three.
D. Four.
5. From the passage we know that _____.
A. the rockets were fired from the mystery ship
B. Cyril Evans went to bed earlier than usual that night
C. the Titanic started sinking at dawn the next day
D. the Titanic sent out many telegrams that night
