Section A
Benjamin West,thefather of American painting, showed his talent for art when he was only sixyears of age. But he did not know about brushes before a visitor told him heneeded one. In htose days ,a brush was made from camel’s hair. There were nocamels nearby. Benjamin decided that cat hair would work instead. He cut somefur from the family cat to make a brush.
The brush did nottlast long. Soon Benjamin needed more fur. Before long, the catbegan to lookragged （蓬乱）. His father saidthat the cat must be sick. Benjamin was forced to admit what he had been doing.
The cat’s lotwas about to improve. That year, one of Benjamin’s cousins,Mr.Pennington, came to visit. He was impressed with Benjamin’s drawings. Whenhe went home, he sent Benjamin a box of paint and some brushes. He also sentsix engravings （版画）by an artist. Thesewere the forst pictures and first real paint and brushes Benjamin had everseen.In1747，whenBenjamin was nine years old，Mr.Penningtonretured for another visit .He was amazed at what Benjamin had done with hisgift.He asked Benjamin’s parents if hemight take the boy to Philadelphia for a visit.
Inthe city, Mr.Pennington gave Benjamin materials for creatingoil paintings.The boy began a landscape (风景)painting.Wiliams ,a well-known painter,came to see him work . Wiliams wasimpressed with Benjamin and gave him two classic books on painting to take home.The books were long and dull. Benjamin could read only a little,having been apoor student.But he later said,”Those two books were my companions by day,andunder my pillow at night.”While it is likely that he understood very little ofthe books,they were his introduction to classical paintings.The nine-year-oldboy decided then that he would be an artist.
What is the text mainly about?
考查文章整体把握，文章主要介绍了美国绘画之父Benjamin在成为一名画家之前的生活经历，并介绍了Pennington对Benjamin的一些帮助。故选C。
What does the underlined sentence in paragraph 3 suggest?
根据第三段These were the forst pictures and first real paint and brushes Benjamin had ever seen.可知Benjamin在剪完猫的毛做刷子之后，就很快由来真正的刷子，故选D。
What did Pennington do to help Benjamin develophis talent?
考查文章细节理解，根据最后一段“Mr. Pennington gave Benjamin materials for creating oil paintings”, 可知Pennington为了帮助Benjamin培养绘画天赋，给他提供了一些绘画材料，故选B.
Williams’ two books helped Benjamin to________.
考查文章细节理解，根据最后一段"While it is likely that he understood very little of the books, they were his introduction to classical paintings. The nine-year-old boy decided then that he would be an artist," 可知：这两本书帮助Benjamin坚定了自己成为一名画家的决心，故选D.