阅读理解。
Mary Somerville was born in 1780 in Burntisland, Scotland. Her contribution to mathematics was in both
algebra (代数) and differential and integral calculus (微积分学).
Mary was one of the world's first famous female mathematicians. She became interested in mathematics
and decided to study it at the time when it was considered unacceptable for a woman to do so. She bought
books on algebra and geometry and read them at night. In spite of disapproval from people around her, she
firmly went on with her struggle to learn. She won a prize for her solution to an algebra problem. She went
on to write several books on mathematics. Later in her life, she thought deeply about the years in which she
had persevered (坚持) almost without hope and said, "It taught me never to lose heart."
Mary's way of learning remains useful today. If she worked for a while on a problem without coming up
with an idea, she stopped working and turned her attention to the piano, her needlework, or a walk outdoors.
She then returned to the problem with a fresh mind and a solution turned up. If she could not understand a
passage while reading, she would forget about it and read on; several pages later, the meaning of the puzzling
passage would become clear to her.
1. Why did Mary decide to study math?
A. Because she found math interesting and wanted to study it.
B. Because she was one of the world's first famous female mathematicians.
C. Because it was not considered acceptable for a woman to study math.
D. Because she was bored and had nothing to do.
2. What does the underlined word "disapproval" in Paragraph 2 mean in this text?
A. Disagreement.
B. Agreement.
C. Support.
D. Discovery.
3. What is the main idea of the third paragraph?
A. Mary could solve any difficult math problem easily.
B. Mary was, without doubt, a famous female mathematician.
C. Mary had some useful ways to deal with difficulties in her work.
D. Mary's ways to overcome difficulties were not effective.
4. According to the passage, if you have been puzzled by a math problem, you'd better ____.
A. keep working on it until it is solved
B. just forget about the problem
C. turn to your math teacher for help
D. listen to light music for a while and then continue working on it