B
He was an old man who fished alone in a boat in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish. In the first forty days a boy had been with him. But after forty days without a fish the boys parents had told him that the old man was now definitely salao and he finally would be so. The boy had gone at their orders in another boat which caught three good fish the first week. It made the boy sad to see the old man come in each day with his skiff empty and he always went down to help him carry either the coiled lines or the gaff(鱼钩) and harpoon(鱼叉) and the sail that as rolled around the mast(桅杆). The sail was patched with flour bags and, rolled, it looked like the flag of permanent defeat.
The old man was very thin with deep wrinkles in the back of his neck. The brown blotches(斑点) of the skin cancer the sun brings from its reflection on the tropic sea were on his cheeks. The blotches ran well down the sides of his face and his hands had the deep-creased scars from handing heavy fish on the cords. But none of these scars were fresh. They were as old as erosions in a fishless desert. Everything about him was old expect his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated.
“Santiago,” the boy said to him as they climbed the bank from where the boat was pulled up. “I could go with you again. We’ve made some money.” The old man had taught the boy to fish and the boy loved him.
“No,” the old man said. “But we have. Haven’t we?
“Yes,” the boy said. “Can I offer you a beer on the Terrance and then we’ll take the stuff home.”
“Why not?” said the old man, “between fisherman.”
55. The underlined word “salao” in the first paragraph probably means ________.
A. lonely B. unlucky C. selfish D. stubborn
56. The boy left the old man and went in another boat to fish because _______.
A. the old man preferred to fish alone B. the old man was poor
C. the boy’s parents ordered him to D. the old man’s sail suggested a permanent defeat
57. After reading this passage, we may safely conclude that ________.
A. the old man was insistent and not afraid of failure
B. the boy’s papa had confidence in everything
C. the old man caught big fishes because he had some doubts about the old man
D. the boy obeyed his father because he had some doubts about the old man
58. What might happen after the last paragraph?
A. The old man and the boy might go to fish with other fishermen.
B. The old man might go to have a drink with the boy.
C. The old man and the old might go to enjoy beer at the old man’s home.
D. The old man might go to tell the boy’s papa about the secrets between fishermen.
