Because a friend of mine asked me,I called on good-natured,talkative old Simon Wheeler and asked him about my friend's friend,Leonidas W.Smiley.This story is the result of that visit.I have a deep suspicion that (31)______;that my friend from the East never knew such a person;and that he made the request of me as a joke.I think he imagined that if I went to Wheeler and asked him about Smiley,then Wheeler would make up a story and bore me to death(32)______,If that was my friend's plan,it succeeded.
I found Simon Wheeler dozing comfortably by the barroom stove of the dilapidated tavern in the decayed mining camp of Angel's, and I noticed that he was fat and baldheaded. He looked gentle,and(33)______.He awakened and greeted me enthusiastically.I told him that a friend of mine had asked me to ask around about an old friend of his from childhood.My friend's old friend was named Leonidas W.Smiley.I further explained that my friend thought that (34)______and that he lived in Angel's Camp-or at least he used to.I told Wheeler that(35)______if he could tell me anything about Smiley,since I wanted to honour my friend's request.
Simon Wheeler backed me into a comer and blockaded me there with his chair.He then sat down and proceeded to tell me the most boring,monotonous story I had ever heard.He never smiled,(36)______he never changed his voice from the gentle-flowing key which he started with,he never showed the slightest amount of enthusiasm.(37)______But, interesting to note,(38)______he showed himself to be earnest and sincere.It was a wild tale (as you will soon see,since I am going to repeat it word for word),but he never showed me that he thought it wasn't true.(39)______.Hle regarded it as a truly important matter, and he clearly admired its two heroes(40)______.I let him tell it in his own way and never interrupted him once.
(From The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County)
A.with some terribly long,exasperating,useless tale
B. as men of taste,wit,and intelligence
C.His story was flat and dull
D.throughout the entire tale
E. his face showed him to be a happy,peaceful man
F. I had an insatiable curiosity about everything
G.Leonidas W.Smiley doesn't exist
H.he never frowned
I. It never occurred to him that it was a story either
J.Smiley was a young minister of the Gospel
K. I would be very grateful
L.touch one of my exposed nerves