第二部分阅读理解（共两节，满分50分）
第一节：阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并将答案写在答题卡上。（共20小题，每小题2分，满分40分）
A
O. Henry was a pen name used by an American writer of short stories. His real name was William Sydney Porter. He was born in North Carolina in 1862. As a young boy he lived an exciting life. He did not go to school for very long, but he managed to teach himself everything he needed to know. When he was about 20 years old, O. Henry went to Texas, where he tried different jobs. He first worked on a newspaper, and then had a job in a bank, when some money went missing from the bank O. Henry was believed to have stolen it. Because of that, he was sent to prison. During the three years in prison, he learned to write short stories. After he got out of prison, he went to New York and continued writing. He wrote mostly about New York and the life of the poor there. People liked his stories, because simple as the tales were, they would finish with a sudden change at the end, to the reader’s surprise.
41. In which order did O. Henry do the following things?
a. Lived in New York. b. Worked in a bank. c. Travelled to Texas.
d. Was put in prison. e. Had a newspaper job. f. Learned to write stories.
A. e. c. f. b. d. a B. e. b. d. c. a. f. C. c. e. b. d. f. a D. c. b. e. d. a f.
42. O. Henry went to prison because ___________.
A. people thought he had stolen money from the newspaper
B. people thought he had taken money that was not his
C. he wanted to write stories about prisoners
D. he broke the law by not using his own name
43. What do we know about O. Henry before he began writing?
A. He was very good at learning. B. He was not serious about his work.
C. He was devoted to the poor. D. He was well-educated.
44. Where did O. Henry get most material for his short stories?
A. His life inside the prison. B. The newspaper articles he wrote.
C. His exciting early life as a boy. D. The city and people of New York.