公共英语考试二级阅读理解模拟题：
　　Pepys and his wife Jane had asked some friends to dinner on Sunday,September 2nd,1666.They were up very late on the Saturday evening,getting everything ready for the next day,and while they were busy they saw the glow(微弱的光)of a fire start in the sky.By 3 o'clock on the Sunday moning,its glow had become so bright that Jane woke her husband to watch.it.Pepys slipped on his dressing-gown and went to the window to watch it.It seemed fairly far away,and after a time he went back to bed.When he got up in the morning,it looked,though the fire was dying down,as though he could still see some flames.So he set to work to tidy his room and put his things back where he wanted them.
　　While he was doing this,Jane came in to say that she had heard the fire was a bad one;hundreds of houses had been burned down in the night and the fire was still burning.Pepys went out to see for himself.He went to the Tower of London and climbed upon a high part of the build-ing so that he could see what was happening.From there,Pepys could see that it was,indeed,a bad fire and that even the houses on London Bridge were burning.The man of the Tower told him that the fire had started in a baker's shop in Pudding Lane(小巷);the baker's house had caught fire from the over-beated oven(烤箱)and then the flames had quickly spread to the other houses in the narrow lane.So the Great Fire of London,a fire that lasted nearly five days,destroyed most of the old city and ended,as it is said,at Pie Corner.
　　1、They were up very late because _____.
　　A.it was Sunday morning
　　B.they were not very sleepy
　　C.they were preparing for the dinner
　　D.they saw the great fire start
　　参考答案：C
　　参考解析：细节题。题干问“他们晚上待到很晚是为了_______”。由第一段第二句They were up very late on the Saturday evening,getting everything readyfor the next day…可知是为第二天的宴会做准备。
　　2、What is the passage about?
　　A.The Great Fire of London.
　　B.Who was the first to discover the fire.
　　C.What Pepys was doing during the fire.
　　D.The losses caused by the fire.
　　参考答案：A
　　参考解析：主旨题。通过对文章的分析，可知本文记叙了伦敦的大火。而B、C、D三项文中只是提到，而非文章主旨，故不能选择。
　　3、Why did the flames spread quickly?
　　A.The oven became very hot.
　　B.The houses were close together.
　　C.The baker did nothing to stop it.
　　D.The baker's house was burning quickly.
　　参考答案：B
　　参考解析：推断题。题干问“大火为什么迅速蔓延？”由文章第二段倒数第二句...and then the flames had quickly spread to the other houses in the narrowlane.中的"narrow lane"可推知，这是一个狭窄的小巷，房子一定挨得很紧。
　　4、In the sentence"Pepys slipped on his dressing-gown.""slip on"means _____.
　　A.to be wearing
　　B.to be pushing
　　C.to take off
　　D.to put on
　　参考答案：D
　　参考解析：语义题。由下文...and went to the window to watch it.可知要去窗户那儿看火光，要穿上睡衣才行。to be wearing表示穿着的状态；to takeoff“脱下”；to be pushing“正在推”，均不符合文义。
　　参考译文：
　　1666年9月2日，星期日，佩皮斯和他的妻子简邀请了一些朋友共进晚餐。他们周六晚上很晚才起床，为第二天做好一切准备。当他们忙碌时，他们看到天空中发生了火灾。到星期日凌晨3点钟，它的光芒变得如此明亮，以至于简叫醒她的丈夫去看它。佩皮斯穿上晨衣，走到窗前看。这似乎相当遥远，过了一段时间，他又回到床上。当他早上起床时，虽然火势正在逐渐熄灭，但是看起来他仍然能看到一些火焰。于是他开始整理房间，把东西放回他想要的地方。
　　当他这样做时，简进来说她听到火势很凶；夜里数百所房子被烧毁了，火还在燃烧。佩皮斯自己出去看了看。他去了伦敦塔，爬上了建筑的高处，以便能看到正在发生的事情。从那里，佩皮斯可以看到，确实是一场大火，甚至伦敦桥上的房子也在燃烧。塔里的人告诉他，火是从布丁巷的一家面包店里开始的；面包师的房子被烧坏的烤箱着火了，然后火势迅速蔓延到狭窄巷子里的其他房子里。因此，伦敦大火，持续了近五天的大火，摧毁了这座古城的大部分，正如人们所说，在派角结束。