完形填空

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 　　1　　 and her partner, a 255-year-old Italian violin, 　　2　　 to China for the first time last weekend．She 　　3　　 in Beijing on September 15 and also performed in Hangzhou and Shanghai．

　　Nicola is from Scotland and 　　4　　 playing the violin when she was four years old．　　5　　, it was not something her parents 　　6　　 her do．She went with her sister to violin lessons and 　　7　　 it and improved very quickly．

　　“There are so many different things I am fond of about the 　　8　　,” she said．“I can't really 　　9　　 it but I love giving live performances, I like the feeling of playing and communicating with the 　　10　　．I love the feeling of the violin under my chin(下巴)．”

　　However, playing violin six hours a day is not a/an 　　11　　 job．“I usually 　　12　　 in an upstairs bedroom when I'm at home．” she said．“But sometimes, when it's 　　13　　 outside, it can be upset．The house is right on the 　　14　　 and I can see others having fun 　　15　　 I'm on my own．”

　　Although practising is sometimes lonely, Nicola 　　16　　 felt she was lucky．“You can't have 　　17　　．I am really lucky to do what I love doing,” she said．Her 　　18　　 paid off(终有回报)．Nicola won BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2004 at 16．

　　　　19　　 her performing and recording activities, Nicola is a/an 　　20　　 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．

完型填空

　　Jenkins was a jeweler, who had made a large diamond (钻石)ring worth ￡57,000 for the Silkstone Jewellery Shop．When it was ready, he made a copy of it which looked 　　1　　 like the first one but was worth only￡2,000．This he took to the shop, which 　　2　　 it without a question．

　　Jenkins gave the much more 　　3　　 ring to his wife for her fortieth birthday．Then, the husband and wife 　　4　　 to Paris for a weekend．As to the 　　5　　 ring, the shop sold it for￡60,000．

　　Six months later the buyer 　　6　　 it back to Silkstone's office．“It's a faulty (有瑕疵的)diamond,”he said．“It isn't worth the high 　　7　　 I paid．”Then he told them the 　　8　　．His wife's car had caught fire in an 　　9　　．She had escaped (幸免) ,　　10　　 the ring had fallen off and been damaged (损坏) in the great 　　11　　 of the fire．

　　The shop had to 　　12　　．They knew that no fire on earth can 　　13　　 damage a perfect diamond．Someone had taken the 　　14　　 diamond and put a faulty one in its place．The question was：who 　　15　　 it?

　　A picture of the ring appeared in the 　　16　　．A reader thought he 　　17　　 7the ring．The next day, another picture appeared in the papers which 　　18　　 a famous dancer walking out to a plane for Paris．Behind the dancer there was a woman 　　19　　 a large diamond ring．“Do You know the 　　20　　 with the lovely diamond ring?”the papers asked their readers．Several months later, Jenkins was sentenced to seven years in prison．