My stutter（口吃）had always been much of a problem. I'd had so many specialists for my______35________ over the years. As l walked down the hallway to meet a new one, memories popped in my head of how painful（痛苦的）being a kid who stutters had been. It______36________ hurt.

    “Hello! I'm Mrs. Claussen. I hear you're from Texas!"

    “Ye-Ye-Ye-Yes m-m-m-m-m-m-m-aam I am…”My heart felt like it was pounding through my chest and my hands were dripping wet. I really blew that

______37________ .

    “Well," she said with a ______38________Smile. 161've always liked Texas."

    She turned out to be the best speech specialist I've ever had, not like those who

    told me to clap my hands while speaking. She was______39________.She spent the first several weeks just talking to me - asking me all kinds of questions about myself, especially my feelings. And she______40________ . She then began to teach me about the speech. Not just about my speech, but about everybody's.

       I______41________ in my old school and was a pretty good tenor（男高音）, but I learned that the new school's singing group was all filled up. It was such bad news, for I thought that was the one thing I could really do well - and I could do it

______42________ stuttering. Somehow Mrs. Claussen finally got me in the group. I felt like she really cared about me as a person, not just a speech student.

     During the next two years, my speech didn't get much better - except with her. When I was in college, things got worse. I once even wondered if I would ever be able to______43________ ! It was a very depressing time, and I often felt alone. When I was feeling really sorry for myself, I remembered Mrs. Claussen had told me whether I could______44________ my speech was all up to me. She had told me not to fight for perfect speech, just better speech. She was right about that. I finally improved my speech greatly.

     Many years have passed, but I think of her from time to time, wondering if she had as much______45________  0n her other students as she had on me. I like to think that she did. Her name was Mrs. Claussen... and she______46_______ . I'II never forget her.

1.A. speech                     B. study                  C. dream                 D. fear

2.A. maybe                      B. even                            C. still                              D. never

3.A. instruction                 B. description                    C. introduction                   D. presentation

4.A. shy                           B. cold                              C. weak                   D. kind

5.A. silent                                 B. simple                 C. direct                            D. different

6.A. cried                        B. listened                C. waited                 D. stopped

7.A. sang                          B. spoke                            C. played                 D. clapped

8.A. against                      B. besides                   C. beyond                D. without

9.A. practise                    B. communicate                 C. report                           D. reply

10.A. train                               B. share                  C. change                D. follow

11.A. advice                    B. influence             C. dependence                  D. action

12.A. continued               B. taught                           C. agreed                D. cared

  I was in my third year of teaching writing at Ralph High School in New York, when one of my students, 15-year-old Mikey, gave me a note from his mother. It explained his absence from class the day before:

    "Dear Mr. McCort, Mikey's grandmother, who is eighty years of age, fell down the stairs from too much coffee and I kept Mikey at home to take care of her and his baby sister so I could go to my job. Please excuse Mikey and he'll do his best in the future. P.S. His grandmother is OK."

    I had seen Mikey writing the note at his desk. l said nothing. Most parental-excuse notes I received were penned by my students. The writers of those notes didn't realize that honest excuse notes were usually boring: "Peter was late because the alarm clock didn't go off."

    The students always said it was hard putting 200 words together on any subject, but when they produced excuse notes, they were excellent. So I decided to give the first class to study the art of the excuse note.

    “Today I'd like you to write 'An Excuse Note from Adam to God' or 'An Excuse Note from Eve to God'. "Heads went down. Pens raced across paper. They had to be asked to go to lunch by their friends.[来源:学|科|网Z

    The next day everyone had excuse notes. Heated discussions followed. But suddenly I saw the headmaster at the door. He entered the classroom and walked up and down, looking at papers, and then said. "I'd like you to see me in my office." My heart sank,

    When I stepped into his office, he came to shake my hand and said, "I just want to tell you that lesson, that task, was great. Those kids were writing on the college level. Thank you."

1.What did the writer do when he found the students dishonest?

A. He reported them to the headmaster.

B. He lectured them hard on honesty.

C. He had them take notes-n class.

D. He helped improve their writing skills.

2.We can learn that when Mikey was absent from the class, he was____.

A. somewhere enjoying himself

B. taking care of his baby sister

C. looking after his grandmother

D. studying the art of the excuse note

3.How did the writer usually find out his students' parental excuse notes were dishonest?

A. They were written in boring words.

B. He called their parents and found out the truth.

C. They were more like stories than facts.

D. The handwriting clearly looked like children's.

4.Which of the following is true?

A. The writer has many years of teaching experience.

B. The students are good at writing excuse notes.

C. The headmaster was angry with the writer.

D. Most of the excuse notes were written by the parents.

5.Which of the following best describes the writer as a teacher?

A. Honest.               B. Strict.                   C. Hardworking.    D. Wise.

根据短文内容及首字母提示，填写所缺单词，使短文意思完整。每空限填一词。

Parents sometimes learn much from their children.

Many years ago, a  1  my friend David worked day and night, he was still not rich. One day, when he arrived h  2  after work, he found his 3-year-old daughter was decorating a box with some expensive wrapping paper. He thought she was w  3  money and became angry with her. He even p  4  his daughter by beating her. However, the little girl brought the box to her father the next morning and said, “This is for you, Daddy. Merry Christmas!” He was embarrassed (尴尬) by his overreaction (过激反应), but he became angry a  5  when he found the box was empty.

He shouted at her, “Don’t you know that when you give someone a present, there should be s  6  inside it?”

The little girl looked up at him with t  7  in her eyes and said, “Oh, Daddy. I blew kisses in the box. I filled it with my l  8  . All for you, Daddy.”

The father was very surprised. He put his arms around his little girl, and said s  9   to her. Later, David told me that he kept that box by his bed for years. When he was discouraged(情绪低落), he would take out an imaginary (想像的) kiss from the box and r  10   the love of the child.

Do you like your parents? They’re two most i_____1___people in your life. I think so. Because they’re likely to influence you more than anyone e_____2_____you have met and will meet. So if your dad worships a football team, s____3______ as Pittsburgh Steelers and Atlauta Falcons, you are likely to grow up being a big fan of a football team. And if your mom loves to r___4____, you might grow up just carrying a book wherever you go, just a____5______she does.
But parents do a lot more than just pass along their h____6______. Moms and Dads need to care for their kids from the m_____7_____they’re born. It’s parents’ task to love and guide kids---and most parents will do this as l___8______as they live----even when the “ kids” have g______9___up and have children of their o____10________. That means you have many years ahead to share with your mom and dad.