Question

【題目】 I live in Mentone, a quiet, simple, peaceful place, where the rich never come. I met Theophile Magnan, a retired, rich, old man from Lyons yesterday, in the Hotel des Anglais. Theophile looked sad and dreamy, and didn’t talk with anybody else, which brought me back to the past.

A long time ago, Francois Millet, Claude, Carl and I were young artists—very young artists—in fact.

Yes, Francois Millet, the great French artist, was my friend.

Millet wasn’t any greater than we were at that time. He wasn’t known, even in his own village.

We were all poor though we had stocks(存貨) and stocks of as good pictures as anybody in Europe painted. Once a person ever offered four francs (法郎) for Millet’s “Angelus”, which he meant to sell for eight.

It was a fact in human history that a great artist would never be accepted until after he was starved and dead. His pictures climbed to high prices after his death.

Then we made a decision that one of us must die, to save the others and himself.

Millet was chosen, chosen to die.

During the next three months Millet painted with all his power, enlarged his stock all he could, not pictures, no! sketches, studies, parts of studies, fragments of studies, of course, with his cipher(暗號) on them.

They were the things to be sold.

Carl went to Paris to start the work of building up Millet’s name. Claude and I went to sell Millet’s small pictures and to build up his name as well.

We made Millet a master. I always said to my customer, “I am a fool to sell a picture of Francois Millet’s at all, for he is not going to live three months, and when he dies, his pictures can’t be had for love or money.”

Claude and I took care to spread that little fact as far as we could.

Carl made friends with the reporters, and got Millet’s condition reported to England and all over the Europe, and America, and everywhere.

The sad end came at last, Millet died, not really. He became Theophile Magnan.

The pictures went up. There’s a man in Paris today who owns seventy Millet pictures. He paid us two million francs for them. Do you still remember the “Angelus”? Carl sold it for twenty-two hundred francs.

We are no longer artists and Millet dead.

【1】Why did the four friends decide to choose one of them to die?

A.They wanted to be rich.B.They wanted to be famous.

C.They wanted to save money.D.They wanted to be respected.

【2】Which of these is a fact based on the passage?

A.The story was written in memory of Millet.

B.Millet was still alive but had a new name.

C.Millet lived a wealthy life at first.

D.Millet failed to make a famous artist.

【3】What made the four friends’ plan succeed?

A.That they didn’t want to be artists any longer.

B.That Millet’s pictures were sold at very high prices.

C.That people had pity on these poor artists.

D.People’s wish to own valuable art works at low prices.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】A

【2】B

【3】D

【解析】

本文講述的是作者和他的幾位朋友都是非常年輕的藝術(shù)家，雖然他們有很多好畫，但是賣不出高價。他們知道一位偉大的藝術(shù)家死后，他的畫可以賣出高價，所以他們當中的Millet被選擇去死。他們到處宣傳Millet快死了，終于Millet成為了大師，他的畫也賣出了很高的價格。

【1】推理判斷題。A：他們想變得富有；B：他們想變得出名；C：他們想省錢；D：他們想被尊重。根據(jù)第六段中“It was a fact in human history that a great artist would never be accepted until after he was starved and dead. His pictures climbed to high prices after his death.”和第七段中“Then we made a decision that one of us must die, to save the others and himself.”可知，他們決定選他們中的一個去死，目的是為了把畫賣出高價，變得富有。故選A。

【2】推理判斷題。A：寫這個故事是為了紀念米勒；B：米勒還活著，但換了一個新名字；C：米勒一開始過著富裕的生活；D：米勒沒能成為著名的藝術(shù)家。根據(jù)倒數(shù)第三段中“The sad end came at last, Millet died, not really. He became Theophile Magnan.”可知，米勒并不是真的死了，而是換了個名字繼續(xù)活在世上。故選B。

【3】推理判斷題。A：他們不想再當藝術(shù)家了。B：米勒的畫以很高的價格出售。C：人們同情這些可憐的藝術(shù)家。D：人們希望以低價擁有有價值的藝術(shù)品。根據(jù)第十二段中“I am a fool to sell a picture of Francois Millet’s at all, for he is not going to live three months, and when he dies, his pictures can’t be had for love or money.”可知，他們跟買畫的顧客說后悔把弗朗索瓦·米勒的畫賣了，因為他活不過三個月，他死后，無論如何也買不到他的畫。所以他們的計劃能成功是基于人們希望可以低價買到將死畫家的畫，以期望升值。故選D。