George Gershwin, born in 1998, was one of America’s greatest composers. He published his first song when he was eighteen years old. During the next twenty years he wrote more than five hundred songs.
Many of Gershwin’s songs were first written for musical plays performed in theatres in New York City. These plays were a popular form of entertainment in the 1920s and 1930s. Many of his songs have remained popular as ever. Over the years they have been sung and played in every possible way — from jazz to country.
In the 1920s there was a debate in the United States about jazz music. Could jazz, some people asked, be considered serious music? In 1924 jazz musician and orchestra leader Paul Whiteman decided to organize a special concert to show that jazz was serious music. Gershwin agreed to compose something for the concert before he realized he had just a few weeks to do it. And in that short time, he composed a piece for piano and orchestra which he called Rhapsody in Blue. Gershwin himself played the piano at the concert. The audience were thrilled when they heard his music. It made him world-famous and showed that jazz music could be both serious and popular.
In 1928, Gershwin went to Paris. He applied to study composition (作曲)with the well-known musician Nadia Boulanger, but she rejected him. She was afraid that classical study would ruin his jazz-influenced style. While there, Gershwin wrote An American in Paris. When it was first performed, critics (评论家)were divided over the music. Some called it happy and full of life, to others it was silly and boring. But it quickly became popular in Europe and the United States. It still remains one of his most famous works.
George Gershwin died in 1937, just days after doctors learned he had brain cancer. He was only thirty-nine years old. Newspapers all over the world reported his death on their front pages. People mourned the loss of the man and all the music he might have still written.
【小题1】Many of Gershwin’s musical works were ________.
| A．written about New Yorkers |
| B．Composed for Paul Whiteman |
| C．played mainly in the countryside |
| D．performed in various ways |
| A．It attracted more people to theatres. |
| B．It proved jazz could be serious music. |
| C．It made Gershwin leader of the orchestra. |
| D．It caused a debate among jazz musicians. |
| A．He created one of his best works | B．He studied with Nadia Boulanger |
| C．He argued with French critics | D．He changed his music style |
| A．Many of Gershwin’s works were lost. |
| B．The death of Gershwin was widely reported. |
| C．A concert was held in memory of Gershwin. |
| D．Brain cancer research started after Gershwin’s death. |
| A．Talented and productive | B．Serious and boring |
| C．popular and unhappy | D．Friendly and honest |
【小题1】D
【小题2】B
【小题3】A
【小题4】B
【小题5】A
解析试题分析：文章介绍一个多产的作曲家George Gershwin的生平事迹和他的艺术风格对爵士乐的影响。
【小题1】细节理解题。根据第二段话末句“Over the years they have been sung and played in every possible way — from jazz to country”可知，其作品以不同的方式来演绎。故选D。
【小题2】细节理解题。根据第三段话末句“…showed that jazz music could be both serious and popular”可知此次音乐会是证明了爵士也可以是严肃音乐。选B。
【小题3】细节理解题。根据倒数第二段话可知，他在巴黎写了An American in Paris及后文“it quickly became popular in Europe and the United States. It still remains one of his most famous works”可知Gershwin在巴黎的时候创作了最好的作品，答案选A。
【小题4】细节判断题。根据最后一段话“Newspapers all over the world reported his death on their front pages”可知，全世界的报刊都在头版报道了他去世的消息。故答案为B。
【小题5】推理判断题。根据第一段话“George Gershwin, born in 1998, was one of America’s greatest composers. He published his first song when he was eighteen years old.”可知他极具天赋；再根据第一段话“During the next twenty years he wrote more than five hundred songs”可知他是多产的作曲家。通读全文，我们也不难得出结论。
考点：考查人物传记类短文
应用题作业本系列答案科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
The morning had been a disaster. My tooth was aching, and I’d been in an argument with a friend. Her words still hurt：“The trouble with you is that you won’t put yourself in my place. Can’t you see things from my point of view?” I shook my head stubbornly—and felt the ache in my tooth. I’d thought I could hold out till my dentist came back from holiday, but the pain was really unbearable. I started calling the dentists in the phone book, but no one could see me immediately. Finally, at about lunch time, I got lucky.
“If you come by right now,” the receptionist said, “the dentist will fit you in.”
I took my purse and keys and rushed to my car. But suddenly I began to doubt about the dentist. What kind of dentist would be so eager to treat someone at such short notice? Why wasn’t he as busy as the others?
In the dentist’s office, I sat down and looked around. I saw nothing but the bare walls and I became even more worried. The assistant noticed my nervousness and placed her warm hand over my ice-cold one.
When I told her my fears, she laughed and said, “Don’t worry. The dentist is very good. ”
“How long do I have to wait for him?” I asked impatiently.
“Come on, he is coming. Just lie down and relax. And enjoy the artwork,” the assistant said.
“The artwork?” I was puzzled.
The chair went back, suddenly I smiled. There was a beautiful picture, right where I could enjoy it: on the ceiling. How considerate the dentist was! At that moment, I began to understand what my friend meant by her words.
What a relief!
【小题1】 Which of the following best describes the author’s feeling that morning?
| A．Happy. | B．Nervous. | C．Satisfied. | D．Upset. |
| A．The dentist’s agreeing to treat her at very short notice. |
| B．The dentist’s being as busy as the other dentists. |
| C．The surroundings of the dentist’s office. |
| D．The laughing assistant of the dentist. |
| A．Strike while the iron is hot. |
| B．Have a good word for one’s friend. |
| C．Put oneself in other’s shoes. |
| D．A friend in need is a friend indeed. |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
When Marilynne Robinson published her first novel, Housekeeping, in 1980, she was unknown in the literary world. But an early review in The New York Times ensured that the book would be noticed. “It’s as if, in writing it, she broke through the ordinary human condition with all its dissatisfactions, and achieved a kind of transfiguration（美化）,” wrote Anatole Broyard, with an enthusiasm and amazement that was shared by many critics and readers. The book became a classic, and Robinson was recognized as one of the outstanding American writers of our time. Yet it would be more than twenty years before she wrote another novel.
During the period, Robinson devoted herself to writing nonfiction. Her essays and book reviews appeared in Harper’s and The New York Times Book Review, and in 1989 she published Mother Country: Britain, the Welfare State, and Nuclear Pollution, criticizing severely the environmental and public health dangers caused by the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant in England—and the political and moral corruption(腐败). In 1998, Robinson published a collection of her critical and theological writings, The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought, which featured reassessments of such figures as Charles Darwin, John Calvin, and Friedrich Nietzsche. Aside from a single short story—“Connie Bronson,” published in The Paris Review in 1986—it wasn’t until 2004 that she returned to fiction with the novel Gilead, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Her third novel, Home, came out this fall.
Her novels could be described as celebrations of the human—the characters in them are unforgettable creations. Housekeeping is the story of Ruth and her sister Lucille, who are cared for by their eccentric（古怪的）Aunt Sylvie after their mother commits suicide. Robinson writes a lot about how each of the three is changed by their new life together. Gilead is an even more close exploration of personality: the book centres on John Ames, a seventy-seven-year-old pastor(牧师) who is writing an account of his life and his family history to leave to his young son after he dies. Home borrows characters from Gilead but centers on Ames’s friend Reverend Robert Boughton and his troubled son Jack. Robinson returned to the same territory as Gilead because, she said, “after I write a novel or a story, I miss the characters—I feel like losing some close friends.”
【小题1】Robinson’s second novel came out ____.
| A．in 1980 | B．in 1986 | C．in 1998 | D．in 2004 |
| A．Robinson’s achievements in fiction. |
| B．Robinson’s achievements in nonfiction. |
| C．Robinson’s influence on the literary world. |
| D．Robinson’s contributions to the environment. |
| A．He is Robinson’s close friend. |
| B．He is a character in Gilead. |
| C．He is a figure in The Death of Adam. |
| D．He is a historian writing family stories. |
| A．Career. | B．Lifestyle. | C．Music. | D．Culture. |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
On a Friday night, a poor young artist stood at the gate of a New York subway station, playing his violin. Many of passers-by slowed down their paces and put some money into the hat of the young man.
The next day, at the same place, he put his hat on the ground gracefully. Different than the day before, he took out a large piece of paper and laid it on the ground and put some stones on it. Then he adjusted the violin and began playing. It seemed more pleasant to listen to.
The words read, “Last night, a gentleman named George Sang put an important thing into my hat mistakenly. Please come to claim it soon.”
Seeing this, people wondered what it could be. After about half an hour, a middle-aged man ran there hurriedly and rushed through the crowd to the violinist and grabbed his shoulders and said, “Yes, it’s you. You did come here. I knew that you’re an honest man and would certainly come here.”
“Are you Mr. George Sang”? asked the young violinist.
The man nodded. “Did you lose something?” “Lottery. It’s lottery.” “Is it?” The violinist took out a lottery ticket and asked.
George nodded promptly and seized the lottery ticket and kissed it, then he danced with the violinist.
The story turned out to be this: George Sang bought a lottery ticket, winning a prize of $500,000. After work, he passed the station and felt the music was so wonderful that he took out 50 dollars and put it in the hat. However, the lottery ticket was also thrown in. The violinist was a student at an Arts College and had planned to attend further study in Vienna. He had booked the ticket and would fly that morning. However when he was cleaning up he found the lottery ticket. Thinking that the owner would return to look for it, he cancelled the flight and came back to where he was given the lottery ticket.
When asked why he didn’t take the lottery ticket for himself, the violinist said, “Although I don’t have much money, I live happily; but if I lose honesty I won’t be happy forever.”
【小题1】 What is the sequence(顺序) of the story?
a. The violinist tried to look for the ticket-owner
b. George Sang won a lottery
c. George Sang threw $50 and his ticket in the hat of a violinist’s
d. The violinist found the owner of the lottery ticket
e. A young student played the violinist near a subway station.
| A．c, d, e, a, e | B．b, c, e, d, a | C．b, e, c, a, d | D．c, a, d, b, e |
| A．moved | B．disappointed | C．mad | D．pleased |
| A．getting rich overnight is important |
| B．showing sympathy for others is important |
| C．being honest is of great importance |
| D．school fees are high at the present time |
| A．The Arts College the young violinist was going to attend is not in New York. |
| B．Many people usually put their money in their hat in the distant past. |
| C．George Sang may give some money to the young violinist as a reward. |
| D．all the people who win lotteries are generous and easy-going. |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
In 1978, I was 18 and was working as a nurse in a small town about 270 km away from Sydney, Australia. I was looking forward to having five fays off from duty. Unfortunately, the only one train a day back to my home in Sydney had already left. So I thought I’d hitch a ride (搭便车).
I waited by the side of the highway for three hours but no one stopped for me. Finally, a man walked over and introduced himself as Gordon. He said that although he couldn’t give me a lift, I should come back to his house for lunch. He noticed me standing for hours in the November heat and thought I must be hungry. I was doubtful as a young girl but he assured （使…放心）me I was safe, and he also offered to help me find a lift home afterwards. When we arrived at his house, he made us sandwiches. After lunch, he helped me find a lift home.
Twenty-five years later, in 2003, while I was driving to a nearby town one day, I saw an elderly man standing in the glaring heat, trying to hitch a ride. I thought it was another chance to repay someone for the favour I’d been given decades earlier. I pulled over and picked him up. I made him comfortable on the back seat and offered him some water.
After a few moments of small talk, the man said to me, “You haven’t changed a bit, even your red hair is still the same.” I couldn’t remember where I’d met him. He then told me he was the man who had given me lunch and helped me find a lift all those years ago. It was Gordon.
【小题1】The author had to hitch a ride one day in 1978 because_______.
| A．she missed the only train back home |
| B．she was going home for her holidays |
| C．the town was far away from Sydney |
| D．her work delayed her trip to Sydney |
| A．He gave the girl a ride back home. |
| B．He helped the girl find a ride. |
| C．He bought sandwiches for the girl. |
| D．He watched the girl for three hours. |
| A．she realized he was Gordon |
| B．she had known him for decades |
| C．she wanted to repay the favour she once got |
| D．she was going to the nearby town |
| A．Those who give rides will be rapid. |
| B．Good manners bring about happiness. |
| C．People should offer free rides to others. |
| D．Giving sometimes produces nice results. |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
William Butler Yeats, a most famous Irish writer, was born in Dublin on June 13, 1865. His childhood lacked the harmony（和睦）that was typical of a happy family. Later, Yeats shocked his family by saying that he remembered “little of childhood but its pain”. In fact, he inherited（继承）excellent taste in art from his family—both his father and his brother were painters. But he finally settled on literature, particularly drama（戏剧）and poetry.
Yeats had strong faith in the coming of new artistic movements. He set himself the fresh task in founding an Irish national theatre in the late 1890s. His early theatrical experiments, however, were not received favorably at beginning. He didn’t lose heart, and finally enjoyed success in his poetical drama.
Compared with his dramatic works, Yeats’s poems attract much admiring notice. The subject matter includes love, nature, history, time and aging. Though Yeats generally relied on very traditional forms, he brought modern sensibility to them. As his literary life progressed, his poetry grew finer and richer, which led him to worldwide recognition.
He had not enjoyed a major public life since winning the Nobel Price in 1923. Yet, he continued writing almost to the end of his life. Had Yeats stopped writing at age 40, he would probably now be valued as a minor poet, for there is no other example in literary history of a poet who produces his greatest works between the ages of 50 and 75. After Yeats’ death in 1939, W. H. Auden wrote, among others, the following lines:
Earth, receive an honored guest:
William Yeats is laid to rest.
Let the Irish vessel（船）lie
Emptied of its poetry.
【小题1】Which of the following can describe Yeats’s family?
| A．It filled Yeats’s childhood with laughter |
| B．It was shocked by Yeats’s choice |
| C．It was a typically wealthy family |
| D．It had an artistic atmosphere |
| A．Yeats founded the first Irish theater |
| B．Yeats stuck to modern forms in his poetry |
| C．Yeats began to produce his best works from the 1910s |
| D．Yeats was not favored by the public until the 1923 Noble Prize |
| A．Envy | B．Sympathy | C．Emptiness | D．Admiration |
| A．Yeats’s literary achievements | B．Yeats’s historical influence |
| C．Yeats’s artistic ambition | D．Yeats’s national honor |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
The sun was just coming up when I headed out to work last May at 6 a.m. Not quite dark but dark enough to need my headlights. I turned onto one of the lonely rural country roads.
Maybe it was because I was listening to the radio, maybe it was because I was already thinking about some projects at work, that I didn’t spot the dark object on the road until I was too late. I ran over it and felt the back left tire pull, and then sink. I stopped and got out of the car.
No mystery here---- my back left tyre was cut like a loaf of bread. Back 50 yards was a piece of sharp iron I had run over. I had never changed a tyre. I looked up the road. Not a car in either direction. The nearest service station was miles away. I threw up my hands. Then I remembered---- my cell phone! I powered it up before realizing, I didn’t know who to call.
Wouldn’t you know it, I spotted a car coming from the opposite direction. The driver slowed as he approached. I guessed he could see I was in trouble. He stopped his car, got out and immediately saw the trouble. “Madam, would you like me to change that tyre for you?” he asked. The man couldn’t have been more friendly. I was frightened out there and he put me completely at ease. “There,” he said, after putting on the spare, “you are all set to go.”
“Good thing for me that you were driving this way,” I told him, as I climbed back into my car.
“Funny you should say that,” he said. “Just like you, I was heading to work, but my job is in the opposite direction. I made a wrong turn at some point. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
【小题1】The writer didn’t notice the object on the road because ______.
| A．it was rather dark then | B．she didn’t use her headlights |
| C．there was much traffic | D．she was careless when driving |
| A．the writer felt quite anxious |
| B．no one would like to help the writer |
| C．the writer was a new driver |
| D．the cell phone should be powered up |
| A．He stopped and laughed at her. |
| B．He walked over to frighten her. |
| C．He helped her without hesitation. |
| D．He drove away in the opposite direction. |
| A．went a wrong way | B．felt the writer funny |
| C．didn’t know what he was doing | D．come specially to help the writer |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Mr. Backer is a kind-hearted man. Once he gave some food to a poor woman . Mr White, the boss of the restaurant, found it and became angry. He often gave the leftovers(剩饭菜) to some poor workers. Mr. Backers lost his work for it. It was difficult for him to find work in the small country though he was an able cook. The war made all stop. Children couldn't go to school, most shops were closed, even some farmers were hungry. Some people were made to leave their houses and they had to find the safe places. It was an autumn night. Mr Backer hadn't any food to eat and went to bed, but he couldn't fall asleep, because he was very hungry . suddenly he heard a noise in his room. He saw a man looking for something useful there. He said nothing and watched it carefully. At last the man took a few old clothes out of a broken paper box and took them away. He got up from his bed quickly and followed him gently(文雅地), with his quilt on his back. The man didn't find him and went into a small and wet house. Mr. Backer also went in and saw there was nothing in the room. The thief(贼) saw him and was surprised. He asked, “What did you come here for?” “You have carried my things here,” said Mr. Backer. “I have to move here, too!”
【小题1】Mr White sent Mr. Backer away because .
| A．he couldn't cook |
| B．he didn't work hard |
| C．he didn't like him at all |
| D．he gave some leftovers to the poor woman |
| A．The war broke out(爆发) |
| B．It didn't rain |
| C．Children couldn't go to school |
| D．Shops and factories were closed |
| A．the weather was cold | B．the weather was hot |
| C．he was hungry | D．he was ill |
| A．he wanted to send him to the police station |
| B．there was nothing expensive there |
| C．he was afraid the man could hurt him |
| D．he hoped the man could help him |
| A．珠宝 | B．钱箱 | C．被子 | D．鞋带 |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Regarded as one of the English language’s most gifted poets, John Keats wrote poetry that concentrated on imagery, human nature, and philosophy. Although Keats didn’t receive much formal literary education, his own studies and passion brought him much success. Additionally, his own life situation influenced his poetry greatly.
Growing up as a young boy in London in a lower middle-class family, the young John didn’t attend a private school, but went to a public one. His teachers and his family’s friends regarded him as an optimistic boy who favored playing and fighting much more than minding his studies. After his father’s death in the early 1800s, followed by his mother’s passing due to tuberculosis (肺结核), he began viewing life differently. He wanted to escape the world and did so by reading anything he could get his hands on.
At around the age of 16, the teenage John Keats began studying under a surgeon so that he too might become a doctor. However, his literary appetite had taken too much of his fancy, especially with his addiction to the poetry of Ehmund Spenser. He was able to have his first full poem published in the Examiner in 1816, entitled O Solitude! If I Must With Thee Dwell. Within two months in 1817, Keats had written an entire volume of poetry, but was sharply criticized by a magazine. However, the negative response didn’t stop his pursuit of rhythm (韵律).
John Keats’ next work was Endymion, which was published in May 1818. The story involves a shepherd who falls in love with the moon goddess and leads him on an adventure of one boy’s hope to overcome the limitations of being human. Following Engymion, however, he tried something more narrative-based and wrote Isabella. During this time, John Keats began seeing his limitations in poetry due to his own limit in life experiences. He would have to have the “knowledge” associated with his poems. His next work was Hyperion that would attempt to combine all that he learned. However, a bout (发作) with tuberculosis while visiting Italy would keep him from his work and eventually take his life in 1821.
【小题1】John Keats’ attitude towards life changed because of _________.
| A．his early education from school | B．the deaths of his parents |
| C．Edmund Spenser’s poetry | D．the criticism of a magazine |
| A．They read many books. |
| B．They had a bad childhood |
| C．They died of the same disease. |
| D．They showed strong interest in poetry |
| A．Keats received little education at school. |
| B．Keats once had a chance of becoming a doctor. |
| C．In 1816 Keats spent two months writing a poem. |
| D．Endymion was about a real love story. |
| A．determined | B．experienced | C．knowledgeable | D．impatient |
| A．Keats’ family must have been very poor when he was young. |
| B．Edmund Spenser was the greatest poet in Keats’ time. |
| C．It is likely that Keats rewrote his poem Isabella. |
| D．The poem Hyperion wasn’t completed by Keats. |
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