I rushed up to a couple of passers-by and asked in vain whether 39 .
答案：(C) they had seen two small girls
語意「徒勞地詢問是否有人看到兩個小女孩」，符合尋找孩子的情境；問是否看到我的車/附近有商店/附近有警察局都偏離了當下「尋找孩子」的重點。
本題大考中心未公布逐題答對率，以下不談數據，只談觀念。
四個選項都是可以問路人的問題，單看每一句都合理，所以很容易挑一個「聽起來也會問」的。這一格要問的內容不是由選項決定的，是由當下的處境決定的。
先把句子讀完：I rushed up to a couple of passers-by and asked in vain whether ___（我衝向幾個路人，白問了一場，問他們是不是……）。in vain 是「徒勞、白費力氣」，代表她問了卻沒得到想要的答案。那麼她想要什麼答案？答案由處境決定：兩個孩子不見了，她正在找人，所以問路人的一定是「有沒有看到兩個小女孩」。再看時態也對得上：問話發生在過去，而「看到」比問話更早，所以用過去完成式 had seen，選項的形態正好符合。
they had seen my car（他們有沒有看到我的車）：車子就在眼前，她剛從車上下來，沒有理由問人。there was a shop nearby（附近有沒有商店）：她剛從商店出來，而且知道哪裡有商店對找孩子毫無幫助。there was a police station in the neighborhood（附近有沒有警察局）：報警確實是可能的下一步，但下一段她做的是回到駕駛座上發抖，並沒有去報警；而且 in vain 這個字也對不上——問警察局在哪，路人答得出來的機率很高，談不上白問。
in vain（徒勞無功、白費力氣）、rush up to sb（衝向某人）、a couple of（幾個）、passers-by（路人）、ask sb whether …（問某人是否……）、in the neighborhood（在附近一帶）。
Last Tuesday I took my two nieces, aged three and five, to town in the car. It began to rain heavily so I decided 36 , while I rushed into a shop. I told the girls I would be back in a few minutes and asked them not to touch anything. Then I locked all the doors and left.
I was back at the car in less than five minutes 37 ! I could hardly believe my eyes. The car doors were still locked, the windows tightly shut, and on the back seat were their two jackets. 38 , I ran to the corner of the street but there was no sign of them. I rushed up to a couple of passers-by and asked in vain whether 39 .
Feeling quite sick with fear, I sat on the driver's seat, trying to stop trembling. Suddenly, behind me I heard a tapping noise and laughter. I jumped out of the car, ran round to open the trunk and there inside 40 . They had apparently pulled out the back seat, crawled behind it, and then had not been able to push the seat forward again. I almost wept with relief!