It was a hot afternoon, and the hour-long bus journey had only just begun. There were only five people on the bus — two young girls and their brother, sitting with their aunt, and a young man, who was sitting alone in the ___1___. The young man had already begun to think he’d chosen the wrong bus to take.

The children were hot, tired, and bored, and behaving ___2__. The youngest girl was singing the first line of a song, over and over again. Everything the aunt said began with “Don’t” and everything the children said began with “___3__”.

“Don’t put your feet on the seat, Cyril!”

“Why not?”

“Because you’ll make it dirty. And don’t always look at the man. That’s not __4___. Oh, look at those sheep in that field”

Nearly every field the bus had travelled past had sheep in it, so the aunt’s ___5_ was difficult to explain. “Why is that man taking the sheep into the other field?” asked the younger girl.

“Perhaps there’s more grass in that field,” ___6__ the aunt.

“But there’s lots of grass in both fields.”

“Well, perhaps the grass is better in the other field.”

“That doesn’t make any __7___. Why is it better?” came the immediate question from Cyril. The young man was looking angry. “I imagine he doesn’t like ___8__.” the aunt thought.

“Come and sit over here, all of you, and I’ll tell you a story,” she said.

The children did not look at all ___9__ by the aunt’s offer. They’d obviously heard her stories before, and this one was very boring indeed.

“Oh, it’s definitely the most ___10__ story I’ve ever heard,” said Cyril.

“Yes. I didn’t even care to listen to it,” the younger girl said, and began singing the first line of her song again.

“You’re not a great success as a storyteller,” said the young man suddenly from the corner.

1.1.

A back

B corner

C middle

D front

解析：选B。B. 文章最后一句提到 "from the corner"（从角落里），这是明确的原词复现线索。年轻人独自一人，通常会选择角落这种位置。

2.2.

A sadly

B wisely

C badly

D proudly

解析：选C。C. 根据上下文，孩子们 "hot, tired, and bored"（又热又累又无聊），且后文提到小女孩反复唱歌、男孩顶嘴，说明他们行为举止不好（behaving badly）。

3.3.

A Why

B What

C When

D Where

解析：选A。A. 根据下文的对话 "Why not?"（为什么不行？），可知孩子们的口头禅是问 “为什么”。

4.4.

A common

B natural

C polite

D funny

解析：选C。C. 盯着陌生人看（look at the man）通常被认为是不礼貌的（not polite）行为。

5.5.

A discovery

B doubt

C praise

D surprise

解析：选A。A. 姨妈突然指着窗外说 "Oh, look at those sheep"（看那些羊），这是一个 “发现”。但因为到处都是羊，所以这个发现很牵强。

6.6.

A replied

B shouted

C repeated

D laughed

解析：选A。A. 这是姨妈对小女孩问题的回答，所以用 replied。

7.7.

A excuse

B trouble

C sense

D difference

解析：选C。C. 固定短语 "make sense" 意为 “有道理、讲得通”。西里尔认为姨妈关于 “草更好” 的解释毫无道理。

8.8.

A stories

B sheep

C strangers

D children

解析：选D。D. 前文提到 "The young man was looking angry"（年轻人看起来很生气）。结合全文，年轻人生气是因为孩子们太吵闹，所以姨妈推测他不喜欢 “孩子”。

9.9.

A excited

B satisfied

C worried

D bored

解析：选A。A. 根据后文 "They’d obviously heard her stories before, and this one was very boring"（显然听过，而且很无聊），可知孩子们对此并不 “兴奋”。

10.10.

A humorous

B stupid

C unusual

D serious

解析：选B。B. 根据孩子对无聊说教故事的直接反应。如果必须选最佳，B 或 C 皆有可能，但考虑到孩子说 "I didn't even care to listen"，B. stupid（愚蠢的 / 没劲的）情感色彩更符合语境。