There at a secondhand clothing store in Northampton Mass, my l4-year-old son, John, and I noticed the coat. While the other coats drooped (低垂), this one looked as if it were   41  itself up. The coat was beautifully made, with a Fifth Avenue label and an  42   price of $28, which was popular just then with   43  , but could cost several hundred dollars new. John tried it on and the  44   was perfect.

John  45   the coat to school the next day and came home with a big smile. “Did the kids like your coat?” I asked. “They loved it,” he said,   46   folding it over the back of a chair and smoothing it flat. Over the next few weeks, a   47  came over John. Agreement replaced contrariness (作对) and   48   discussion replaced fierce argument. He became more mannerly and  49  , eager to please. He would generously lend his younger brother his tapes and lecture him   50   his behavior. When I mentioned this   51  to his teacher and wondered what caused the changes, she said laughing. “It   52   be his coat!” Another teacher told him she was giving him a good mark not only because he had earned   53   but because she liked his coat. At the library, we ran   54  a friend. “Could this be John?” he asked surprisingly,   55  John’s new height, appreciating the cut of his coat and holding out his hand, one gentleman to another.

John and I both know we should never   56   a person’s clothes for the real person within them.   57  , there is something to be said for wearing a standard of excellence for the world to see and for   58  what is on the inside with what is on the outside.

For John, it is a time when it is as easy to try on different  59  to life as it is to try on a coat. The whole world, the whole future is stretched out ahead, a vast landscape   60  all the doors are open. And he could picture himself walking through those doors wearing his wonderful, magical coat.

Carl lost his job. He had so little money that he spent his days at home. He watched his neighbor’s room, where an old professor lived. He found the rooms were full of old furniture and vases. Carl thought, “Why haven’t I got an old and valuable vase? I can sell it for a lot of money.”

   Carl had an old gun. It had been his great grandfather’s favorite thing a long time before. Carl didn’t want to use the gun but he thought, “Anything could happen.” He wanted to hide the gun under his coat but it was too long so he cut the end off with a saw(锯子).

   Next morning he watched the professor leave home at 10 o’clock. Carl broke the window and entered the house. He didn’t know much about arts. He couldn’t choose. He reached his hands towards a big vase when he heard a noise. The front door opened and someone entered the house. It was the professor. He had forgotten to take an important document. Carl became so afraid that  he pulled out the gun, “I haven’t stolen anything. I just want to go away or I will shoot.” cried Carl. “With that gun? ”asked the professor and he began to laugh. He wasn’t afraid of Carl at all.

   He said, “You can’t shoot with that old gun. Its place should be in a museum.”

   “Is this really an old gun? ” asked Carl. “How much is it worth?”

   “It was worth about 27,000 dollars,” said the professor, “But now you can get 20 dollars for it．”

  “Why?” asked Carl.

  The professor said, “Because its end is missing.”

36. Carl wanted to steal because he was interested in beautiful vases.

37. He cut the end of the gun off in order to hide it easily.

38. The professor came back because he saw Carl enter his house.

39. The professor was not afraid of Carl because he thought Carl dared not shoot.

40. The gun is worth 20 dollars now because Carl cut off its end.

Art theft is an ancient and complicated crime. When you look at some of the most famous cases of art thefts in history, you see thoroughly planned operations that involve art dealers, art fakers, mobsters, ransoms, and millions of dollars. Here you can read about some of the most famous cases of art theft in the history.
The First Theft:  
The first documented case of art theft was in 1473, when two panels of altarpiece of the Last Judgment by the Dutch painter Hans Memling were stolen. While the triptych was being transported by ship from the Netherlands to Florence, the ship was attacked by pirates who took it to the Gdansk cathedral in Poland. Nowadays, the piece is shown at the National Museum in Gdansk where it was recently moved from the Basilica of the Assumption.
The Most Famous Theft:
The most famous story of art theft involves one of the most famous paintings in the world and one of the most famous artists in history as a suspect. In the night of August 21, 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen out of the Louver. Soon after, Pablo Picasso was arrested and questioned by the police, but was released quickly.
It took about two years until the mystery was solved by the Parisian police. It turned out that the 30×21 inch painting was taken by one of the museum employees by the name of Vincenzo Peruggia, who simply carried it hidden under his coat. Nevertheless, Peruggia did not work alone. The crime was carefully conducted by a notorious con man, Eduardo de Valfierno, who was sent by an art faker who intended to make copies and sell them as if they were the original painting.
While Yves Chaudron, the art faker, was busy creating copies for the famous masterpiece, Mona Lisa was still hidden at Peruggias’ apartment. After two years in which Peruggia did not hear from Chaudron, he tried to make the best out of his stolen good. Eventually, Peruggia was caught by the police while trying to sell the painting to an art dealer from Florence, Italy. The Mona Lisa was returned to the Louver in 1913.
The Biggest Theft in the USA:
The biggest art theft in United States took place at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. On the night of March 18, 1990, a group of thieves wearing police uniforms broke into the museum and took thirteen paintings whose collective value was estimated at around 300 million dollars. The thieves took two paintings and one print by Rembrandt, and works of Vermeer, Manet, Degas, Govaert Flinck, as well as a French and a Chinese artifact.
As of yet, none of the paintings have been found and the case is still unsolved. According to recent rumors, the FBI are investigating the possibility that the Boston Mob along with French art dealers are connected to the crime.
【小题1】 How long did it take to put back the stolen Mona Lisa in Louver ?___

The drug store was closing for the night and Alfred Higgins was about to go home when his new boss approached him.

    “Empty your pockets please, Alfred,” Sam Carr demanded in a firm voice.

Alfred pretended to be shocked but he knew he’d been caught. From his coat he withdrew a make-up kit, a lipstick and two tubes of toothpaste.

    “I’m disappointed in you, Alfred!” said the little gray-haired man.

    “Sorry, sir. Please forgive me. It’s the first time I’ve ever done such a thing,” Alfred lied, hoping to gain the old man’s sympathy.

Mr Carr’s brow furrowed as he reached for the phone, “Do you take me for a fool? Let’s see what the police have to say. But first I’ll call your mother and let her know her son is heading to jail.”

“Do whatever you want,” Alfred shot back, trying to sound big. But deep down he felt like a child. He imagined his mother rushing in, eyes burning with anger, maybe in tears. Yet he wanted her to come quickly before Mr. Carr called the police.

Mr. Carr was surprised when Mrs Higgins finally arrived. She was very calm, quiet and friendly.   “Is Alfred in trouble?” she asked.

“He’s been stealing from the store,” the old man coolly replied.

Mrs. Higgins put out her hand and touched Mr. Carr’s arm with great gentleness as if she knew just how he felt. She spoke as if she did not want to cause him any more trouble. “What do you want to do, Mr. Carr?”

The woman’s calm and gentle manner disarmed the once-angry store-owner. “I was going to get a cop. But I don’t want to be cruel. Tell your son not to come back here again, and I’ll let it go.” Then he warmly shook Mrs. Higgins’s hand.

Mrs. Higgins thanked the old man for his kindness, then mother and son left. They walked along the street in silence. When they arrived home his mother simply said, “Go to bed, you fool.”

In his bedroom, Alfred heard his mother in the kitchen. He felt no shame, only pride in his mother’s actions. “She was smooth!” he thought. He went to the kitchen to tell her how great she was, but was shocked by what he saw.

His mother’s face looked frightened, broken. Not the cool, bright face he saw earlier. Her lips moved nervously. She looked very old. There were tears in her eyes.

This picture of his mother made him want to cry. He felt his youth ending. He saw all the troubles he brought her and the deep lines of worry in her grey face. It seemed to him that this was the first time he had ever really seen his mother.

1.Which of the following is true according to the passage?

   A．Alfred tried to sound big to hide his fear.

   B．It was the first time Alfred had stolen anything.

   C．Mr. Carr set a trap to catch Alfred stealing.

   D．Mr. Carr had planned to forgive Alfred from the beginning.

2.What does the underlined word “disarmed” probably mean?

   A．annoyed                               B．convinced

   C．got over                              D．made less angry

3.What impressed Alfred most about his mother at the drugstore was ______．

    A．how angry she was                    B．how effectively she handled Mr．Carr

    C．that she didn't cry                       D．that she was able to save him

4.What was the mother's attitude toward Alfred?

    A．She was very strict with him．                           B．She was supportive of him．

    C．She felt disappointed with him．                         D．She was afraid of him．

5.From the last paragraph, we know that Alfred ______．

    A．was no longer a youth                   B．felt proud of his mother

    C．felt guilty and regretful for his deed           D．wanted his mother to be happy

A young man was going to join the army and had to take a medical examination. The doctor was sitting at a desk when he went in. He said to the man. “Take your coat and shirt off, and sit on the chair.” The young man did so. The doctor looked at him for a moment without getting up from his chair and then said, “All right. Put on your clothes again.” “But you haven’t examined me at all!” the young man said in surprise. “There is no need to do so,” the doctor said with a smile. “When I told you to take your coat and shirt off, you heard me all right, so there is nothing wrong with your ears. You saw the chair, so your eyes are good. You could take your clothes off and sit on the chair, so you must be in good health. And you understand what I told you to do and did it without a mistake, so you must be clever enough for the army.”
【小题1】The young man went to the doctor because __________.