George Banks was a clever journalist. He worked for a good newspaper, and he liked arguing very much. He argued with anybody, and about anything. Sometimes the people whom he argued with were as clever as he was, but often they were not.

He did not mind arguing with stupid people at all: he knew that he could never persuade them to agree, because they could never really understand what he was saying, and the stupider they were, the surer they were that they were right; but he often found that stupid people said very amusing¹ things.

At the end of one argument which George had with one of these less clever people, the man said something which George has always remembered and which has always amused² him. It was, “Well, Sir, you should never forget this: there are always three answers to every question: you answer, my answer, and the correct answer.”

1. It seemed to George as if ________.

A. it was more interesting to argue with as clever people as he was

B. it was more interesting to argue with clever people than with stupid ones

C. it was more interesting to argue with stupid people than with clever ones

D. it was no good arguing with stupid people　

2. From the passage we can conclude³ that________.

A. George did nothing but argue with others

B. George was a man full of sense of humour⁴

C. George always won the arguments

D. What George said was difficult to understand　

3. Why didn’t George mind arguing with stupid people? Because ________

A. he wanted to win the arguments

B. he wanted to make the arguments more heated

C. stupid people could be easily fooled

D. what stupid people said could often give him greater pleasure　

4. What one of the stupid people said at the end of one argument could be considered very________.

A. clever B. stupid C. strange D. special

Keys: 1. C 2. B 3. D 4. A