.

三、阅读理解（共两节，满分40分）

第一节（共15小题，每小题2分，满分30分）

    Grandma Moses is among the most famous twentieth-century painters of the United States, yet she did not start painting until she was in her late seventies. As she once said of herself: “I would never sit back in a rocking chair, waiting for someone to help me.” No one could have had a more productive old age.

    She was born Anna Mary Robertson on a farm in New York State, one of five boys and five girls. At twelve she left home and was in domestic(家庭的) service until, at twenty-seven, she married Thomas Moses, the hired hand of one of her employers. They farmed most of their lives, first in Virginia and then in New York State, at Eagle Bridge. She had ten children, of whom five survived; her husband died in 1927.

    Grandma Moses painted a little as a child and made embroidery(刺绣) pictures as a hobby, but only changed to oils in old age because her hands had become too stiff(硬的) to sew and she wanted to keep busy and pass the time. Her pictures were first sold at a local market and were soon noticed by a businessman who bought everything she painted. Three of the pictures exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art, and in 1940 she had her first exhibition in New York. Between the 1930s and her death she produced some 2,000 pictures: detailed and lively portrayals(描绘) of the country life she had known for so long, with a wonderful sense of colour and form. “I think really hard till I think of something really pretty, and then I paint it.” she said.

36. According to the passage, Grandma Moses began to paint because she wanted to______.

   A. make herself beautiful               B. keep active

   C. earn more money                   D. become famous

37. The underlined word “survived” means_____ .

   A. graduated from college               B. examined the condition of the house

   C. lived longer than the other children      D. gave up themselves to the police

38. From Grandma Moses’ description of herself in the first paragraph, it can be inferred that she wa__________.

   A. independent     B. pretty     C. rich     D. nervous

39. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

   A. Grandma Moses: Her Life and Pictures.    B. The Children of Grandma Moses.

   C. Grandma Moses: Her Best Exhibition.    D. Grandma Moses and Other Older Artists.

Adults usually do not remember most of the things that are taught by their teachers at school. But this story is one such lesson that I will never forget. Every time I drift off course, I think of this story.
It was a normal Monday morning, and my teacher was teaching us on important things in life and about devoting ourselves to what is important to us. This is how the story went:
An old man lived in a certain part of London, and he would wake up every morning and go to the subway. He would get onto the train right to Central London, and then sit at the street corner and beg. He would do this every single day of his life. He sat at the same street corner and begged for almost 20 years.
His house was dirty, and a stench (恶臭) came out of the house and it smelled terrible. The neighbors could not stand the smell any more, so they called for the police officers to clear the place. The officers knocked down the door and cleaned the house. There were small bags of money all over the house that he had collected over the years.
The police counted the money, and they soon realized that the old man was a millionaire (百万富翁). They waited outside his house expecting to share the good news with him. When the old man arrived home that evening, one of the officers told him that there was no need for him to beg any more as he was a rich man now, a millionaire.
But the old man said nothing at all; he went into his house and locked the door. The next morning he woke up as usual, went to the subway, sat at the street corner and continued to beg.
Clearly, this old man had no great plans, dreams or anything significant (有意义的) for his life. We learn nothing from this story other than staying focused on the things we enjoy doing.
【小题1】The neighbor called the police because ______.

Look out!Don't get too close to the house ________ roof is under repair．

1. A.
   whose
2. B.
   which
3. C.
   of which
4. D.
   that

Nicola’s Love for Her Violin
Can love between partners with a 237-year age gap (差距) lead to the perfect match (绝配)? Nicola Benedetti thinks so. The 18-year-old   36  and her “partner, a 255-year-old Italian violin,   37  to China for the first time last weekend. She   38  in Beijing on September 15 and also performed in Hangzhou and Shanghai.
Nicola is from Scotland and   39  playing the violin when she was four years old.   40 , it was not something her parents   41  her do. She went with her sister to violin lessons and   42  it and improved very quickly.
“There are so many different things I am fond of about the  43 ,” she said. “I can’t really   44  it but I love giving live performances, I like the feeling of playing and communicating with the   45 . I love the feeling of the violin under my chin (下巴).”
However, playing violin six hours a day is not a/an   46  job. “I usually   47  in an upstairs bedroom when I’m at home.” she said. “But sometimes, when it’s   48  outside, it can be upset. The house is right on the   49  and I can see others having fun   50  I’m on my own.”[来源:学_科_网]
Although practising is sometimes lonely, Nicola   51   felt she was lucky. “You can’t have   52 . I am really lucky to do what I love doing,” she said. Her   53  paid off (终有回报). Nicola won BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2004 at 16.
  54  her performing and recording activities, Nicola is a/an   55 of UNICEF (联合国儿童基金会). She said that she would travel to Lesotho in southern Africa at the end of this year to help poor kids there.

My brother and I were alone in our apartment. My parents had gone for a party and had left me in 36.I was doing my homework while my younger brother was watching television. 37 the doorbell rang. My younger brother rushed to the door thinking that our parents had come home; he unlocked the door and 38 it.
Outside, stood a tall man wearing a black raincoat. He said that he was a salesman and asked 39 if our mother or father was at home.
Without 40 , my brother said, “No.” He asked if we would like to 41 some comic books, which he was selling. I quickly explained that we were not 42 to buy anything without our parents’ 43 .
Then, as I was about to close the door, he 44 his way into our house. He took out a 45  and forced me to 46 up my brother’s hands with some rope. I tied up his hands but I tied it in a 47 way so my brother could untie himself. The man then tied my hands up and 48 both of us in the kitchen
 49 , he went upstairs to search the bedroom for 50 . I managed to teach my brother to untie the rope. He then united me. I 51 to the telephone to call the police， but the line was 52 . The doors were all locked from the outside .Luckily, the robber 53 to lock the kitchen window. My brother managed to get out of the house 54 the window.
My brother brought the police to our house and the robber was caught. The police 55 us for our good work.