第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题，每题2分，满分40分）

第一节：(共15小题，满分30分)

A.

Police in the Russian city of St. Petersburg were today searching for a rare missing leopard which was stolen yesterday when thieves attacked a TV producer and drove off in his luxury Mercedes 4×4.

The amur leopard, which was in the boot, is one of the world’s most highly endangered species, with fewer than 45 left in the wild in Russia’s remote far east. About 300 others are captive in zoos around the world.

According to its owner, Mikhail Barakin, the thieves were wearing masks. They attacked him and his driver, throwing both of them out of the vehicle, shortly after they drove to St. Petersburg with leopard from Moscow.

“She’s a female leopard cub and she’s incredibly tame,” Barakin told the Guardian this morning. “She’s just over a month old. The leopard was brought up in captivity.”

He went on, “We had been driving all night with the leopard in a travel cage. The plan was to take her to the vet. My driver and I were in the process of setting the leopard in the trunk of my Mercedes…when three masked assailants attacked us. They managed to get away with the car. My suspicion is the theft was done to order.”

Barakin said the leopard, a present from a Moscow businessman, was far more valuable than the stolen Mercedes. He has offered a ￡85,400 reward for its safe return, and says he is prepared to drop all charges if the thieves bring the animal back.

The leopard was to have been housed in a purpose-built enclosure on a country estate outside St. Petersburg, he added. Barakin said he had hired a specialist to look after it, and was planning to use the cub in TV commercials.

36. We can infer from the passage that the three assailants ______.

A. probably came for the leopard                                 B. would return the leopard safely

C. didn’t know there was a leopard in the car                D. were known to Mikhail Barakin

37. The leopard was believed to be more valuable because ______.

A. it was already tamed                                          B. it could be kept as a pet

C. it would be used in TV commercials                    D. it was an endangered species

38. Mikhail Barakin drove the leopard to ______.

A. put her in a bigger place                                    B. use it in TV commercials

C. put her in better care                                          D. keep her in the zoo

39. If the thieves brought the leopard back, Mikhail Barakin would ______.

A. send them to prison                                           B. give them a reward

C. give them the car as a reward                              D. not charge them

40. The underlined word “boot” in Paragraph 2 probably refers to ______.

A. a special cage                                                    B. a type of shoe

C. the trunk of a car                                               D. a kind of camera