Question

When I told my father that I was moving to Des Moines, Iowa, he told me about the only time he had been there. It was in the 1930s, when he was an editor in the literary magazine of Southern Methodist University（SMU）in Dallas, Texas. He also worked as a professor at SMU, and there was a girl student in his class who suffered from a serious back disease. She couldn’t afford the operation because her family was poor.

Her mother ran a boarding house in Galveston, a seaside town near Houston, Texas. She was cleaning out the attic（阁楼）one day when she came across an old dusty manuscript（手稿）. On its top page were the words, “By O. Henry”. It was a nice story, and she sent it to her daughter at SMU, who showed it to my father. My father had never read the story before, but it sounded like O. Henry, and he knew that O. Henry had once lived in Houston. So it was possible that the famous author had gone to the beach and stayed in the Gainestown boardinghouse, and had written the story there and left the manuscript behind by accident. My father visited an O. Henry expert at Columbia University in New York, who authenticated the story as O. Henry’s.

My father then set out to sell it. Eventfully, he found himself in Des Moines, meeting with Gardner Cowles, a top editor at the Des Moines Register. Cowles loves the story and bought it on the spot. My father took the money to the girl. It was just enough for her to have the operation she so desperately needed.

My father never told me what the O. Henry story was about. But I doubt that it could have been better than his own story.

1.Who discovered the O. Henry’s manuscript?

A. The girl’s mother.     B. The author’s father.

C. The girl.              D. The author.

2.Which of the following might explain the fact that the manuscript was found in the attic?

A. O. Henry once worked in Houston.

B. O. Henry once stayed in Galveston.

C. O. Henry once moved to Des Moines.

D. O. Henry once taught at SMU.

3.The underlined word “authenticated” in Paragraph 2 probably means __________.

A. named      B. treated     C. proved   D. Described

Answer

1.A

2.B

3.C

【解析】

试题分析:这是一位处于贫困中的母亲在发现O.Henry书稿时没有私藏，而是转交给作者的父亲，作者的父亲让专家鉴定后将书稿卖的钱如数给小女孩的母亲，生病的孩子得救了。

1.A细节理解题。根据第二段的She was cleaning out the attic（阁楼）one day when she came across an old dusty manuscript（手稿）. On its top page were the words, “By O.Henry”可知那位小女孩的母亲一天打扫阁楼上发现布满尘土的旧手稿，手稿上写着O.Henry的签名，故选A。

2.B细节理解题。根据第二段的O.Henry had once lived in Houston. So it was possible that the famous author had gone to the beach and stayed in the Gainestown boardinghouse可知O.Henry曾住在Houston，而不是在那里工作，而根据Her mother ran a boarding house in Galveston, a seaside town near Houston, Texas.可知O.Henry曾经在Galveston镇上的船屋中住过，故选B。

3.

考点：考查故事类短文阅读

【名师点睛】

故事类阅读应试技巧：

1、抓住文章的6个要素：

阅读时要学会从事情本身的发展去理解故事情节而不要只看事件在文中出现的先后顺序。因此，无论是顺叙还是倒叙，阅读此类文章时，必须要找到它结构中的5个W（when, where, who, why, what）和1个H（how），不过不是每篇都会完整地交待六个要素。毫无疑问，寻出这些元素是能够正确快速解题的一个先决条件。

2、注意作者的议论和抒情：

高考英语阅读理解故事类文章常伴随着作者思想情感的流露和表达，因此议论和抒情往往夹杂其中。行文时或按事情发生发展的先后时间进行或按事情发生发展的地点来转换，也可能按事情发展的阶段来布局。在引出话题，讲完一件事情后，作者往往会表达个人感悟或提出建议等。这些体现作者观点或思想的语句在阅读时可以划线，它们往往体现文章中心或者写作意图，属于必考点，所以要仔细体会。

3、结合前两点归纳文章中心，把握作者态度：

故事类文章是通过记叙一件事来表达中心思想的，它是文章的灵魂。归纳文章中心思想时，尤其要分析文章的结尾，因为很多文章卒章显志，用简短的议论、抒情揭示文章中心；文章中议论抒情的句子往往与中心密切相关；也有的文章需要在结合概括各段大意的基础上归纳中心。另外，叙述一件事必有其目的，或阐明某一观点，或赞美某种品德，或抨击某种陋习，这就要求我们在阅读时，通过对细节（第1点中的六要素）的理解，把握作者的态度。

4、有章有据进行解题判断：

分析文章，归纳主题，属于分析、概括、综合的表述能力的考查。切忌脱离文章，架空分析，一定让分析在文章中有依据。

比如第1小题Who discovered the O. Henry’s manuscript，根据文章第二段的She was cleaning out the attic（阁楼）one day when she came across an old dusty manuscript（手稿）可知那位小女孩的母亲一天打扫阁楼上发现布满尘土的旧手稿，手稿上写着O.Henry的签名，说明是小女孩的母亲发现的，故选A。