It was a beautiful Saturday morning，a perfect morning for playing or swimming．However，Tom had to finish the work．Aunt Polly gave him．As Tom started to paint Aunt Polly's very long fence，along came Ben Rogers with a juicy apple in his hand．

Tom was silent．He focused on his painting like an artist．

"Looks like a lot of work，Tom．"

Tom turned suddenly．"Oh，it's you，Ben! I didn't notice．"

"I'm going swimming．Don't you wish you could come instead of doing work？"

"What do you call work？"asked Tom．

"Isn't that work？"

Tom kept painting and answered carelessly，"Well，maybe it is，and may be it isn't．All I know is it isn't work for me．"

"Oh come on．You can't mean you like it？"

Tom continued painting．"Like it？Well，I don't see why not．Does a boy get a chance to paint a fence every day？"

That put the thing in a new light．Ben stopped eating his apple．Tom swept his brush carefully back and forth，added a touch of paint here and there，and stopped to take a look at it all．Ben watched every move and became more and more interested until he finally said，"Tom，why don't you let me paint a little？"

Tom considered Ben's offer．"Well，no，I can't let you，Ben．You see，Aunt Polly's very proud of this fence．I think there isn't one boy in a thousand，maybe two thousand，that can do it the way it's got to be done．"

"Oh come on．Let me try．I'd let you，if I were painting，Tom．"

"Ben，I'd like to，honestly，but Aunt Polly，well…"

"I'll be careful．Just let me try．I'll give you some of my apple．"

"Well，no，Ben．I'm afraid…"

"I'll give you all of it!"

Tom slowly gave Ben the paintbrush．Ben took the brush eagerly and started to paint．On his face was a look of regret but in his heart，he was satisfied．

47．Why did Tom focus on his painting like an artist？　　

A．He was strict in his work

B．He enjoyed the work very much

C．He had to finish the work by himself

D．He tried to make the work quite interesting

48．What did Tom's words mean in the underlined part？　　

A．Tom didn't want Ben to do the work

B．Nobody but Tom could do the work well

C．Any boy would be very proud to do the work

D．Aunt Polly didn't want her fence to be painted badly

49．Which of the following is True？　　

A．Ben was Tom's best friend

B．Tom felt sorry for fooling Ben

C．Aunt Polly regarded Tom as her own son

D．Ben thought Tom was doing hard work at first

50．What do you think of Tom？　　

A．Smart B．Lazy C．Honest D．Hard﹣working．