18．The sun is setting like a huge orange ball．It's the cool evening on a stretch of beach．The water is paring the shore，the breeze is blowing slightly．There are one or two joggers and a couple of fishermen．Most people have gone home for the day．
An old man，with rounded shoulders，bushy eyebrows，and bony features，carries the bucket up to the dock（码头）that goes out into the water．He stands on the dock and all of a sudden there come a mass of dancing dots-seagulls!The man takes out of his bucket handfuls of shrimps（虾）and begins to throw them on the dock．Some seagulls land on his shoulders，some land on his hat，and they eat the shrimps．Long after the shrimps are gone his feathered friends remain．
Why is this man feeding seagulls？What could push him to do this as he does week after week？
The man in that scene is Eddie Rickenbacher，a famous World WarⅡpilot．His plane．The Flying Fortress，went down in 1942．No one could imagine that he and his eight passengers should escape death by climbing into two boats for thirty days．They fought thirst，the sun，and sharks．But what nearly killed them was starvation．Their foods were gone within eight days and they didn't have anything left．
Every day Rickenbacher and the passengers would have a daily afternoon devotional and prayer time．One day after the devotional，Rickenbacher put his hat over his eyes and tried to get some sleep．Within a few moments he felt something on his head．He knew in an instant it was a seagull．All the others on the two boats noticed the seagull．No one spoke，no one moved．Rickenbacher quickly grabbed the seagull and with thanksgiving，they ate the flesh of the bird．They used the remains for fish bait（鱼饵）and survived．
56．When evening falls，the beach isB．
A．noisy and crowded
B．quiet and peaceful
C．a place for viewing seagulls
D．a popular fishing place
57．The old man comes to the dock to feed seagulls because heB．
A．wants to make friends with them
B．owes his survival in 1942 to the seagull
C．takes it as a hobby after retirement as a pilot
D．enjoys foe scene of seagulls eating the shrimps
58．Which of the following is the correct order of the events？C
a．Eddie began to feed seagulls at a dock．
b．Eddie's plane crashed．
c．Eddie and his passengers survived．
d．Eddie and his passengers killed a seagull for food．
A．a，b，c，d
B．a，b，d，c
C．b，d，c，a
D．b，d，a，c
59．What would be the best title for the passage？D
A．A Narrow Escape
B．A Lucky Pilot
C．Feeding Seagulls
D．The Seagull．
