22、The Sound of Speed （速度）

Kathy was a university student. Like most students she had very little money, but she wanted to buy a car.

“If I can buy one really cheap that works, ”she thought, “I will save money on bus fares（車(chē)費(fèi)）. Then I’ll have more to spend on food. ”

She spent a day looking at cars in the second-hand car yards（車(chē)場(chǎng)）.Most of them were much too expensive, but at last found one for＄250.

The car was rusty and the paint was badly damaged（損壞）,but it worked .

“It’s got a good engine ,”the salesman said, “and the gear box（變速箱）is O.K. Forget everything else.”

Kathy bought the car and drove it out of the car yard. Everything was wrong with it except for the engine and gear box, which worked very well.

“As long as they work,” Kathy thought, “nothing else matters. The salesman was right.”

Unfortunately, a few days later, while she was driving to her university, a police car drove up beside her and made her stop. A young policeman got out of his car and walked around Kathy’s car. He looked at it disbelievingly.

He made a list of the things wrong with the car. It was a very long list.

Then he looked inside the car.

“Does your speedometer work?” he asked.

Kathy shook （搖）her head.

“It is against the law（法律）,miss,” he said, “not to know how fast you are travelling.”

Kathy smiled at him sweetly.

“Oh, but I do know how fast I am travelling,”she said. “Up to 30 miles an hour, the doors rattle. Between 31 and 50 miles an hour, the whole car rattles. Over 50 miles an hour, I rattle.”

1．Why did Kathy want a car?

A．She liked driving

B．All her friend had cars.

C．College was a long way from her home

D．She wanted to save money on bus fares

2．What kind of car did Kathy buy?

A．a(chǎn) very fast car                 B．a(chǎn) rusty old car

C．a(chǎn)n police car                  D．a(chǎn)n expensive second –hand car

3．Why was Kathy pleased with the car at first?

A．It was a very good car.

B．The engine and gear box worked well.

C．There weren’t many things wrong with it. 

D．It went very fast

4．Why did the policeman look at Kathy’s car disbelievingly?

A．He thought Kathy was telling lies.

B．He did not trust students.

C．The car had so many things wrong with it.

D．Kathy had broken the law.

5．How did Kathy know how fast she was travelling?

A．She looked at the speedometer.    

B．It couldn’t go faster than 50 miles an hour.

C．Because she knew what the rattles meant.

D．The police officer told her.