“Daddy, can I learn to play the violin?” young Sarah asked her father. She was always ____1____ things and her father was not very happy.

“You cost me a lot of money, Sarah,” he said. “First you wanted to learn horse riding, then dancing, then swimming. Now it’s the ____2____.”

“I’ll play every day,” Sarah said, “I’ll try very ____3____.”

“All right,” her father said. “This is what I’ll do. I’ll pay for you to have lessons for one and a half months. At the end of ____4____ weeks you must play something for me. If you play well, you can have ____5____ lessons. If you play badly, I will ____6____ the lessons.” 

He soon found a good violin teacher and Sarah began her lessons. The teacher was very expensive, ____7____ her father kept his promise.

Quickly, the time came for Sarah to play for her father. Sarah began to play. She played very badly. She made a ____8____ noise. Her father had one of his friends with him, and the friend put his hands over his ears.

When Sarah finished, her father said, “Well done, Sarah. You can have more lessons.” Sarah ran ____9____ out of the room. Her father’s friend turned to him. “You’ve spent a lot of money, but she still plays very badly,” he said.

“Well, that’s true,” her father said, “But since she started learning the violin I’ve been able to ____10____ five apartments in this building very cheaply. In another six weeks I’ll own the whole building!”

1.1.

A asking for

B looking for

C giving up

D waking up

解析：选A。A 考查动词短语辨析。根据后面的“First you wanted to learn horse riding, then dancing, then swimming.”可知，她总是问她爸爸要东西。故选A。

2.2.

A piano

B violin

C guitar

D drum

解析：选B。B 考查名词辨析。根据前文的“can I learn to play the violin?”可知，她现在想要学小提琴。故选B。

3.3.

A loudly

B quietly

C fast

D hard

解析：选D。D 考查副词辨析。根据前文的“I’ll play every day.”可知，她告诉爸爸她会每天拉小提琴，因此她会努力练习。故选D。

4.4.

A six

B five

C four

D three

解析：选A。A 考查数词辨析。根据前文的“or one and a half months”可知，她爸爸给他一个半月（即6周）的时间证明自己。故选A。

5.5.

A fewer

B more

C better

D worse

解析：选B。B 考查比较级辨析。根据后文的“Well done, Sarah. You can have more lessons”可知，她爸爸要求她到时候如果拉得好的话，就可以上更多提琴课程。故选B。

6.6.

A start

B throw

C stop

D like

解析：选C。C 考查动词辨析。根据前文的“If you play badly”可知，如果她拉得不好，她爸爸就不再让她上课了。故选C。

7.7.

A so

B if

C but

D because

解析：选C。C考查连词辨析。老师的课很贵，她爸爸依旧履行了他的诺言，前后两句存在逻辑上的转折关系。故选C。

8.8.

A shy

B terrible

C beautiful

D low

解析：选B。B考查形容词辨析。根据后文的“the friend put his hands over his ears”可知，莎拉开始拉小提琴了，刚好她父亲的一位朋友也在旁边，朋友再也无法忍受，只好用手捂着耳朵，因此可推测，她拉得很差，小提琴发出可怕的噪音。故选B。

9.9.

A carefully

B seriously

C politely

D happily

解析：选D。D考查副词辨析。根据前文的“Well done, Sarah. You can have more lessons.”可知，莎拉可以继续学琴了，因此可推测她高兴地跑出门去。故选D。

10.10.

A buy

B sell

C borrow

D lend

解析：选A。A考查动词辨析。根据后文的“very cheaply”和“I’ll own the whole building!”可知，她爸爸觉得，再过6周，他就可以拥有整幢楼啦，因此可推测自从她开始学小提琴以后，她爸爸就可以以很便宜的价格买下这幢楼的5套公寓。故选A。