The French writer Honore de Balzac is known around the world for the novels and shorter works of fiction that he collected under the general title The Human Comedy. His ambition (eagerness) in this great work was to describe all of French society.

　　Balzac was born on May 20,1799, in Tours, where his father was a civil servant. At the age of 8,he was sent to a boarding school. He was an undisciplined child, and he was often sent to detention, or kept in. He looked on this punishment as a blessing in disguise（因祸得福）because it gave him all the time he wanted to read. When his family moved to Paris in 1814, he went to school there.

　　For a while Balzac studied law, but he had no taste for legal work. He wanted to write plays, but his first play, Gromwell（1819）, was a failure. He turned to writing sensational（神圣地）novels under various pen names. Realizing that he would never make his fortune this way, he went into business as a publisher and later as a printer. But he earned only debts.

　　In 1829,Balzac started the novels that made him famous. Some were fantastic, like the Wild ass’s Skin（1831）. This novel tells how a young man acquires a magic piece of leather that grants（允许）his every wish but shrinks a little every time he uses it. He knows he will die when the leather has shrunk to nothing. Others were realistic, like Eugenie（Garnet）（1833）, the story of a miser who loves his gold more than his daughter.

　　Balzac lived extravagantly（奢侈地）, and he was always in debt. His many women friends inspired the sensitive portraits of women in his novels. Just before his death, he married a Polish Countess（女伯爵）, Eveline Hanska.

　　Balzac worked as intensely（紧张的）as he lived. By writing as much as 16 hours a day, he published over 80 titles between 1829 and 184(7) This great labor brought on a serious illness before he was able to complete The Human Comedy. But when he died in Paris on August 18,1850, he left a vivid record of his time.

(1) The world knows Balzac because of________.

[　　]

A．his great work The Human Comedy.

B．his collection of novels and short stories

C．his description of the French society

D．his hard work

(2) When Balzac was at school, ________.

[　　]

A．he was often praised by his teachers

B．he often broke the school rules

C．he did some reading in his spare time

D．his family moved to Paris

(3) The word“detention”in the second paragraph suggests ________.

[　　]

A．preventing from leaving after school

B．headmaster’s or teacher’s office

C．being stopped going to classes

D．a room used for punishing students

(4) Before Balzac was thirty, ________.

[　　]

A．he had come to be famous

B．he had some interest in laws

C．he never made his fortune

D．he was in great debt

    The French writer Honore de Balzac is known around the world for the novels and shorter works of fiction that he collected under the general title The Human Comedy. His ambition (eagerness) in this great work was to describe all of French society.

　　Balzac was born on May 20,1799, in Tours, where his father was a civil servant. At the age of 8,he was sent to a boarding school. He was an undisciplined child, and he was often sent to detention, or kept in. He looked on this punishment as a blessing in disguise（因祸得福）because it gave him all the time he wanted to read. When his family moved to Paris in 1814, he went to school there.

　　For a while Balzac studied law, but he had no taste for legal work. He wanted to write plays, but his first play, Gromwell（1819）, was a failure. He turned to writing sensational（神圣地）novels under various pen names. Realizing that he would never make his fortune this way, he went into business as a publisher and later as a printer. But he earned only debts.

　　In 1829,Balzac started the novels that made him famous. Some were fantastic, like the Wild ass’s Skin（1831）. This novel tells how a young man acquires a magic piece of leather that grants（允许）his every wish but shrinks a little every time he uses it. He knows he will die when the leather has shrunk to nothing. Others were realistic, like Eugenie（Garnet）（1833）, the story of a miser who loves his gold more than his daughter.

　　Balzac lived extravagantly（奢侈地）, and he was always in debt. His many women friends inspired the sensitive portraits of women in his novels. Just before his death, he married a Polish Countess（女伯爵）, Eveline Hanska.

　　Balzac worked as intensely（紧张的）as he lived. By writing as much as 16 hours a day, he published over 80 titles between 1829 and 184(7) This great labor brought on a serious illness before he was able to complete The Human Comedy. But when he died in Paris on August 18,1850, he left a vivid record of his time.

(1) The world knows Balzac because of________.

[　　]

A．his great work The Human Comedy.

B．his collection of novels and short stories

C．his description of the French society

D．his hard work

(2) When Balzac was at school, ________.

[　　]

A．he was often praised by his teachers

B．he often broke the school rules

C．he did some reading in his spare time

D．his family moved to Paris

(3) The word“detention”in the second paragraph suggests ________.

[　　]

A．preventing from leaving after school

B．headmaster’s or teacher’s office

C．being stopped going to classes

D．a room used for punishing students

(4) Before Balzac was thirty, ________.

[　　]

A．he had come to be famous

B．he had some interest in laws

C．he never made his fortune

D．he was in great debt

Lucky is the man who has no “skeleton in his closet”. When a man has done something in his life that he is ashamed of, that he wants to hide, he is said to have a “skeleton in his closet”. Some people may have more than one skeleton.

As we have noted many times, it is hard to find out how these expressions begin. Sometimes, we get some hard facts. But more often we have to depend on guesswork. And that is true of this phrase, which came from England.

Before 1932, English law did not permit a doctor to cut open a dead human body for scientific examination, unless it was the corpse(尸体) of an executed(处决) criminal.

But when it became legal, more and more doctors demanded skeletons for a more scientific study of medicine. It was helping in the advance of modern medicine. The demand had become so strong that men began to rob tombs and sell skeletons to doctors at high prices.

We are told that a doctor would usually buy just one skeleton for scientific study. It became very important in his work. But he had to keep it hidden because most people objected to keeping such a thing. As a rule, the doctor would keep his skeleton in some dark corner where it could not be seen, or hide it in a closet.

After a time, people began to suspect(怀疑) every doctor of hiding a skeleton in the closet. From this suspicion, the phrase “a skeleton in the closet” took on a broader, more general meaning to describe anything that a man wanted to keep others from discovering. It could be proof of a criminal act, or something much less serious. Well, that is one theory.

One writer, however, believes that the phrase might have come from something that really happened. It is his guess that a hidden closet in some old English country home may have turned up a real skeleton, clear proof of some old family shame or crime. Well, one man’s guess is as good as another. But this sounds like a story by the great French novelist, Balzac.

Baizac tells us of a man who suspected his wife of having a lover. The husband comes home by surprise. But she hears him and quickly hides her lover in the closet of her bedroom. He enters her room and asks her if she is hiding her lover. He says he will not open the door to the closet if she promises him there is no one there; He will believe her. She answers firmly that she is not hiding anyone in the closet.

The husband then begins to build a solid brick wall against the closet. His wife watches, knowing that her lover will never come out alive. But she will not change her story and admit her guilt.   

Which of the following situations is suitable for using the phrase “skeleton in the closet” ?

A. You have stolen something precious and don’t want it discovered.

B. You are a doctor and have to keep a skeleton for research.

C. If you have cut open a dead human body for scientific examination you should keep the skeleton secret.

D. You have done a crime or done something foolish, but you want to keep other from discovering it.

From the text we know that there are _______ theories about how the phrase “skeleton in the closet” came into being.

A. one    B. two    C. three D. four

In Chinese the world “skeleton” means _______.

A. 尸体 B. 标本 C. 收藏 D. 骷髅

Which of the following is right according to the text?

       A. In the 20th century, doctors realized the importance of anatomy(解剖) in the development of medicine.

B. The doctors of the ancient times liked to collect as many skeleton as possible.

C. The thieves stole skeletons from tombs in order to help the doctors.

D. It was legal that corpses of anybody were cut open for scientific examination in history.

From the story Balzac told we know that the wife’s lover must have become _______.

A. a corpse B. a phrase C. a skeleton 　D. a secret

Lucky is the man who has no “skeleton in his closet”. When a man has done something in his life that he is ashamed of, that he wants to hide, he is said to have a “skeleton in his closet”. Some people may have more than one skeleton.

As we have noted many times, it is hard to find out how these expressions begin. Sometimes, we get some hard facts. But more often we have to depend on guesswork. And that is true of this phrase, which came from England.

Before 1932, English law did not permit a doctor to cut open a dead human body for scientific examination, unless it was the corpse(尸体) of an executed(处决) criminal.

But when it became legal, more and more doctors demanded skeletons for a more scientific study of medicine. It was helping in the advance of modern medicine. The demand had become so strong that men began to rob tombs and sell skeletons to doctors at high prices.

We are told that a doctor would usually buy just one skeleton for scientific study. It became very important in his work. But he had to keep it hidden because most people objected to keeping such a thing. As a rule, the doctor would keep his skeleton in some dark corner where it could not be seen, or hide it in a closet.

After a time, people began to suspect(怀疑) every doctor of hiding a skeleton in the closet. From this suspicion, the phrase “a skeleton in the closet” took on a broader, more general meaning to describe anything that a man wanted to keep others from discovering. It could be proof of a criminal act, or something much less serious. Well, that is one theory.

One writer, however, believes that the phrase might have come from something that really happened. It is his guess that a hidden closet in some old English country home may have turned up a real skeleton, clear proof of some old family shame or crime. Well, one man’s guess is as good as another. But this sounds like a story by the great French novelist, Balzac.

Baizac tells us of a man who suspected his wife of having a lover. The husband comes home by surprise. But she hears him and quickly hides her lover in the closet of her bedroom. He enters her room and asks her if she is hiding her lover. He says he will not open the door to the closet if she promises him there is no one there; He will believe her. She answers firmly that she is not hiding anyone in the closet.

The husband then begins to build a solid brick wall against the closet. His wife watches, knowing that her lover will never come out alive. But she will not change her story and admit her guilt.   

1. Which of the following situations is suitable for using the phrase “skeleton in the closet” ?

A. You have stolen something precious and don’t want it discovered.

B. You are a doctor and have to keep a skeleton for research.

C. If you have cut open a dead human body for scientific examination you should keep the skeleton secret.

D. You have done a crime or done something foolish, but you want to keep other from discovering it.

2. From the text we know that there are _______ theories about how the phrase “skeleton in the closet” came into being.

A. one    B. two    C. three  D. four

3. In Chinese the world “skeleton” means _______.

A. 尸体   B. 标本  C. 收藏  D. 骷髅

4. Which of the following is right according to the text?

A. In the 20th century, doctors realized the importance of anatomy(解剖) in the development of medicine.

B. The doctors of the ancient times liked to collect as many skeleton as possible.

C. The thieves stole skeletons from tombs in order to help the doctors.

D. It was legal that corpses of anybody were cut open for scientific examination in history.

5. From the story Balzac told we know that the wife’s lover must have become _______.

A. a corpse  B. a phrase  C. a skeleton 　D. a secret

In the last century there were not 　1　 big towns in the U.S.　2　 there are today.Most towns in the country were small.And in these small towns,the general store was 　3　 people 　4   the things they couldn't made or grow at home.

  5   the store sold   6   a good deal about life in the United States at that time.People bought tools that they needed on their farms.They bought salt,sugar,coffee and   7   that their farms didn't produce.They bought articles of   8   that they could not make themselves,and cloth or other materials that the  9   would make into dresses for themselves,shirts for the men and clothes for their children.

Life in the   10   century America was   11  .One proves that most people were satisfied with what they had   12   still they looked forward   13   courage to whatever the future would   14   them.It would be interesting to know   15   they would feel about life in the world today.  16   to them that life is too complex,or would they be glad to see that life is   17   in the past?

Nobody will   18   know the   19   people at that time would enjoy life today or not.Perhaps man is always the same of his kind.They did take things for granted,and also they did try to make life more comfortable.We have to admit that it is the same   20   people at present.

1.A.many                     B.so many             C.so much             D.a lot of

2.A.where             B.like                    C.what                  D.as

3.A.where             B.for                     C.in which             D.that

4.A.made                     B.bought               C.sold                D.paid for

5.A.That                B.No matter           C.Which             D.What

6.A.says                B.talks                  C.refers              D.tells

7.A.other things     B.another food    C.other foods         D.foods and drinks

8.A.clothes            B.clothing             C.dresses               D.suits

9.A.farmers           B.men                   C.women               D.children

10.A.eighteenth      B.nineteenth          C.twentieth            D.next

11.A.easy                     B.simple                C.interesting       D.tiresome

12.A.and which      B.and yet               C.and that              D.but what

13.A.in                 B.to                      C.of                   D.with

14.A.bring             B.take                   C.happen to           D.serve

15.A.what             B.whether              C.that                    D.how

16.A.Did it appear  B.Would it seem  C.What did it seem  D.What appeared

17.A.still what it used to be         B.better than what it was

C.much more easier than           D.no more than it was

18.A.never            B.always            C.once               D.ever

19.A.truth that              B.fact whether    C.idea how            D.information of

20.A.as                 B.for                     C.with                D.like