people have been passionate about roses since the beginning of time．in fact, it is said that the floors of
cleopatra's palace were carpeted with delicate rose petals, and that the wise and knowing confucius had a 600-book library specifically, on how to care roses．
the rose is a legend on its own. the story goes that during the roman empire, there was an incredibly
beautiful maiden named rhodanthe. her beauty drew many zealous suitors who pursued her relentlessly. exhausted by their pursuit, rhodanthe was forced to take refuge from her suitors in the temple of her friend diana. unfortunately, diana became jealous. and when the suitors broke down her temple gates to get near their beloved rhodanthe, she became angry turning rhodanthe into a rose and her suitors into thorns.
in greek legend, the rose was created by chiloris, the greek goddess of flowers．it was just a lifeless seed of a nymph that chloris found one day in a clearing．in the woods．she asked the help of aphrodite, the goddess of love, who gave her beauty．dionysus, the god of wine, added nectar to gove her a sweet scent, and the three graces gave her charm, brightness and joy: hen zephyr, the west wind, blew away the clouds so that apollo, the sun god, could shine and made this flower bloom．and so the rose was born and was immediately crowned the queen of flowers．
the first true primary red rose seen in europe was "slater's crimson china" introduced in 1792 from china, where it had been growing wild in the mountains．immediately, rose breeders began using it to hybridize red roses for cultivation．ever since, the quest for the perfect red rose has been the dream of rose gardeners: formed rose with a clear non-fading vivid red color．absolute perfection still hasn't been attained, and of course never will!
56．in paragraph one, the writer wants to tell us________.
a．confucius had written 600 books on how to care roses
b．cleopatra planted so many roses that she decorated her palace with roses
c．only famous people enjoy roses
d．roses are popular with people since the beginning of the time
57．the underlined word "relentlessly" in paragraph 2 probably means________.
a．bravely b．considerately c．perseveringly d．strictly
58．which of the following is true according to the paragraph 3?
a．dionysus made the rose smell pleasant．
b．aphrodite offered to give the rose beauty．
c．apollo blew away the clouds and made the flower bloom．
d．chloris created the rose by magic．
59．we can learn from the passage that ________ .
a．diana became jealous of roses beauty
b．perfect roses cultivated by rose breeders are on the way
c．the rose is the greek national flower
d．the first true primary red rose originated from china
60．what could be the theme of the passage?
a．beautiful roses b．rose legend
c．the rose---the queen of flowers d．rose language
我资料里有这样的阅读理解,很多完形也是阅读改编的,希望对你有所帮助!