Passage 4
Once James Thornhill, a famous English painter（第16题线索）, was asked to paint some pictures on the walls of the king.s palace in England.（第17题线索）
Then workers were sent for and a big platform （台子） was made.
With the help of a worker, Thornhill started painting on the platform. They worked for a whole year （第18题线索）and at last the pictures were ready.
Thornhill was happy when he looked at the pictures, for they were really beautiful. He looked at them for a long time, and then took one step back and looked again. Now the pictures were even more beautiful. （第19题线索）He took another step, then another. Finally he was at the very edge of the platform, but he didn.t know it because he was thinking of his pictures.
The worker saw everything. "What should I do?" he thought. "Thornhill was at the very edge of the platform. If I cry out, he will take another step, fall off it and surely be killed. "So the worker quickly took some paint （漆） and threw it at the pictures.（第20题线索）
"What are you doing?" cried the painter, running quickly forward to his pictures.
16. James Thornhill was an English ________.
A. worker B. artist C. king D. writer
17. He was ordered to _________ .
A. paint the wall of the king.s palace in England B. paint some pictures on the wall of the palace
C. build a big platform in front of the palace D. put up some new pictures on the old wall
18. It took them _________ to finish the pictures.
A. a month B. a week C. twelve months D. half a month
19. James Thornhill felt that the ________ he was from the pictures, the ________they were.
A. nearer. . . more beautiful B. farther. . . more ugly
C. farther. . . more beautiful D. higher above. . . more good-looking
20. The worker threw some paint at the pictures in order to________.
A. save James. life B. destroy the picture
C. make the picture more beautiful D. make the king angry

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