It was midnight in Paris and we
were rolling toward Avenue Bosguet. As we came to the Pont Alexandra Ⅲ, the taxi slowed down, for the traffic
light was red against us, and then, without stopping, we sailed through the red
in a sudden burst of speed. The same performance was repeated at the Alma
Bridge. As I paid the driver, I asked him why he had driven through two red
lights.
“You ought to be ashamed of yourself, breaking the law and
endangering your life that way.” I protested.
He looked at me, astonished, “Ashamed of myself? I am a law abiding(守法的) citizen and have no desire to get killed either.” He cut me off before I could protest.
“No, just listen to me before you complain. What did I do? Went
through a red light. Well, did you ever stop to consider what a red light is?
What it means?”
“Certainly,”I replied. “It’s a stop signal and means the
traffic is rolling in the opposite direction.”
“Half-right,”said the driver, “But incomplete. It’s only an automatic(自动的) stop signal. And it does not mean that there is cross
traffic. Did you see any cross traffic during our trip? Of course not. I slowed
down at the light, looked carefully to the right and to the left. Not another
car on the street at this hour. Well, then! What would you have me do? Should I
stop like a stupid animal because an automatic, brainless machine turns red
every forty seconds? No, sir,”he shouted, “I am a man, not a machine. I have eyes and a brain and
judgment, given me by God. Ashamed of myself, you say? I would only be ashamed
of myself if I let those blinking lamps do my thinking for me. Good night,sir.”
1.At the Alma Bridge,__________.
A.the writer stopped
the taxi and aid the driver
B.the taxi went
through a red light again
C.there was a
performance the writer had already watched
D.the writer began
to criticize the driver
2.To the taxi driver, a red light__________.
A.was not a stop
signal
B.should not work at
midnight
C.sometimes made
mistakes in judgment
D.didn’t always mean that there was cross traffic
3.The main reason the driver dared to drive
through the red light was that________________.
A.he found there was
no cross traffic there at that time
B.he thought it a
shame to be controlled by a machine
C.he knew no other
driver would see him at this hour
D.he didn’t trust any brainless machine
4.According to the passage, the driver thought
of what he had done was____________.
A.law
abiding
B.law breaking
C.something to be proud of D.something
to be ashamed of