(2)

(2)At that time people came to watch the tidal bore () of the eighth month of each year.

A. from 15th to the 18th
B. starting around 10th
C. from 15th to the end
D. at the middle

Some seven or eight hundred years ago, Hangzhou, known as Ling’ an then, was the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty. At that time, watching the tidal bore was already a grand occasion in town when the whole population would turn out for the spectacle. The best time to do this was from the 15th to the 18th of the eighth month of each year. But beginning from about the tenth day of the month, that part of the river bank that offered the best vantage point for tide watching would already be a busy gathering place for little open-air booths anti stalls where vendors piled colourful wares on their carts or boxes. There would be all kinds of snacks and cooked meats in shining pots and pans. The taverns and restaurants would put up multi-coloured lanterns and flags or pennants, displaying meanwhile an attractive array of meat and vegetable dishes with a lot more exotic delicacies on the menu. In the tea-houses would be hung painting scrolls and calligraphy scrolls by famous artists while the antique vases would be filled with fresh flowers. In addition, there would be vendors displaying plasters and medicinal herbs for sale on the ground, roving artists with their monkeys for variety shows or folk artists ready to entertain the crowds. Even before the days of the tidal bore, these peo ple would be gathered on the river bank doing whatever they could to attract pleasure-seekers. Mean while, tens of thousands of people, visitors from other towns as well as local residents of Ling’ an, would be hustling and bustling about, clogging up the way and traffic impossible. In the large riverside mansions that lined the banks, there would be opulently dressed men and women, some leaning against the windows or the balconies looking into the distance and some looking down gazing fixedly at something going on down below.