阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从第36至第55小题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。

I’ve always loved pigeons （鸽子）. Some years ago I managed to persuade my wife to let me buy a few and started __36___ them myself. They cost a lot of money and so it spoiled our ____37___a bit, but my wife never actually stopped me so I ___38___ carried on. I learned so much about them that I could ___39____ a good racer anywhere and I bought beauties. My pigeons won some top races, and I even began to make a bit of ___40_____.

You see, people are prepared to pay big prices if they get to know that your pigeons are ___41____ big prizes.

My wife had been changing her ___42____ to the pigeons over the last year or two anyway. She was quite ___43____ of all prizes we’d won. Then there was a lot of travelling, which she liked. You see, someone has to take the pigeons a __44____ way off and release(释放) them. Some of the ___45___ were really nice. I never travelled. I used to like to wait at home and see them come in. They got the wonderful sense of __46____, which could bring them back home so quickly. They’d flown hundreds of miles sometimes ___47___ storms or against strong winds. And there they’d come, tiny white birds against the great ___48____. Then I’d watch them __49___ round and come down onto the landing shelf, I’d look at my watch and think, “ My goodness, that’s a good ____50__ .” And I’d take off the little leg ring and push it through the machine to ___51___ what time he’d arrive. Then my wife would ___52___up and say, “Has he arrived yet?” Then we would work out if we’d win___53___.

However, last year we had a ___54____! One of them got some sort of flu and died; then they all ___55____. It was terrible; I had to burn them all. We lost a fortune, of course.

 36.  A. racing      B. understanding     C. selling       D. flying

 37.  A. dream      B. work            C. life          D. hobby

 38.  A. just        B. even            C. almost        D. hardly

 39.  A. notice      B. learn            C. imagine      D. recognize

 40.  A. living       B. fun             C. money       D. change

 41.  A. losing       B. winning         C. giving       D. making

 42.  A. subject      B. decision         C. relation      D. attitude

 43.  A. proud       B. fond             C. careful      D. sure

 44.  A. different     B. long            C. short         D. far

 45.  A. distances    B. activities         C. trips         D. movements

 46.  A. direction     B. sight            C. hearing       D. touch

 47.  A. over        B. across            C. with         D. through

 48.  A. heaven      B. mountains        C. cloud         D. sky

 49.  A. turn         B. dance           C. circle         D. whistle

 50.  A. beginning    B. time             C. day          D. look

 51.  A. write        B. record           C. count         D. memory

 52.  A. come        B. show            C. phone        D. cheer

 53.  A. again        B. finally           C. only          D. accidentally

 54.  A. disadvantage  B. chance           C. problem       D. disaster

 55.  A. flew down    B. came down        C. let out        D. gave out

 I've always loved pigeons(鸽子). Some years ago I managed to persuade my wife to let me buy a few and start   16  them myself. They cost a lot of money and so it spoilt(破坏) our 17 a bit, but my wife never actually stopped me so I  18  carried on. I learnt so much about them that I could  19 a good racer anywhere and I bought some beauties. My pigeons won some top races, and I even began to make a bit of   20 .

You see, people are prepared to pay big prices if they get to know that your pigeons are 21 big prizes.

My wife had been changing her  22  to the pigeons over the last year or two anyway. She was quite   23  of all the prizes we’d won. Then there was the travelling, which she liked. You see some one has to take the pigeons a  24  way off and set them free. Some of the   25  were really nice. I never travelled. I used to like to wait at home and see them come in. They’ve got this wonderful sense of  26 , which can bring them back home so quickly. They’d flown hundreds of miles sometimes   27  storms or against strong winds. And there they’d come, tiny white birds against the great   28 . Then I'd watch them  29  round and come down onto the landing shelf. I'd look at my watch and think, “My goodness, that’s a good  30 . ”And I'd take off the little leg ring and push it through the machine to  31  what time he’d arrived. Then my wife would  32 up and say, “Has he arrived yet?” Then we would work out if we’d won   33 .

Then last year we had a   34 ! All of them got some sort of flu and  35 . It was terrible. I had to burn them all. We lost a fortune, of course.

20..

I’ve always loved pigeons．Some years ago I persuaded my wife to let me buy a few and start racing them myself．They cost us a lot of money and   1   and they spoiled our hobby a lot, but my wife never actually stopped me so I   2   carried on．I learned so much about pigeons that I could   3   a good racer anywhere and I did buy some beauties．My pigeons won some top races, and I even began to make a bit of   4  ．You see people are prepared to pay big prices if they know that your pigeons are   5   big prizes．

   My wife had been changing her   6   to the pigeons over the past few years anyway．She was quite   7   of all the prizes we’d won．Then came the traveling, which she liked．You see someone has to take the pigeons a   8   way off and set them free．Some of the   9   were really nice and you could enjoy beautiful sceneries all the way．I never traveled．I used to like to wait at home and   10   them come in．They’d got this wonderful sense of   11   , which could bring them back home so quickly．They’d flown hundreds of miles sometimes   12   storms or against the endless  13   ．Then I’d watch them  14   round and come down onto the landing shelf．I’d looked at my watch and thought, “My goodness, that’d be a good   15  ．” And took off the little leg ring and pushed it through the machine to   16   what time he’d arrived．Then my wife would   17   up and said, “Has he arrived yet?” Then we would work out if we’d won   18   ．

   Then last year we had a   19   ! One of my pigeons got some sort of flu and died, and then they all   20   one by one．It was terrible; I had to burn them all．We lost a fortune of course．

1．A．food                     B．time                    C．power                 D．space

2．A．just                       B．even                    C．almost                 D．hardly

3．A．notice                   B．learn                   C．imagine               D．recognize

4．A．living                    B．fun                     C．money                D．change

5．A．losing                   B．winning               C．giving                 D．making

6．A．subject                  B．decision              C．relation                D．attitude

7．A．proud                   B．fond                    C．careful                D．sure

8．A．different                B．long                    C．short                   D．far

9．A．distance                B．activities              C．trips                    D．movements

10．A．see                     B．invite                  C．welcome            D．wish

11．A．direction              B．sight                   C．hearing                D．touch

12．A．over                    B．along                   C．under                  D．through

14．A．show                  B．look                    C．circle                  D．whistle

15．A．fly                      B．time                    C．day                     D．look

16．A．write                   B．record                 C．count                  D．memorize

17．A．come                  B．show                  C．call                     D．cheer

18．A．again                   B．over                    C．only                    D．accidentally

19．A．disadvantage       B．chance               C．problem              D．disaster

20．A．slowed down     B．went down       C．turned down    D．let down

完形填空

    I've always loved pigeons (鸽子). Some years ago I managed to persuade my wife to let me buy a few and start 1 them myself. They cost a lot of money and so it spoilt (破坏) our 2 a bit, but my wife never actually stopped me so I 3 carried on. I learnt so much about them that I could 4 a good racer anywhere and I bought some beauties. My pigeons won some top races, and I even began to make a bit of 5 .

　　You see, people are prepared to pay big prices if they get to know that your pigeons are 6 big prizes.

　　My wife had been changing her 7 to the pigeons over the last year or two anyway. She was quite 8 of all the prizes we'd won. Then there was the traveling, which the liked. You see someone has to take the pigeons a 9 way off and release them. Some of the 10 were really nice. I never traveled. I used to like to wait at home and see them come in. They've got this wonderful sense of 11 , which can bring them back home so quickly. They'd flown hundreds of miles sometimes 12 storms or against strong winds. And there they'd come, tiny white birds against the great 13 . Then I'd watch them 14 round and come down onto the landing shelf. I'd look at my watch and think, “My goodness, that's a good 15 ”And I'd take off the little leg ring and push it through the machine to 16 what time he'd arrived. Then my wife would 17 up and say, “Has he arrived yet?” Then we would work out if we'd won 18 .

　　Then last year we had a 19 ! One of them got some sort of flu(流行病)and died, then they all 20 .It was terrible, I had to burn them all. We lost a fortune, of course.

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