B. Williams' influence on Benjamin.

C. The beginning of Benjamin's life as an artist.

D. The friendship between Benjamin and Pennington.

【答案】　C　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在绘画道路上的一些帮助，故选C。

2. What does the underlined sentence in paragraph 3 suggest?

A. The cat would be closely watched.

B. The cat would get some medical care.

C. Benjamin would leave his home shortly.

D. Benjamin would have real brushes soon.

【答案】　D　考查文章细节推断，根据第三段"There were the first pictures and first real paint and brushes Benjamin had ever seen"可知Benjamin在剪完猫的毛做刷子后，就很快有了真正的刷子，故选D。

3. What did Pennington do to help Benjamin develop his talent?

A. He took him to see painting exhibitions.

B. He provided him with painting materials.

C. He sent him to a school in Philadelphia.

D. He taught him how to make engravings.

【答案】　B　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。

4. Williams' two books helped Benjamin to ________.

A. master the use of paints

B. appreciate landscape paintings

C. get to know other painters

D. make up his mind to be a painter