My friend is a rather old-fashioned lady. She is always quite delicate and elegant（文雅的）, especially in her language. She and her husband were planning to attend a family party, so she wrote to a hotel and booked a room. She wanted to make sure the hotel was fully equipped, but didn’t know how to ask about the toilet facilities （卫生间设备）. She just couldn’t bring herself to write the word “toilet” in her letter. After much thought, she finally came up with the old-fashioned term “bathroom commode”. But when she wrote that down she felt that she was being too forward. So she started all over again, wrote the trip purpose this time, and referred to the bathroom commode merely as the B.C.. “Does the hotel have its own B.C.?” is what she finally wrote.
Well, the hotel owner wasn’t old-fashioned at all, and he couldn’t figure out what the woman was talking about. That B.C. business really stumped him. After worrying about it for a while, he showed the letter to some waiters, but no one could figure out what she meant either. So the hotel owner, finally coming to the conclusion that the lady was talking about the location of the Baptist Church, sat down and wrote the following reply:
“Dear Madam, I regret very much the delay （延期） in answering your letter, but I now take the pleasure of informing you that the B.C. is located nine miles north of the hotel and is capable （有能力的） of seating 250 people at one time. I admit it is quite a distance away if you are in the habit of going regularly, but no doubt a great number of people take their lunches and make a day of it. They usually arrive early and stay late. If you don’t start early you might not make it in time. I would like to say it pains me very much not being able to go more often, but it is surely not because of a lack of desire on my part. If you decide to come to our hotel, perhaps I could go with you the first time you go, sit with you, and introduce you to all the folks.”
56. Why did the author’s friend write “B.C.” instead of “toilet”? _______
A. She tried to make her letter difficult to understand.
B. She was quite old and liked to make the letter brief.
C. She could spell out neither “toilet” nor “bathroom commode”.
D. She thought it was a politer way to express what she meant.
57. All of the following are mentioned in the lady’s letter except that _______.
A. she wanted to know the exact location of the hotel
B. she would attend a family party with her husband
C. she would like to book a room in the hotel
D. she wanted to find out whether the hotel would meet her needs
58. The underlined word “stumped” in the second paragraph is the closest in meaning to ______.
A. interested B. puzzled C. shocked D. disappointed
59. By writing “a great number of people take their lunches and make a day of it”, the hotel owner means that _____.
A. it is a long way from the hotel to the church
B. the church has never served lunch at noon before
C. the church is very popular with local people
D. people like to share their lunches in the church
60. What is the writer’s purpose in writing the text? _______
A. To persuade people not to use old-fashioned terms.
B. To tell a funny story about an old-fashioned lady.
C. To introduce two different meanings of “B.C.”.
D. To criticize the old-fashioned lady’s foolish behavior.