Sam is a 9-year-old dog. He has a : painting. The hobby not only makes him famous, but also makes him .

Sam has drawn 22 paintings. of them are abstract (抽象派的). He likes to start with darker colors moving on to lighter ones.

Sam’s paintings are in the US. Some of them sell for $1,700. A woman even bought one a birthday gift for her dog.

“He loves painting and always paints for hours,” said Sam’s owner, Mary.

Sam was once a rescue (搜救) dog. One day, Mary wanted to teach him .

“I dolphins paint and elephants paint , so I thought that maybe my dog could paint, too,” said Mary.

She is right. Now Sam is one of the world’s animal artists. People call him “Da Vinci in the dog world”.

1.A. job B. habit C. plan D. hobby

2.A. fat B. ugly C. rich D. healthy

3.A. All B. Both C. Enough D. Everyone

4.A. after B. before C. since D. then

5.A. lucky B. new C. popular D. open

6.A. as soon as B. as early as C. as much as D. as many as

7.A. with B. as C. at D. in

8.A. nothing B. everything C. anything D. something

9.A. saw B. made C. tried D. loved

10.A. greater B. greatest C. well D. better

A lot of teenagers are good at art at school, but how would you feel if people called you “the new Picasso(毕加索)” or if presidents and other famous people collected your paintings?
Alexandra Nechita was ten when her paintings became famous all over the world. She visited Britain, France, Italy, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and her family’s native place (祖籍) Romania where 5,000 fans came to see her at the airport. Alexandra said, “When it all started, I was moved. It was very exciting and I loved the traveling, but I got very tired. And I missed home.”
Alexandra is a good student. Her studies always come first. She only starts painting after she’s done her homework. She works on two or three paintings at a time. The paintings sell for thousands and Alexandra’s parents have given up their jobs to work for their daughter. Life for the Nechita family is very different from what it was like a few years ago.
Alexandra’s father Niki left Romania for political reasons in 1985. At first he tried his best to learn English and had different kinds of low-paid jobs. In 1987, he brought his wife and Alexandra, who was then 18 months old, to America. The family was very poor. Alexandra began to draw at the age of three.
She was drawing for four or five hours a day. Soon people offered to buy her paintings and she had her first art show at the age of eight. Stories about this child appeared in the newspapers and television. They now live in a large house with a swimming pool. Her mother said, “We started without anything, but thanks to Alexandra, we have everything we ever dreamed of.”
【小题1】Alexandra became well-known all over the world for her paintings at the age of _______.