Alone in the light at the dining room table, surrounded by a nearly dark house, I sat in tears.
Finally, I  36  in getting both kids to bed. As a new single  37 , I had to be both Mommy and Daddy to my two little children.
With full rights of my children, I  38  to give them a normal and comfortable home life. I  39  a happy face for them.
I rose slowly, trying not to  40  even the least sound which might start them up  41 . I tiptoed(蹑手蹑脚地走) out of their room,  42  the door part way, and went downstairs.
And loneliness(孤独). I  43  as thought I were at the bottom(底部) of a great sea of loneliness. It all  44  together and I was at once lost. I sat there,  45  crying.
Just then, a pair of little  46  went around my middle and a little face looked up at me. I looked down into my five-year-old son’s  47  face.
I was shy to be  48  crying by my son. “I’m sorry. Ethan, I didn’t know you were still awake.” I don’t know why, but so many people  49  when they cry and I was no exception. “I didn’t  50  to cry. I’m just a little  51  tonight.”
“It’s ok, Daddy. It’s okay to cry; you’re just  52 .”
I couldn’t express(表达) how happy he made me, this little boy, who was simple, gave me  53  to cry. He seemed to be saying that I didn’t have to always be  54 , and that sometimes it was possible to allow myself to feel weak and let out my  55 .

Daddy didn’t mind what we were doing , as long as we were together ,        fun .

    A．had            B．have           C．to have        D．having

Tess was eight years old. Her little brother Andrew was very sick and their parents were completely out of money. She heard Daddy say to her tearful Mother, “Only a miracle can save him now.”

Tess took her money and made her way six blocks to Rexall’s Drug Store.

“And what do you want?” the chemist asked in an annoyed tone of voice. “I’m talking to my brother from Chicago whom I haven’t seen for ages.”

“Well, I want to talk to you about my brother,” Tess answered back in the same annoyed tone. “He’s really sick. He has something bad growing inside his head and my Daddy says only a miracle can save him now. So how much does a miracle cost?”

“We don’t sell miracles here, little girl. I’m sorry but I can’t help you,” the chemist said, softening a little.

“Listen, I can help you.” The chemist’s brother was a well-dressed man. He asked Tess, “What kind of miracle does your brother need?”

“I don’t know,” Tess replied. “Mommy says he needs an operation. But my Daddy can’t pay for it, so I want to use my money.”

“How much do you have?” asked the man from Chicago. “One dollar and eleven cents,” Tess answered. “And it’s all the money I have, but I can get some more, if I need to.”

“Well，what a coincidence (巧合),” smiled the man. “A dollar and eleven cents － the exact price of a miracle for your little brother. Take me to where you live. Let’s see if 1 have the kind of miracle you need.”

That man was Dr. Carlton Armstrong, a surgeon in neurosurgery (神经外科). The operation was completed without charge and it wasn’t long until Andrew was home again and doing well．

Tess smiled. She knew exactly how much a miracle cost… one dollar and eleven  cents… plus the faith of a little child.

1.What can we learn from the first paragraph?

2.Why did the chemist get annoyed first？

3.What can we learn about Dr. Carlton Armstrong?

4.What can be the best title？

Dahlia was running around the house screaming and crying. “I hate her! I hate her! I will __36__   play with her again!” Finally, her steps slowed,  __37__  she told her father what had happened. He listened attentively.   __38__   she stopped, he asked, “Is there __39__  else?” Dahlia added more details and began  __40__  bitterly again. Father was listening. When Dahlia   __41__  talking, he said, “It must __42__ you to be made fun of like this by your best friend Tina.” Dahlia  __43__  her father’s embrace（拥抱）and support as she cried  __44__  more in his arms. Then as  __45__   as the storm of tears began, she was finished. She got up and  __46__  announced, “Daddy, did you know that tomorrow Tina and I are going together to the beach? We are  __47__   a log house there with Adam and Tom, I will tell Tina before we go that I   __48__   ruin her work again, and I’m sure she will be  __49__ to me. ”
　　Why was this encounter (sudden meeting) so successful? How did Dahlia __50__  her sadness so completely and realize her responsibility in the matter __51__  her own?
　　There were three main parts in her father’s reaction that   __52__  : (A) Attention (B) Respect (C) Trust. He gave his daughter __53__ attention and took her seriously as she   __54__  her feelings. He respected her by not coming with words of wisdom, advice or help. He validated（证实）the feelings she __55__ . And he trusted her to do and say what she needed in order to lead herself toward resolution of her emotions.

"I've changed my mind．I wanted to have a telescope, but now I want my daddy back．" Lucien Lawrence's letter to Father Christmas, written after his schoolteacher father had been knifed to death outside his school gale, must have touched every heart．Lucien went on to say that without his father he couldn't see the stars in the sky．When those whom we love depart from us, we cannot see the stare for a while．
But Lucien, the stars are still there, and one day, when you are older and your tears have gone, you will see them again．And, in a strange way, I expect that you will find your father is there too, in your mind and in your heart．I find that my parents, long dead now, still figure in many of my dreams and that I think of them perhaps more than 1 ever did when they were alive．I still live to please them and I'm still surprised by their reactions．I remember that when I became a professor,! was so proud, or rather so pleased with myself, that I couldn't wait to call my parents．The reply was a long time in coming, but when it did, all Mother said was "I hope this means that now you will have more time for the children!" I haven't forgotten．The values of my parents still live on．
It makes me pause and think about how I will live on in the hearts and minds of my children and of those for whom I care．Would I have been as ready as Philip Lawrence have been to face the aggressors （挑衅者）, and to lay down my life for those in my care? How many people would want me back for Christmas'' It's a serious thought, one to give me pause．
I pray silently, sometimes, in the dead of night, that ancient cry of a poet " Deliver my soul from the sword（剑）, and my darling from the power of the dog．" Yet I know the death comes to us all,
and sometimes comes suddenly．We must therefore plan to live forever, but live as if we will die
tomorrow．We live on, I'm sure, in the lives of those we loved．and therefore we ought to have a care
for what they will remember and what they will treasure．If more parents knew this in their hearts to
be true, there might be fewer knives on our streets today．
【小题1】According to the whole text we can see that the first paragraph ______．