When I told my father that I was moving to Des Moines, Iowa, he told me about the only time he had been there. It was in the 1930s, when he was an editor of the literary magazine of Southern Methodist University(SMU) in Dallas, Texas. He also worked as a professor at SMU, and there was a girl student in his class who suffered from a serious back disease. She couldn't afford the operation because her family was poor.

Her mother ran a boardinghouse in Galveston, a seaside town near Houston, Texas. She was cleaning out the attic(閣樓) one day when she came across an old dusty manuscript(手稿). On its top page were the words, “By O. Henry.” It was a nice story, and she sent it to her daughter at SMU, who showed it to my father. My father had never read the story before, but it sounded like O. Henry, and he knew that O. Henry had once lived in Houston. So it was possible that the famous author had gone to the beach and stayed in the Galveston boardinghouse, and had written the story there and left the manuscript behind by accident. My father visited an O. Henry expert at Columbia University in New York, who authenticated the story as O. Henry's.

My father then set out to sell it. Eventfully, he found himself in Des Moines, meeting with Gardner Cowles, a top editor at the Des Moines Register. Cowles loves the story and bought it on the spot. My father took the money to the girl. It was just enough for her to have the operation she so desperately needed.

My father never told me what the O. Henry story was about. But I doubt that it could have been better than his own story.

49. Who found the O. Henry's manuscript?

A. The girl's mother.

B. The author's father.

C. The girl.

D. The author.

50. Which of the following might explain the fact that the manuscript was found in the attic?

A. O. Henry once worked in Houston.

B. O. Henry once stayed in Galveston.

C. O. Henry once moved to Des Moines.

D. O. Henry once taught at SMU.

51. The underlined word “authenticated” in Paragraph 2 probably means “________”.

A. named B. treated

C. proved D. described

52. According to the text, why did the author's father go to Des Moines?

A. To sell the O. Henry story.

B. To meet the author himself.

C. To talk with the O. Henry expert.

D. To give money to the girl.

【要點(diǎn)綜述】 “我”告訴父親“我”要搬到愛荷華州的Des Moines城居住時(shí)，父親給“我”講述了一個(gè)多年前他在Des Moines城所遇到的一個(gè)故事，故事講述了著名短片小說家歐·亨利的一篇故事手稿最終救人一命的經(jīng)過。

49. A　細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第二段的第二句可知是那位女孩的母親發(fā)現(xiàn)了歐·亨利的手稿，故選A。

50. B　推理判斷題。根據(jù)第二段中的“…and he knew that O. Henry had once lived in Houston. So it was possible that the famous author had gone to the beach and stayed in the Galveston boardinghouse…”一句可知本題答案為B。

51. C　詞義猜測(cè)題。句意：我父親去拜訪了紐約哥倫比亞大學(xué)的歐·亨利研究專家，他證明這份手稿是歐·亨利的真跡。由此可知本詞意思是“證明”，故選C。

52. A　推理判斷題。根據(jù)第三段的前兩句可知“我”的父親去Des Moines的目的是為了賣歐·亨利的手稿，故選A。