Peter came from a poor family. His father died when he was five. His mother had no money to send him to school. His mother’s best friend, Mrs Smith, felt that the boy was 　41 , and decided to give him some money so he 　42 　go to school. When the boy finished high school, he found a job in the city.

　43 soon Mrs Smith had a serious illness. As she was dying(即将死亡的)，she asked Peter to look after her daughter. A few years later, Peter married the girl. He loved her so much that he tried to make her　 44 every day. He cooked lots of delicious food and bought all kinds of beautiful clothes for her. So she became very fat and found 　 45 hard to walk.

　 One day, she felt uncomfortable. She went to the hospital. The doctor 　46 and told her not to eat meat, sugar, chocolate and things like that. She was afraid she might 　47 the doctor’s words, so she wrote all the names of the foods on a piece of paper. When she got home, she put the 　48 on the table and went out. When she returned home, she found all kinds of meat, sugar and chocolate in the kitchen. Peter was busy 49 . As soon as he saw her, he said 　50 ,“I’ve bought all the foods you wanted, dear!”

41. A. lazy　　　　　B. clever　　　　　　　　　 C. funny　　　　　 D. interesting

42. A. would　　　　　　　　　 B. must　　　　　　　　　 C. had to　　　　　　　　　 D. could

43. A. Though　　　　　　　 B. So C. But D. Or

44. A. outgoing　　　　　　　 B. lovely　　　　　　　　 C. active　　　　　 D. happy

45. A. it B. its C. that D. this

46. A. looked her up B. looked her over C. looked for her D. looked at her　　　　

47. A. forget B. catch C. remember　　　　　　　 D. follow

48. A. notice　　　　　　　　　　 B. name　　　　　　 C. words　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D. list

49. A. eating B. drinking C. cooking D. having

50. A. sadly　　　　　　　　 B. excitedly　　　　　 C. anxiously　　　　 D. angrily

Some people believe that dreams can tell them what will happen in the future. Nobody knows why, but there are many stories about people who have had dreams that came true. One of these people was a man called John Chapman, who lived in a small place, named Swaffham in England and was deeply loved by people in this town. Though he was very poor, he was kind and likely to help others in trouble. One night, he dreamed that he was standing on London Bridge and a man told him how to become rich. John Chapman really needed money and wanted to have a try, so the next day he set off for London. He walked for three days and three nights and at last arrived at London Bridge. There were plenty of people on the bridge, but they were not interested in him. They were all unaware of him. Three days later, he decided to go home, but before he could do this a shopkeeper was approaching him.

“I’ve been watching you,” the shopkeeper said. “Are you waiting for someone?”

“Yes,” said John. “I had a dream about a man on London Bridge. He was going to lead me to own a lot of money.”

“Oh,” said the shopkeeper. “You shouldn’t believe in dreams. If I believed in dreams, I’d be in Swaffham right now. I had a dream a few days ago about a man from Swaffham. His name was John Chapman and he had gold in his garden near an old apple tree.”

John was amazed and immediately headed for home. As soon as he arrived, he dug in his garden near the old apple tree.

46. Swaffham is probably the name of               .

       A. a city                    B. a bridge                C. a town                            D. a church

47. John Chapman went to London because           . 

       A. he visited a friend there                  B. he wanted to meet a shopkeeper

       C. he wanted to be famous                         D. he wanted to make his dream come true

48. The underlined phrase “headed for” (in Paragraph 5) means “       ”.

       A. left                     B. passed                  C. went                 D. hid

49. According to the story, John Chapman was away from his town for at least                       days.

       A three                      B. four                    C. five                                 D. six

50. What happened to John Chapman probably at the end of the story?

   A. He found nothing and remained very poor.

   B. He found gold and gave some to others in need.

   C. He found gold and kept it on his own.

   D. He found nothing and gave his dream up.

Claude Monet(莫奈) was born in 1840 in Paris, France. When he was five, his family moved to a place on the coast where he spent a lot of time on the beaches. It was here that he started to understand novels(小说)．

As a boy he __21__friends and family by drawing caricatures(漫画)．They were all pleased with his paintings. But at 18 his way of painting changed when he  __22__friends with Eugene Boudin who encouraged him to paint pictures out of doors. This is when his life as a(n)  __23__began. His family was  __24__ that he refused to go to art school. Instead Monet worked with other artists in their workrooms in Paris. In 1862 he became part of a group of impressionist(印象主义的) painters. During the 1860s he sold almost  __25__paintings but this didn’t stop him painting even though he always had problems with money.

Monet married his first wife in 1870 and had two sons. His second wife Alice, who had six children with her, lived with Monet and Monet’s children. After __26__houses several times, Monet found a house to rent(租) for his large family in a small village called Giverny in 1883, about 84 kilometers from Paris. He fell in love  __27__the place and it became his home for the rest of his life.

At last Monet began to  __28__his paintings and in 1890 he bought the house at Giverny. Monet was a loving gardener and created beautiful gardens there. His gardens inspired over 500 of his greatest paintings. Monet’s large paintings of the water lilies in his water garden, painted between 1916 and 1926, are some of his most famous. Monet gave these paintings to the people of  __29__. You can see them in Paris.

Towards the end of his life, Monet started to lose his __30__. This was the worst thing that could happen to a painter. It happened slowly over 16 years and by 1923 he was nearly blind. When Monet was very old and had bad health, he kept painting until a few months before his death in December 1926. 

(　　)46.A. had    B. loved    C. kept  D. pleased

(　　)47.A. met    B. made    C. fought  D. found

(　　)48.A. writer  B. painter  C. actor  D. teacher

(　　)49.A. glad    B. helpful  C. angry  D. satisfied

(　　)50.A. no      B. all     C. little  D. any

(　　)51.A. buying  B. building  C. moving  D. repairing

(　　)52.A. with    B. in      C. around  D. at

(　　)53.A. draw    B. sell    C. watch  D. collect

(　　)54.A. France  B. Britain  C. America  D. Australia

(　　)55.A. taste  B. weight  C. money  D. eyesight

钢琴家朗朗是世界古典音乐新一代领军人物，被誉为“当今世界最年轻的钢琴大师”.
Lang Lang, called “Chinese Mozart”, one of the best-known Chinese pianists in the world, was born in Shenyang in 1982. He began to take piano lessons at the age of three. He played the piano at least 20 hours a week at that time. At the age of five, he won the Shenyang Piano Competition. Four years later, his father took him to Beijing to study at the Beijing Central Music Conservatory(中央音乐学院). When he was 11, he won the first prize at the Fourth International Young Pianists Competition in Germany. In 1996, he went to the United States to study music. Soon he became famous all over the US, and then around the world.
The road to success has never been easy. Lang Lang’s father even stopped his job in his police office. For over ten years, he followed Lang Lang everywhere he went, not only as a father, but also as a manager, tutor and friend, while his mother stayed in Shenyang to make money. In spite of(尽管) giving on average over 150 performances around the world every year now, he still finds time to practice and learn new works. Lang Lang considers himself lucky and believes he should give something back. He has helped the children in poor areas a lot.
【小题1】How old was Lang Lang when he went to Beijing to study?