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(阁楼) 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.
【要点综述】 “我”告诉父亲“我”要搬到爱荷华州的Des Moines城居住时，父亲给“我”讲述了一个多年前他在Des Moines城所遇到的一个故事，故事讲述了著名短片小说家欧·亨利的一篇故事手稿最终救人一命的经过。
49. A 细节理解题。根据第二段的第二句可知是那位女孩的母亲发现了欧·亨利的手稿，故选A。
50. B 推理判断题。根据第二段中的“…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…”一句可知本题答案为B。
51. C 词义猜测题。句意：我父亲去拜访了纽约哥伦比亚大学的欧·亨利研究专家，他证明这份手稿是欧·亨利的真迹。由此可知本词意思是“证明”，故选C。
52. A 推理判断题。根据第三段的前两句可知“我”的父亲去Des Moines的目的是为了卖欧·亨利的手稿，故选A。
