Three rich ladies met every day by the river. They sat there and talked the whole day. One day the three ladies quarreled( 争 吵 ). One of them said, “Look, how white and beautiful my hands are!” Another one said, “My hands are more beautiful.” The third one said, “Mine are the most beautiful ones.” An old beggar(乞丐) woman came up to them. “Beautiful ladies,” she said, “I’m hungry. Please give me something to
eat.” But the three ladies gave her nothing. They only asked, “Tell me, old woman, which one of us has the most beautiful hands”
A female farmer was also sitting by the river. She was poor and her hands were rough because of hard work. The old woman came up to her and said, “I’m hungry. Please give me something to eat.” The farmer took out the only cake she had and gave her a half.
The old woman ate it and drank some water. Then she took the farmer by the hand, brought her before the rich ladies and said, “Now I shall tell you whose hands are the most beautiful. The hands of the poor farmer are rough because of work, but they give us food. They are far more beautiful than your hands which have never done anything.”
Why did the three ladies quarrel on that day?

A．Because they argued about who should go to buy a cake.

B．Because they argued about who should give food to the beggar.

C．Because everyone wanted to show that she was the richest.

D．Because everyone wanted to show that her hands were the most beautiful.

The underlined word “she” in Paragraph 2 refers to .

A．the beggar woman	B．the female farmer
C．the first lady	D．the second lady

In what order did the following take place in the story?
a.Three ladies quarreled with each other.
b.The beggar ate the food and drank some water.
c.A beggar woman came to ask for something to eat.
d.The beggar showed the farmer’s hands to the other ladies.
e.A farmer gave the beggar woman half a cake.

A．a, c, e , b, d	B．a, e, b, c, d
C．c, e, a, d, b	D．c, d, c, a, d

The old woman said that the farmer’s hands were more beautiful because .

A．she liked dark hands better than white hands

B．the female woman gave her half a cake

C．her hands had worked hard to provide food for people

D．the three ladies didn’t give her anything to eat.