George has stolen some money．The police had caught him and he had been put in prison．Now his trial was about to begin, and he felt sure that he would be found guilty and sent to prison for a long time．
Then he discovered that an old friend of his was one of the jury at his trial．Of course, he didn’t tell anybody, but he managed to see his friend secretly one day．He said to him, “Jim, I know that the jury will find me guilty of having stolen the money．I cannot hope to be found not guilty of taking it—that would be too much to expect．But I should be grateful to you for the rest of my life if you could persuade the other members of the jury to add a strong recommendation for mercy（从轻量刑 ）to their statement that they consider me guilty．”
“Well, George,” answered Jim, “I shall certainly try to do what I can for you as an old friend, but of course I cannot promise anything．The other eleven people on the jury look terribly strong—minded to me．”
George said that he would quite understand if Jim was not able to do anything for him, and thanked him warmly for agreeing to help．
The trial went on, and at last the time came for the jury to decide whether George was guilty or not．It took them five hours, but in the end they found George guilty, with a strong recommendation for mercy．
Of course, George was very pleased, but he didn’t have a chance to see Jim for some time after the trial．At last, however, Jim visited him in prison, and George thanked him warmly and asked him how he had managed to persuade the other members of the jury to recommendation mercy．
“Well, George,” Jim answered, as I thought, those eleven men were very difficult to persuade, but I managed it in the end by tiring them out．Do you know, those fools had all wanted to find you not guilty!”
1．Which phrase best defines a “jury”?
A．A person who works in a court．
B．A policeman．
C．A judge．
D．A group of people who decide if someone on trial is guilty or not guilty．
2．According to the passage George wanted his friend Jim ___ ．
A．to help him run away from prison
B．to believe he was not guilty
C．to make others believe that he was guilty
D．to make the jury ask for less punishment for George．
3．Jim couldn’t promise anything．Why?
A．He thought George was guilty．
B．George’s case was too serious．
C．The other members might not listen to his recommendation．
D．He didn’t want to help George．
4．Why did George feel pleased about the decision?
A．He thought he deserved the punishment．
B．Jim did what he had promised．
C．He would be set free immediately．
D．The punishment was less severe than expected．