B

Trapped on the 37th FloorMelinda Skaar wasn't expecting any phone calls．Skaar was working late in her office at the First Interstate bank of California．By 10:45 that night she was almost ready    to go home when the phone rang．Picking it up，she heard a guard shouting．“There is a fire! Get out of there!”Skaar didn’t panic．She figured that it was just a small fire．Her office building was    huge．There were 62 floors and her desk was on the 37th floor.Skaar called out to office mate Stephen Oksas．who also stayed late to work．But when they got to the hallway, they were met by a cloud of black smoke．

Rushing back，Skaar shut the door and filled the space at the bottom of the door with her jacket to keep the smoke out．Then they called 911．

Before they could call their families，however, the line went    dead．That meant that they were completely cut off from the outside world．All they could    do was wait and hope someone would come to rescue them．Minutes ticked by．Smoke began to float into the office．Soon it became hard for them to breathe．Looking around，Skaar noticed a small workroom．It seemed to have cleaner air．

So    they crowded there．That helped for a while，but in time even the workroom was filled with deadly smoke．Hopeless，they tried to break the windows，but the glass was not breakable．Everything they threw at just bounced back．

Defeated，they struggled back to the workroom．They felt weak and dizzy．Soon Skaar found Oksas had passed out．As Skaar and Oksas lay near death，rescuers were rushing to find them．At last，at about 4 a．m．，firefighters found them．Skaar and Oksas knew they were lucky to be alive．“Sunday is my birthday，”Skaar told a reporter. She would be turning 29．But she knew she had already got the best present possible—the gift of life．

24．What did Skaar and Oksas do when they were stopped by the fire?

A．They called their families．            

B．They waited where they were．

C．They rushed back and shut the door．    

D．They tried to run down the stairs．

25．The first sentence of the passage is to_________．

A．get the reader’s attention        

B．introduce Skaar and Oksas

C．explain the cause of the event        

D．tell the background information.

26．The following helped Skaar and Oksas survive the fire EXCEPT_______．

A．calling 911 for help

B．breaking the windows to get some fresh air

C．crowding in a small workroom for clean air

D．shutting the door and keeping the smoke out with a jacket

27．What can we conc1ude from Skaar’s action in the fire?

A．She is cleverer than Oksas．

B．She was trained as a firefighter．

C．She remained calm in the face of danger．

D．She had had the experience of being caught in fire．