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Some time later，a car was crossing the bridge and broke an axle(轴)because of the hole. Neither town paid any attention to the accident，as the traveler was not going from one to the other，but was merely passing through. The angry traveler got out of the car and asked why the hole was not mended.
On hearing the reason，he declared，"I'll buy this hole. Who's the owner？"
Both towns at once declared that they owned the hole.
"One or the other，whoever owns the hole must prove it."
"How shall we prove it？"asked both sides.
"That's simple. Only the owner of the hole has the right to mend it. I'll buy the hole from whoever mends the bridge."
People from both towns rushed to do the job while the traveler smoked a cigar and his driver changed the axle. They mended the bridge in no time and asked for the money for the hole.
"What hole？"The traveler looked surprised."I can't see any hole. I've been looking for a hole for several years now. I'm prepared to pay a good price for it，but there's no hole here. Are you pulling my leg or what？"
He got into his car and drove off.
51. What did the two towns quarrel about？
A. Which of them should mend the hole.
B. Whether the hole should be mended.
C. Why there was a hole in the bridge.
D. When they should mend the hole.
52. The man who had fallen into the hole failed to answer any questions because he ______.
A. had one of his legs broken
B. was busy changing the axle
C. had drunk too much wine
D. was afraid to blame anybody
53. Both towns rushed to mend the hole in order to prove that ______.
A. they owned the whole bridge
B. they had the right to sell the hole
C. they were able to mend the hole
D. they could afford to mend the hole
54. In"Are you pulling my leg or what？"，the phrase pulling my leg refers to ______.
A. trying to stop me
B. laughing at me
C. putting me in trouble
D. making fun of me
B
Scientists have searched for many years for a method to tell whether a volcano(火山)explosion will be small or large. Now，four scientists say they have discovered something in lava(熔岩)that will help do this. They did the research on Mount Unzen on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu.
Mount Unzen exploded in November，1990. Since then，more explosions have killed 43 people and destroyed the homes of more than 2，000 others. The volcano is still active today.
The scientists say the lava of the volcano contains high level of an element(成份)，which is a sign of the presence of the lava from deep in the earth，not from the surface. They say it shows that the lava coming directly from inside the earth is connected with huge explosions instead of smaller ones. |
