They went on working ________ it was late at night.
A. even if         B. as if        C. however         D. as though

They went on working ________ it was late at night.

A. even if

B. as if

C. however

D. as though

A. even if

B. as if

C. however

D. as though

Bill Trew worked on the night shift in an old mine called Park Deep. Day and night 180 miners   1   underground there, more than 6,000 feet down. They all took their   2   of night work, but Bill always worked at night. He said he   3   it.

One day he came home as   4   at half past seven in the morning. He had his “supper”, as he   5   it, and went to bed. An unusual dream troubled his sleep. Afterwards, the   6   thing he remembered about was – a throbbing (跳动) blue light.

Bill got up in the afternoon as usual. It was as   7   getting up – because he could   8   see the blue light in front of his eyes. As the evening grew   9  , the light grew stronger. Bill got   10   for the night shift. But by eight o’clock the blue light was so bright that he could   11   see anything else. He and his wife were very   12  . Bill had never been sick before.

“Don’t go to work,” Mrs. Trew said. “If it isn’t   13   by tomorrow, I’ll have to sent for the doctor.”

Bill didn’t go to work. He sat in an armchair,  14   but with closed eyes. Even then the blueness was like a living thing. It   15   him, silent, throbbing. The family went to bed but Bill wasn’t tired: he stayed in his armchair.

At eleven o’clock a long, loud explosion   16   the ground. Bill opened his eyes and jumped to his   17 . The blue light was gone! He rushed outside. Someone shouted, “Gas! Gas in Park Deep! Oh,   18   the night shift!”

The gas explosion killed 179 men in Park Deep. The mine was destroyed for   19  .The bodies remain to this day in their grave. And Bill has never stopped   20  .That blue light: why did it make him the only man unfit for work that night?

1．A．gathered                B．stayed                 C．had to                 D．worked

3．A．loved                    B．disliked                C．preferred             D．hated

4．A．rule                      B．order                   C．ago                     D．usual

5．A．described              B．said                     C．called                  D．liked

6．A．great                     B．funny                  C．big                      D．only

7．A．good                     B．strange                C．late                     D．bad

8．A．still                       B．only                    C．hardly                 D．clearly

9．A．bigger                   B．later                    C．darker                 D．blacker

10．A．up                      B．well                    C．prepared              D．ready

11．A．seldom                B．merely                 C．hardly                 D．barely

12．A．confused             B．puzzled                C．wondered            D．frightened

13．A．good                   B．normal                C．better                  D．fine

14．A．awake                 B．sleeping               C．surprising            D．resting

15．A．feared                 B．surrounded          C．wakened             D．brightened

16．A．hit                      B．broke                  C．shook                 D．crashed

17．A．feet                     B．chair                   C．shoes                  D．door

18．A．bad                     B．misery                 C．pity                     D．die

19．A．that                     B．all                       C．everything           D．good

20．A．thinking             B．wondering           C．working             D．sympathizing

One Christmas Eve, my husband made his way home from work.  26 , he worked the entire day but let his stuff go 27  so that they could be with their families.

He drove down the street and made the 28  towards our home. On one side of the road, an old man stood, drenched to the bone (被雨淋得湿透了), with his hand 29. The rain had been  30 heavily that day. My husband stopped, and asked him where he was 31 . He wanted to go about five miles past our home, but my husband still told him to 32 . My husband chatted with him, drove 33  our house and took him home for his Christmas Eve.  34  turned out that this poor man was what we now 35  as a “slow learner” and the only job he could get to  36  him and his elderly mother was at the bakery near where my husband worked. He worked from 5 a.m. until 1 o’clock in the  37 . Not only that, but that poor man had been standing there trying to get a ride on Christmas Eve for about 5 hours 38  my husband picked him up. 39  else would give him a ride because they didn’t want to get their seats 40.

Over the years my husband  41  to give him a ride home whenever he saw him trying to get a ride. When he passed 42 , my husband went to his funeral. 43  my husband didn’t know his family, they knew of him. Even his twin sister who  44  in the state of Washington knew who my husband was and everyone thanked him for his 45  toward one who had so little.

An act of kindness can make another person’s day, or even their life.