A
A man walked into a small Irish pub and ordered three beers. Bartender was surprised, but he served that man three beers. One hour later the man ordered three beers again. The very next day that man ordered three beers again and drank quietly at a table. This repeated several times and shortly after the people of the town were whispering about the man, who was ordering three beers at once.
A couple of weeks later, the bartender decided to clear this out and inquired：“I do not want to pry, but could you explain, why do you order three beers all the time？” The man replied：“It seems strange, isn’t it? You see, my two brothers live abroad at the moment, one—in France and another—in Italy. We have made an agreement, that every time we go to pub each of us will order extra two beers and it will help keeping up the family bond ”．
Soon all the town have heard about the man’s answer and liked it a lot. The man became a local celebrity. Residents of the town were telling this story to newcomers or tourists and even invited them to that pub to look at Three Beer Man.
However, one day the man came to pub and ordered only two beers, not three as usual. The bartender served him with bad feeling. All that evening the man ordered and drank only two beers. The very next day all the town was talking about this news, some people pray for the soul of one of the brothers, others quietly grieve.
When the man came to pub the next time and ordered two beers again, the bartender asked him: “I would like to offer condolences to you, due to the death of your dear brother.” The man considered this for a moment and then replied：“Oh, you may be surprised that I order only two beers now? Well, my two brothers are alive and well. It’s just because of my decision. I promised myself to give up drinking.”
【解题导语】 一个男人走进一家爱尔兰小酒吧，点了三杯啤酒。第二天，那人又点了三杯啤酒。这种情形重复了好几次。终于人们搞清楚了，他与另外两个兄弟已经达成协议，每次他们去酒吧，每个人都会额外订购两杯啤酒，这将有助于保持家庭纽带。很快，这个男人成了当地的名人。然而，有一天，这个人来到酒吧，只点了两杯啤酒，他下一次来酒吧，又点了两杯啤酒……
1．The man ordered three beers all the time because ________．
A．he missed his two brothers living abroad very much
B．this would help him become a local celebrity
C．people were fond of drinking beers in this pub
D．it was an agreement with his brothers to keep up the family bond
D 解析：细节理解题。根据第二段中“You see, my two brothers live abroad at the moment, one—in France and another—in Italy. We have made an agreement, that every time we go to pub each of us will order extra two beers and it will help keeping up the family bond.”可知，他与另外两个兄弟已经达成协议，每次他们去酒吧，每个人都会额外点两杯啤酒，这将有助于维持家庭纽带。故选D。
2．We can infer from the passage that ________．
A．the man’s brothers liked drinking beer very much
B．news traveled fast in the town
C．the man became famous in the town because he was a heavy drinker
D．the man was strongminded to give up drinking
B 解析：推理判断题。根据第三段的描述可知，关于这个顾客的故事在城中传播得很快，甚至这个城镇的新来者和游客都知道了。故选B。
3．The bartender served the man with bad feeling because ________．
A．the man decided to drink two beers
B．he thought the man should order three beers
C．he would earn less money
D．he thought one of the man’s brothers had passed away
D 解析：推理判断题。根据后文的描述“The very next day all the town was talking about this news, some people pray for the soul of one of the brothers, others quietly grieve.”和“I would like to offer condolences_to you, due to the death of your dear brother.”可知，酒吧侍者以为这个人的其中一个兄弟去世了，才只点了两杯啤酒，所以侍者为他感到悲伤。故选D。
4．The underlined word “condolences” in the last paragraph can be replaced by “________”．
A．sympathy B．surprise
C．gratitude D．appreciation
A 解析：词义猜测题。根据后面的“due to the death of your dear brother”可知，酒吧侍者以为这个人的其中一个兄弟去世了，侍者为他感到悲伤，希望他节哀。故选A。
