Question

I got up and dressed, stuck my violin under my jacket, and went out into the street. I wandered about for an hour, looking for a likely place, feeling as if I were about to commit a crime. Then I stopped at last under a bridge near the station and decided to have a go.

I felt tense and shaking. I drew my violin from under my coat like a gun. It was here, in Southampton, with trains passing overhead, that I was about to prove myself.

    The first notes I played were loud and raw, and then they settled down and began to run more smoothly and to stay more or less in tune. To my surprise I was neither arrested nor told to shut up. Indeed, nobody took any notice at all.

I walked the streets of Southampton for several days, gradually knowing how to try and get money by being a street artist. It was not a good thing, for instance, to let the hat fill up with money — the sight could discourage the people; nor was it wise to empty it completely, which could also confuse them, giving them no hint as to where to drop his money. Placing a couple of pennies in the hat to start the thing going soon became a good idea. Before I played another tune, I took off the big money, but always left two pennies behind.

Old ladies were most generous, and so were women with children, shop girls, and typists. As for the men: Heavy drinkers were always generous too and so were big young with muscles. But never a man with a hat, briefcase or dog; respectable types were the meanest of all, except retired army officers, who would bark “Why aren’t you working, young man?” and then threw much money into the hat to hide their confusion.

1.The underlined phrase “have a go” in Paragraph 1 probably means ________.

A. have a try                            B. run away             

C. change a place                            D. commit a crime

2.When the writer began to play the violin, he thought that ________.

A. he could make a lot of money              B. he had chosen the wrong place

C. he would get into trouble               D. people would stop and listen to him

3.According to the passage, the writer thought the best way of encouraging people to give a street-violinist money was to ________.

A. let the hat fill up with money first              

B. leave a small amount of money in the hat

C. make sure that the hat was always empty

D. choose the best place to play more smooth tunes

4.Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

A. Most of the ladies were willing to give him money.

B. Retired army officers seldom gave him money.

C. Drinkers were generous with their money.

D. Not all the people would feel pity for street-violinists.

Answer

1.A

2.C

3.B

4.B

【解析】

试题分析：本文主要讲述了作者在经历第一次街头小提前演奏的紧张不安之后，逐渐适应并很快学会鼓励人们往帽子里放钱的技巧，观察到哪些人很大方，哪些人爱说教也会给钱的故事。

1.推理题：根据后文作者站在那里开始演奏，开始的时候音调不稳，可知作者很紧张，是第一次街头演奏，因此have a go 在此处是尝试一下的意思。故选A。

2.推理题：根据第三段中“To my surprise I was neither arrested nor told to shut up”令我惊讶的是既没有人抓我也没有人叫我闭嘴，由此可知作者还以为会有麻烦。故选C。

3.细节题：根据第四段中“ I took off the big money, but always left two pennies behind”我拿走大钱，但总是留下两个硬币，由此可知在帽子里留少量的钱才是让人们给钱的好办法。故选B。

4.推理题：根据最后一段最后一句“ then threw much money into the hat to hide their confusion”。然后扔下许多钱到帽子里来掩饰他们的疑惑，由此可知退役的军官也会给钱的，因此B错误。故选B。

考点：考查故事类阅读