Cold weather has a great effect on how our minds and our bodies work. Maybe that is why

Cold weather has a great effect on how our minds and our bodies work. Maybe that is why there are so many expressions that use the word “cold”. For centuries, the body’s blood has been linked closely with the emotions. People who show no human emotions or feelings, for example, are said to be cold-blooded. Cold-blooded people act in merciless ways. They may do brutal things to others, and not by accident. For example, a newspaper says the police are searching for a cold-blooded killer. The killer murdered someone, not in self-defense. He seemed to kill for no reason, and with no emotion, as if taking someone’s life meant nothing.
    Cold can affect other parts of the body, the feet, for example. Heavy socks can you’re your feet, if your feet are really cold. But there is an expression—to get cold feet—that has nothing to do with cold or your feet.
    The expression means being afraid to do something you have decided to do. For example, you agree to be president of an organization. But then you learn that all the other officers have resigned. All the work of the organization will be your responsibility. You are likely to get cold feet about being the president when you understand the situation.
    Cold can also affect your shoulder. You give someone the cold shoulder when you refuse to speak to them. You treat them in a distant and cold way. The expression probably comes from the physical act of turning your back toward someone, instead of speaking to him face-to-face. You may give a cold shoulder to a friend who has not kept a promise he made to you, or to someone who has lied about you to others.
    A cold fish is not a fish. It is a person. But it is a person who is unfriendly, unemotional and shows no love or warmth. A cold fish does not offer much of himself to anyone.
    Out in the cold is an expression often heard. It means not getting something that everybody else got. A person might say that everybody but him got a pay raise, and that he was left out in the cold. And it is not a pleasant place to be.
71、The passage is intended to tell us that ______ .

72、The underlined word “brutal” in Paragraph 1 most probably means “______”.

73、Which of the following expressions can best describe a person who is unwilling to offer anything to others?

74、You can say Tom ______ if the teacher gives all the boys except him a pen as a prize.

75、We can draw a conclusion from the passage that ______ .

BCDBA 【解析】【71】主旨大意题。本题考查考生对文章主旨大意地把握，文章重点解释了很多含有cold的习语，故选B。A、C选项都很片面。
【72】猜测词义题。根据前文Cold-blooded people act in merciless ways可知brutal意为“残忍的，野蛮的”。选C。
【73】词义理解题。仔细阅读文章中与所给四个词组相关的地方，特别是文章倒数第二段的A cold fish does not offer much of himself to anyone，即可选出正确答案D。
【74】本题同样是考查考生对文中所介绍的含有cold的几个短语的理解，从文章最后一段可知。be left out in the cold：被冷落；被排斥。选B。
【75】归纳判断题。文中所介绍的含有cold的几个短语均为负面或贬义词。B项不对，因为并非所有含cold短语都与cold（寒冷）有关，从第一段的最后一句可知选A。