18．My father's family is not a musical family．They are a family of words．My brother has my father's dark hair，his love of a good argument．I take after my mother．From her I inherited a curious nature，a sense of adventure，bright red hair．I did not，contrary to her hopes，inherit a talent for the piano．That fact was established beyond doubt after unsuccessful attempts to draw music from me．
The piano lessons began when I was four．My mother was convinced that l would be a child Mozart．She found the ideal teacher---Madame Oblenka，a strict Russian woman，whose pursed lips were enough to frighten a wild horse into submission．Madame Oblenka，who expected a little Mozart，was not very delighted to find a little girl banging her fists （拳頭） on the keys．
I tried to please her．"Feel the music，"she urged．I"felt"it and winced （畏縮） my ears--for what is more unpleasant than a series of wrong notes played continuously？She"felt"my music，too，which is why she always left with an angrier expression than when she came．
Once，when I was ten，I managed to record one of my own rehearsals （練習(xí)）．In order to escape my practice sessions，I would close myself behind the door of the piano room，put on the tape recording，and read until the tape had finished．That method worked for a week，until my mother began to wonder why I always missed the same B-sharp．She knocked on the door，and，receiving no answer，came in to check on me and found that I had fallen asleep while the tape of my performance played on and on．
I was twelve when my parents finally acknowledged that my hidden talent was not about to emerge （顯現(xiàn)） any time soon．My mother，refusing to admit defeat，told me to pick another instrument．"Choose anything you want，Honey，"she said，assuming that freedom of choice would inspire devotion．I thought long and hard and chose the drums．My parents，sensitive to noise，would be less than overjoyed by a daily bombardment of playing．I imagined my father in his study，cotton wads in his ears．
I worked my way through several other instruments before my mother hit on another idea．Maybe I wasn't meant to be an instrumentalist．Realizing that drama might be more suited to my talents，Mom took me to a drama teacher．However，he put me backstage，painting scenery．Once I recovered from my sense of injury，I realized the wisdom of his choice．I loved the active，practical backstage world，and I discovered that I had a knack for constructing and painting．I loved the challenge of taking our scanty （貧乏的） supplies and using them to make something beautiful．Imagining a scene and then seeing it emerge before me--this，to me，was close to magic．
I'm a sculptor now，and every day I experience afresh the joy of being fully absorbed in the act of artistic creation．It's a wonderful，blissful （樂而忘憂） feeling．I realize that my parents，in their misguided attempts to interest me in music，were trying to give me this feeling．And now I feel grateful．Perhaps they went about it in the wrong way，but their hearts were in the right place．
62．Madame Oblenka always felt angry becauseD．
A．the author was too young to play the piano well
B．the author often pointed out the wrong notes of her
C．the author kept banging on the keys unconciously
D．the author's performance was far from satisfactory
63．Why did the author choose the drums as a musical instrument？B
A．She was eager to free herself from piano lessons．
B．She was reluctant to play an instrument．
C．She was confident of handling them．
D．She was fond of beating drums．
64．The author's mother can be best described asA．
A．devoted and stubborn
B．encouraging and independent
C．helpful and considerate
D．hardworking and generous
65．We can learn from the passageD．
A．parents should encourage their children to create art
B．the ordinary backstage work can help one succeed
C．you can only get better at something if you practice
D．a(chǎn)rt should be treated as a joy rather than a burden．
分析 本文主要是介紹了作者在母親堅(jiān)持下被迫學(xué)習(xí)樂器的故事．
解答 62．D．細(xì)節(jié)理解題．根據(jù)第三段中She"felt"my music，too，which is why she always left with an angrier expression than when she came可知．Madame Oblenka對作者的表現(xiàn)不滿意．故選項(xiàng)D正確．
63．B．理解推斷題．根據(jù)第五段I thought long and hard and chose the drums．My parents，sensitive to noise，would be less than overjoyed by a daily bombardment of playing．可知作者選擇鼓，是因?yàn)樗幌雽W(xué)習(xí)樂器．故答案B正確．
64．A．理解推斷題．通讀全文可知作者的母親對于培養(yǎng)孩子學(xué)習(xí)樂器這件事非常堅(jiān)定，一直要求我．故答案A正確．
65．D．理解推斷題．根據(jù)最后一段I'm a sculptor now，and every day I experience afresh the joy of being fully absorbed in the act of artistic creation．It's a wonderful，blissful （樂而忘憂） feeling可知藝術(shù)應(yīng)當(dāng)被當(dāng)作樂趣來對待．故答案D正確．
點(diǎn)評 在做閱讀理解時，考生可快速閱讀短文，通讀測試題，明確考察點(diǎn)，在對應(yīng)細(xì)讀，加快做題速度．有時間還可以復(fù)查校對答案．
