Grandma Moses is among the most famous twentieth- century painters of the United States, yet she did not start painting until she was in her late seventies. As she once said of herself; "I would never sit back in a rocking chair, waiting for someone to help me.  No one could have had a more productive old age.  

   She,Anna Mary Robertson,was born on a farm in New York State,one of five boys and five girls. At twelve she left home and was in domestic service until, at twenty-seven, she mar?ried Thomas Moses, the hired hand of one of her employers. They farmed most of their lives, first in Virginia and then in New York State,at Eagle Bridge. She had ten children, of whom five survived;her husband died in 1927. Grandma    Moses painted a little as a child and made embroidery(刺綉) pictures as a hobby, but only changed to oils in old age because her hands had become too stiff to sew and she wanted to keep busy and pass the time. Her pictures were first sold at the local drugstore(杂货店) and at a market and were soon noticed by a businessman who bought everything she painted. Three of the pictures exhibited in the Museum of       Modern Art,and in 1940 she had her first exhibition in New York. Between the 1930*s and her death she produced some 2,000 pictures:detailed and lively portrayals(描绘) of the country life she had known for so long,with a wonderful sense of color and form. "I think really hard till I think of something really pretty, and then I paint it”,she said.

(   ) 4. According to the passage, Grandma Moses began to paint because she wanted to

   A. make herself beautiful   B. keep active

   C.  earn more money   D. become famous 

(   ) 5. Grandma Moses spent most of her life         .

   A. nursing   B. painting   C. embroidering   D. farming 

(   ) 6. The underlined word "survived" means         .

   A.graduated from college

   B.examined the condition of the house

   C.lived longer than the other children

   D.  gave up themselves to the police 

(   ) 7. From Grandma Moses' description of herself in the first paragraph, it can be inferred that she was         .

   A. independent   B. pretty   C. rich   D. nervous

(   ) 8. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

   A.Grandma Moses:Her Life and Pictures

   B.The Children of Grandma Moses

   C.Grandma Moses:Her Best Exhibition

   D.Grandma Moses and Other Older Artists

  I once knew an old man whose bad memory made him famous. John Smith was so forgetful that he sometimes forgot what he was talking about in the middle of a sentence. His wife had to constantly remind him about his meetings, his classes―even his meals. Once he forgot, he ate breakfast twice, at home and at school. His wife liked to remind her neighbors, "If John didn't have his head tied on,he would forget that too!" Since Smith was a professor at a well-known university, his forgetfulness was often an embarrassment. It wasn't that he was not clever, as some critical people tended to say,just very,very absent-minded. One hot summer day,Pro?fessor Smith decided to take his children to a seaside town about a three-hour train ride away. To make the trip more interesting for his young children,he kept the name of the town a secret.

However, by the time they arrived at the station, Smith forgot the name of the town he was planning to visit. Luckily, a friend of his happened to be in the station. He offered to take care of the children while Smith hurried back home to find out where he was going.

The professor's wife was surprised to see him again so soon. "Oh,my dear,I forgot the name of the town. ""What? You forgot the name? Maybe one day you will forget my name!Now I'll write the name of that town on a piece of paper, and you put it in your pocket and please, please don't forget where you put it."

Satisfied that she had solved the problem, she sent her husband off again. Ten minutes later she was astonished to see him outside the house for the third time.

"What is the matter now?"

"As you told me,I didn't forget where I put the name of that town,but I forgot where I left our children!"

(   ) 6. In the opinion of the writer of this passage, the professor is        .

   A. careless   B. absent-minded

   C.  foolish   D. forgetful 

(   ) 7. The underlined word "embarrassment" in the first paragraph may mean        .

   A. amusement   B. satisfaction

   C.  fun   D. discomfort 

(   ) 8. From the end of the story,we know Mrs. Smith would probably be very        .

   A. satisfied   B. sorry

   C.  angry   D. funny

   Green is an important color in nature. It is the color of grass and the leaves on trees. It is also the color of most growing plants.

    Sometimes the word "green" means young, fresh and growing. Sometimes it describes something that is not yet ripe or finished. For example a greenhorn is someone who has no experience, who is new to a situation. In the fifteenth century, a greenhorn was a young cow or ox whose horns (角) had not yet developed. A century or so later, a greenhorn was a soldier who had not yet had any experience in battle.    By the eighteenth century a greenhorn had the meaning it has today―a person who is new in a job.

Someone who has the ability to grow plants well is said to have a green thumb. The expres?sion comes from the early nineteen hundreds. A person with a green thumb seems to have a magic touch that makes plants grow quickly and well. You might say that the woman next door has a green thumb if her garden continues to grow long after your plants have died.

   The Green Revolution is the name given some years ago to the development of new kinds of rice and other grains. The new plants produced much larger crops. The Green Revolution was the result of hard work by agricultural scientists who had green thumbs.

   Green is also the color used to describe the powerful feeling jealousy(嫉妒) .The green-eyed monster is not a frightening creature from outer space. It is an expression used about four hundred years ago by British writer William Shakespeare in his play "Othello". It describes the unpleasant feeling a person has when someone has something he wants. A young man may suf?fer from the green-eyed monster if his girlfriend begins going out with someone else. Or that green-eyed monster may affect your friend if you get a pay rise and she does not. 

(   ) 5. Greenhorn now refers to .

   A.a person who is new in a job

   B.a new solider

   C.a young horse

   D.none of the above

(   ) 6. A person who has a green thumb is a person        .

   A.who is good at growing plants

   B.whose thumbs are in green color

   C.whose garden is greener than others'

   D.who is younger than his neighbors

(   ) 7. Which of the following has the same meaning with the underlined word in the third paragraph?

   A. method   B. finger

   C.  tool   D. idea

(   ) 8. The author is actually talking about        .

   A. colors   B. language   C. politics   D. agriculture

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