Passage Two

"Yes, I'll be ready at nine in the morning. Goodbye, dear, and thanks again. "It had not been an easy telephone call for Mrs. Robson to make. Her daughter had been very kind, of course, and had immediately agreed to pick her up and drive her to the station, but Mrs. Robson hated to admit (承认) that she needed help. Since her husband had died ten years before, she had prided herself on her independence (独立生活 ). She had continued to live in their little house, alone.

On this evening, however, she was standing at her living-room window, staring out at the SOLD notice in the small front garden. Her feelings were mixed. Naturally she was sad at the thought of leaving the house, as it was full of so many memories. But at the same time she was looking forward to spending her last years near the sea, back in the little seaside town where she had been born. With the money from the sale (出售) of the house, she had bought a little flat there.

She turned from the living room window, and looked round at the room. One or two pieces of furniture remained, covered with sheets (被单). The floor was bare boards, and all her pictures had been taken from the walls. There was a small fish-tank, with two goldfish circling in it. When asked why, her husband used to say, "It's nice to have something alive in the room." Since he had passed away, she had always kept some goldfish, had always had "something alive in the room".

Tim next morning, as her train was pulling out of the station, Mrs. Robson called to her daughter, "Kate, you won't forget to collect the goldfish, will you? The children will love them. It's...""I know," Kate interrupted (打断) gently. "It's nice to have something alive in the room."

But in the little house, the two goldfish had stopped their circling. They were floating (漂浮) on the water, in the room with its bare boards and silent walls.

40. Mrs. Robson ______.

A. was a very proud person

B. was helpless

C. did not like asking people for favors

D. wanted to live without her husband