第二节完形填空（共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分）
　　阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C、D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
　　When I Was four years old,my mother died of cancer.My father brought my sister and me up 36 .Last April,when he had the heart surgery(手术),I felt as if 37 were going to end.
　　He is the most caring,selfless,loving person I know.
　　It all 38 so quickly.Out of nowhere my father's 39 was in danger.I was 17 and thinking about 40 would have to live my life 41 either of my parents! He was the person who jad 42 me what I am and could always 43 me down the fight way when I didn't know what path to choose.He was 44 to me. I felt completely 45 at the thought of his death.
　　Before my mother 46 ,My father explained her sickness to me.Now again he thought the best thing was to 47 .He sat me down for a long conversation.It was too frightening for my father and mme to talk about him 48 the surgery,so he worked around it by saying,"okay,we both know I am 48 going to die during this surgery, 50 say when I am leaving the hospital I get hit by a bus or something." 51 we talked about what I would do if he died.It was the 52 sonversation,but that was exactly what I 53 .
　　Facing the danger of death brings about the realization of 54 .I have learned to live every moment to its 55 ,never leaving anything unsaid or undone.
　　36.A.both B.alone C.later D.together
　　37.A.the world B.his illness C.our happiness D.my childhood
　　38.A.developed B.happened C.ended D.started
　　39.A.job B.family C.life D.health
　　40.A.when B.where C.why D.how
　　41.A.like B.after C.without D.with
　　42.A.made B.told C.given D.taught
　　43.A.drive B.stop C.place D.lead
　　44.A.a teacher B.a friend C.everything D.nothing
　　45.A.excited B.frightened C.disappointed D.lost
　　46.A.got ready B.fell ill C.became well D.passed away
　　47.A.talk B.wait C.leave D.plan
　　48.A.preparing for B.dying from C.working at D.having
　　49.A.not B.also C.probably D.surely
　　50.A.and B.so C.but D.then
　　51.A.First of all B.After a while C.At the end D.In this way
　　52.A.funniest B.easiest C.hardest D.happiest
　　53.A.expected B.needed C.enjoyed D.missed
　　54.A.joy B.work C.parents D.life
　　55.A.fulllest B.strongest C.longest D.happiest

　　"Mark Twain" was the name used by Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910) when he wrote books. His father was a lawyer, but a poor one, who lived at Florida, Missouri. The family was so poor that Samuel did not receive much teaching. He had to learn all that he could from the people whom he met. His father died when he was very young, and then there was even less money than before.

　　Many of the men in this part of America worked in the ships on the great River Mississippi, and he did this himself at one time (1857).

　　Where did he find the name "Mark Twain"? It came from the great river itself. It was part of one of the cries used by men who worked in the ships. When a man called "By the mark twain!"  he meant that the river was "two marks deep" there, that is to say, six feet deep ( "Twain" is an old form of the work "Two".) Samuel Clemens often heard these words when he was young, and he used them as a penname all his life.

　　During his work on the Mississippi he met travelers of all kinds, and this helped him a great deal when he started to write. But the number of travelers became smaller when war started in America in 1861. Many of the great ships on the river stopped work. Samuel left then and went to Nevada with his brother, who was at that time Governor of Nevada. There, near the town of Carson, Samuel became a gold miner, but he never made much money at the time. He soon saw that life in the gold mines was not for him. He also tried writing for the newspapers in Nevada, and this seemed more hopeful. He found that he could write.

　　He went to Europe in 1867 and visited France and Italy. In 1870 he married Olivia Langdon, and two years later he was spending nearly all his time writing. Among his books is his own story (1908).

　　He is now always known as Mark Twain, and many people do not even know that his family name was Clemens. He traveled in America and in England, and went to Oxford in 1907. He was one of  the great American writers of the time, and could make his readers laugh – a thing which few writers can do. He died in 1910.

"Mark Twain" was _________.

      A. a famous American writer  B. name of a book

      C. a great river in America  D. a large ship

As a child, Samuel did not get much education because _________.

A.his father died too early

B.the family was very poor

  C. he disliked school very much

D. he could learn what he liked from the people he met

What gave him a great deal when he started writing? _______

A. His poor childhood     B. The Mississippi river 

C. All kinds of travelers he met  D. His brother

We can infer from the passage that ________.

A. Samuel loved writing from his early age

B. Samuel did not love writing at the beginning

C. his writings to the newspaper were successful

D. his brother encouraged him to write more

According to the writer of the passage, a good writer could _________.

A. write a lot for his readers

B. make a lot of money for his family

C. cause his readers to laugh

D. travel everywhere he wanted

　　He lived his whole life as a poor man He suffered from a mental illness that led him to cut off part of his left ear in 1888 and to shoot himself two years later. But after his death, he achieved the world fame.

　　* And the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, home to the biggest collection of his masterpieces, is marking the anniversary with exhibitions throughout the year.

　　“He is a big fame like Einstein and Beethoven. He is such a great figure. We are always amazed by how popular he is and his popularity seems to be growing.” said Andreas Bluehm, the museum's head of exhibitions.

　　Van Gogh was the son of a pastor. He left school when he was just 15. By the age of 27, he had already tried many jobs including an art gallery salesman and a French teacher. Finally in 1880, he decided to begin his studies in art.

　　“Instead of trying to reproduce exactly what I have before my eyes. I use colour more freely, in order to express myself more forcibly,” he wrote in a letter to his brother, Theo, in 1888.

　　Van Gogh sold only one painting during his short life. But now his works are sold for millions of dollars. His “Portrait of Dr. Gachet” was sold for US 89.5 million in 1990. It is the highest price ever paid for a painting.

1．The second paragraph mainly tells us that ________.

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A．the Van Gogh Museum is located in Amsterdam

B．the Van Gogh Museum has the biggest collection of Van Gogh'smasterpieces

C．exhibitions will be held in honor of Van Gogh

D．the Van Gogh Museum will hold exhibitions the whole year through for Van Gogh

2．The underlined word “figure” in the third paragraph means “________”.

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3．The writer cited a part of a letter written by Van Gogh to show Van Gogh's ________.

[　　]

4．Choose the right order of the given events.

a．He worked as a French teacher.

b．He achieved the world fame.

c．He left school. d. He cut off his left ear.

e．He shot himself. f. He began studies in art.

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