18．Many years ago，when I was a young man in my twenties，I worked as a salesman for a St．Louis piano company．We sold our pianos all over the state by advertising in small town newspapers and then，when we had received sufficient replies，we would load our little trucks，and drive into the area and sell the pianos to those who had replied．
Every time we would advertise in the cotton country of Southeast Missouri，we would receive a reply on a postcard which said，"Please bring me a new piano for my little granddaughter．It must be red mahogany（紅木）．I can pay $10 a month with my egg money．"The old lady had scrawled on and on until she filled up the postcard，then turned it over and even wrote on the front-around and around the edges until she filled up there was barely room for the address．
No finance company would carry a contract with payments that small，so we ignored her postcards．One day，however，I happened to be in that area calling on other replies，and out of curiosity I decided to look the old lady up．I found pretty much what I expected：The old lady lived in a one-room sharecroppers cabin in the middle of a cotton field．
The cabin had a dirt floor and there were chickens in the house．Obviously，the old lady could not have qualified to purchase anything on credit--no car，no phone，no real job，nothing but a roof over her head and not a very good one．I could see daylight through it in several places．Her little granddaughter was about 10，barefoot and wearing a feedsack dress．
56．According to the passage，the writerC
A．was told to visit the old lady
B．was asked to pay a visit by the old lady
C．got to that area by accident
D．had a close friend in that area
57．The underlined word"scrawled"in the second paragraph meansC．
A．cried B．begged
C．written D．called
58．After the writer explained to her，the old ladyB．
A．a(chǎn)ccepted the writer's advice
B．didn't listen to the writer
C．reported the writer to the boss
D．told her granddaughter to write postcards
59．What do you expect to be continued？A
A．The writer helped the old lady．
B．The old lady gave up writing postcards．
C．The local government tried to help．
D．The writer lost his business．
分析 作者通過登報紙在小城鎮(zhèn)賣鋼琴的，收到一個老人的明信片，她想給自己的孫女買一架鋼琴，可是她沒有很多錢，最后作者拜訪了這位老人，了解了她的具體情況．
解答 CCBA
56 C 細節(jié)題．根據(jù)文章第三 段，I happened to be in that area calling on other replies 可知作者碰巧來到這個地方，故選C．作者沒有被告知或要求來拜訪這個老人，這里也沒有好朋友，因此ABD不符合文意．
57 C 猜測詞義題． 根據(jù)文章第二 段Please bring me a new piano for my little granddaughter．It must be red mahogany（紅木）．I can pay $10 a month with my egg money．"可知這位老人繼續(xù)寫直到?jīng)]有空去寫地址，故選C．
58 B 細節(jié)題．根據(jù)文章第三 段so we ignored her postcards 可知我們忽視了她的明信片，但是這位老人也沒有放棄，不聽從作者的建議，故選B．
59 A 推理判斷題． 根據(jù)文章最后一段Her little granddaughter was about 10，barefoot and wearing a feedsack dress． 可知作者知道老人的情況后可能幫助這位老人，故選A．
點評 學生需要認真閱讀原文，把握文章大意，對文章脈絡有整體的了解，能仔細查找文中細節(jié)，并能根據(jù)文章內(nèi)容進行合理的推測判斷．
