D
The paper was full of unusual things except the important news story on the front page. There were many articles on scientific subjects, and the pictures of fashions were especially interesting. The world was obviously warmer because the clothing was simple, and it only covered small parts of the body. The main item of clothing was a light - weight cloak (斗篷). Everyone seemed to be wearing some kind of large metal thing on one of their arms.
There were photographs of people in African and Indian cities, and they all looked well and wealthy. There were no photographs of hungry children or wars. This was very unlike the newspapers of our own time. The only sad story was about the death of a gorilla. It was the last gorilla on the earth.
One page was full of statistics (数据). The most interesting, Brownlow thought, was about the birthrate. It was seven per thousand, he told me. This was amazing. It was a small part of our own birthrate, which was already not very high. The article did not give numbers for different countries. There was only one birthrate, and that was for the whole world.
I asked Brownlow about crime. There was still crime, he told me, but the articles were more about the causes of crime than catching criminals.
He told me many more things that he read in the newspaper.
"I read until I fell asleep," he said. "I did not wake until my cleaning lady came and woke me up the next morning."
"I looked for the newspaper," he said, "but I could not see it. There was only a piece of the wrapper (包装纸) on the floor. I jumped up and ran into the kitchen. My cleaning lady was there. I asked her where the newspaper was."
"I threw it with the other rubbish down the chute (管道) as I usually do," she said. "I expect it is in the hot water furnace by now. The caretaker usually burns all the rubbish as soon as it comes down."
Brownlow ran down to the basement, where the furnace was, but he was too late. There was no sign of the newspaper.
"So you have no proof that the newspaper existed," I said.
"No. Only this. I found it on the floor in my sitting room."
He handed me the wrapper. The paper was green, and the address was Evan O'Hara, Mr, Sussex Court, 49.
And that is all I know about Brownlow's strange newspaper. I have no explanation for it. I only know that if his story is true, on 10 November, 2051, Evan O'Hara, Mr will get a newspaper addressed to Brownlow, dated 10 November, 2001.
—Adapted from *The Strange Story of Brownlow's Newspaper*
()37. What does the underlined word "it" in Paragraph 8 refer to?
A. The wrapper.
B. The rubbish.
C. The newspaper.
D. The photograph.
()38. Which of the following "I" get could probably prove Brownlow's story?
A. Brownlow's serious voice.
B. The piece of green wrapper.
C. Brownlow's caretaker's action.
D. His cleaning lady's explanation.
()39. Which is the CORRECT order of the following events?
a. Brownlow handed me the wrapper.
b. Brownlow ran down to the basement.
c. Brownlow jumped up and ran into the kitchen.
d. Brownlow read the newspaper until he fell asleep.
e. Brownlow found a piece of the wrapper on the floor.
A. b - a - c - d - e
B. b - c - a - d - e
C. d - e - b - c - a
D. d - e - c - b - a
()40. What can we infer from the passage?
A. Brownlow's caretaker threw the newspaper down the chute.
B. Catching criminals is more important than finding the causes of crime.
C. Brownlow received the strange newspaper on 10 November, 2001.
D. The caretaker didn't burn the newspaper until Brownlow asked him to.

37~40 CBDC

【分析】
本题为英语阅读理解题，包含词义猜测、细节理解、事件排序、推理判断四类题型。需通过定位原文信息，结合语境分析代词指代，梳理事件顺序，逐一排除错误选项来解题。
【解析】
37题：定位第8段，清洁女工提到将“it”与其他垃圾一起扔管道，结合前文Brownlow一直在寻找丢失的报纸，可知“it”指代the newspaper，选C。
38题：原文中Brownlow将报纸的绿色包装纸递给“我”，这是能证明他故事的实物证据，对应选项B。
39题：梳理原文事件先后顺序：d（Brownlow读报睡着）→e（发现地板上的包装纸）→c（跳起来跑厨房）→b（跑地下室）→a（递包装纸），对应选项D。
40题：逐一分析选项：A项错误，扔报纸的是清洁女工而非管家；B项错误，原文提到文章更多关注犯罪原因而非抓捕罪犯；C项正确，报纸日期为2001年11月10日，Brownlow收到的正是该日期的报纸；D项错误，管家通常一收到垃圾就焚烧，故选C。
【答案】
37~40 CBDC
【知识点】
词义猜测、细节理解、推理判断
【点评】
本文是科幻类记叙文，围绕Brownlow的神秘报纸展开，考察学生对文章细节的定位、代词指代的理解、事件顺序的梳理及逻辑推理能力，需仔细研读原文提取关键信息。
【难度系数】
0.6