阅读下面短文，从短文后所给各题的四个选项（A、B、C 和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。
Have you ever heard of Agatha Christie, an excellent writer? Agatha Christie is, without a doubt,   16  mystery writer in the world. Her books have been translated into more than 100 languages. All 77 novels and story collections she wrote are still on the market 25 years after her   17 .
Agatha Christie was born in 1890 in a southwest England seaside town. She enjoyed a very comfortable childhood in a big house with   18  servants(仆人). Agatha was known   19  an imaginative child. With her sister and brother away at school, she often played alone. She passed the time by making up stories which she told to   20 .
Agatha Christie’s first novel was published in 1920. In it, she   21  one of her most popular characters, Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. He went on to appear in 33 of her novels, and in several movies   22 . Although Poirot appears again and again in her novels, Christie certainly could not be considered as repeating her ideas. Her powers of invention and her ability to surprise continue to attract   23 readers around the world.
Christie also wrote several   24 . One of these, “The Mousetrap”, became the longest-running play in the history of theater. It is about a murder mystery that   25  in a country house. All these mysterious stories earned her the title “Queen of Crime”.
【小题1】

 阅读下面短文，从短文后所给各题的四个选项（A、B、C 和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。

Have you ever heard of Agatha Christie, an excellent writer? Agatha Christie is, without a doubt,   16   mystery writer in the world. Her books have been translated into more than 100 languages. All 77 novels and story collections she wrote are still on the market 25 years after her   17  .

    Agatha Christie was born in 1890 in a southwest England seaside town. She enjoyed a very comfortable childhood in a big house with   18   servants(仆人). Agatha was known   19   an imaginative child. With her sister and brother away at school, she often played alone. She passed the time by making up stories which she told to   20  .

Agatha Christie’s first novel was published in 1920. In it, she   21   one of her most popular characters, Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. He went on to appear in 33 of her novels, and in several movies   22  . Although Poirot appears again and again in her novels, Christie certainly could not be considered as repeating her ideas. Her powers of invention and her ability to surprise continue to attract   23  readers around the world.

Christie also wrote several   24  . One of these, “The Mousetrap”, became the longest-running play in the history of theater. It is about a murder mystery that   25   in a country house. All these mysterious stories earned her the title “Queen of Crime”.

1.

A. more practical                  B. more famous         

 C. the most famous                 D. the most practical                          

2.

 A. loss           B. birth           C. death        D. arrival

3.

A. much         B. plenty of        C. lots          D. a lot

4.

A. as            B. like             C. by           D. for

5.

 A. her brother    B. her             C. herself        D. her sister

6.

 A. created       B. produced        C. built          D. continued

7.

A. also          B. besides          C. as well        D. either

8.

 A. million        B. millions         C. millions of     D. million of

9.

A. stories        B. plays            C. movies        D. comedies

10.

 A. takes place    B. takes in          C. takes off       D. takes down

It was near Christmas during my first term teaching at a new school. I loved my small special class more than any group I had taught in the past. They were hungry for knowledge and I was enjoying teaching.

? Other teachers had told me that our children were from poor families and not to expect any child to bring a Christmas gift. In fact, I wasn’t expecting any gifts.

? Imagine my surprise when every child brought me a gift on the day before our holiday break. First, I got a much-loved toy monkey from a shy girl. I was told, “He is my favorite, but I love you and I want him to be with you, Miss Taylor.” How thrilled I was!

? Next came a new set of Christmas tree lights that was “missing” from a mother’s cupboard(碗橱).

? Finally, I came to one little boy’s gift which I had never received. It was an old, dirty and broken Christmas storybook. Just when I wanted to show my happiness, I was interrupted(打断) by the giver, “And see, it is new! It still has the price tag（标签）.”

?? When other children laughed at him, I stopped them and said, “Oh, books are good in that way. The story is always new if you have not read it before. Now, Let’s read one together.” Everyone listened quietly as I read the most wonderful Christmas story of my life.

?? I still keep those Christmas gifts. They always remind me of my lovely kids.

1.Miss Taylor loved her small special class so much because______________.

A. this was her first term teaching at a new school

B. these little kids were from rich families

C. the students studied very hard and she enjoyed teaching them

D. she didn’t get any Christmas gifts

2. ____________ brought Miss Taylor a Christmas gift.

A. Every child????????????? B. Most of the children????????????? ? C. Only three children????????????? ? D. No one

3.Miss Taylor felt __________ when she got the gifts from the children.

A. sad????????????? ????????????? ????????????? B. scared????????????? ????????????? ????????????? ????????????? ????????????? C. thrilled????????????? ? ????????????? ????????????? ????????????? D. tired

4.Many gifts were mentioned (被提及) in the article except____________.

A. a toy monkey?????????? ????????????? B. an old storybook?????????????

C. a set of Christmas tree lights????????????? D. a Christmas card

It was the first day of school. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned around to find a little old lady smiling at me.

She said, “Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I’m eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?”

I laughed, enthusiastically responding, “Of course!” And she gave me a giant squeeze. “Why are you in college at such an age?” I asked.

“I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, have children, and then retire and travel.”

“No seriously.”

“I always dreamed of having a college education and now I’m getting one!”

We became instant friends. Over the course of the year, Rose made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she took great delight in the attention given to her from the other students. She was living it up. At the end of the term we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet (宴会) and I’ll never forget what she taught us.

As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her note card on the floor. A little embarrassed she simply said, “I’m sorry. This whiskey is killing me! I’ll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know.” As we laughed, she cleared her throat and began: “We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing; There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You have got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around who are dead and don’t even know it! There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don’t do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. Anyone can grow older. That doesn’t take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding the opportunity in change. Have no regrets. The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do.”

At the year’s end Rose finished the college degree. One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep. Over two thousand college students attended her funeral(葬礼) to honor the wonderful woman.

1.While meeting Rose at the college for the first time, the author was curious about

    ________.

  A. her age          B. her dream      C. her life       D. her motivation

2.The underlined sentence “She was living it up” in the text most probably means

   ________.

  A. she did as well as she was expected

B. she spent much money in her college life

  C. she did things that she enjoyed

D. she deserved(应得) praise due to her study

3.In Rose’s opinion, one can learn to grow up by __________.

  A. getting new ideas

B. regretting his mistakes

  C. gaining new knowledge every day

D. finding chances to do productive things

4.What else did Rose most probably say at the football banquet?

  A. “It seems my young days are over.”  

 B. “The only people who fear death are those with regrets.”

 C. “When we are old, we can’t do anything. So enjoy in time!”

 D. “Have a good time and don’t do much in order to stay young.”

5.The story of Rose in the text shows that __________.

 A. it is never too late to learn in your life.

 B. it is good for old people to have friendship.

 C. it is never too late to be all you can possibly be.

 D. it is very important to have a healthy body when people are old.