In the last years of the Warring States period, the State of Qin attacked the State of Wei on a large scale repeatedly and occupied large areas of land, for the State of Wei was too weak to defend itself. In 273 B.C., the Qin army launched a more serious attack upon the State of Wei than ever. The king of the State of Wei gathered his officials, and asked with a worried look if anyone could propose a way to defeat the Qin army. After years of chaos caused by the wars, the officials trembled when fighting was mentioned, and no one dared to speak of resistance.
At the critical moment when a large enemy force was bearing down upon the border, most of the officials persuaded the king to sue for peace, at the cost of giving away to the State of Qin the large area of land north of the Huanghe River and south of the Taihang Mountain. However Su Dai, a counselor, did not agree. He hurried up to the king and said: "Your Majesty, they don't think about the interests of the country at all. It is just because they are afraid of death that they ask you to sue for peace by betraying the country. Of course you can temporarily satisfy the ambition of Qin, but it will never stop attacking us until our land is totally given away."
He added,“Once there was a man whose house was on fire. People told him to put out the fire with water, but he would not listen. Instead, he carried a faggot to put out the fire, only to make the fire fiercer. Isn't it similar to carrying faggots to put out a fire if you agree to sue for peace at the cost of the land of the State of Wei?”
Though Su Dai's argument was very convincing, the king accepted the suggestion of those officials and gave away to the State of Qin a large area of the land of the State of Wei. As might be expected, the Qin army attacked the State of Wei in 225 B.C. again, surrounding the capital city Daliang and flooding it by digging open the dykes (堤防) of the Huanghe River. The State of Wei was finally destroyed.
小题1: When asked how to defeat the Qin army, most officials _______.
A．were scared and at a loss what to do
B．looked worried and turned to Su Dai for help
C．asked a large enemy force to bear down upon the border
D．were extremely frightened and decided to give up fighting back小题2:The underlined phrase“sue for”in Paragraph 2 probably means _______.
A．demand
B．beg for
C．search for
D．negotiate for小题3:Su Dai used the example of“carrying faggots to put out a fire”to show _______.
A．the ambition of the State of Qin
B．the serious results of giving in
C．the loss of the land of the State of Wei
D．the trembling consequences of defense小题4: The story is mainly developed by _______.
A．time
B．logic
C．ma
king comparison
D．cause and effect小题5: The attitude of the writer towards Su Dai is _______.
A．approval
B．praise
C．neutral
D．disapproval
