II. 完形填空

Have you heard the story？ A well-known speaker started   1   his lecture by holding up a $20 bill.  In the hall of 2000, he asked. "Who would like this $20 bill?  "Hands started   2  .  He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you - but first, let me do this."

He began to crumple（弄皱） the 20 dollar    3  . He then asked. "Who still wants it?  "Still the hands were up    4   the air. "Well," he replied, "    5  I do this?  "  He    6   it on the ground and started to grind(磨, 碾) it into the floor with his   7  .  He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. "Now, who still wants it?  "    8   the hands went up.

      "My friends, you have all     9    a very valuable lesson.    10   I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not    11    in value. It was still worth $20. 

Many times in our     12   , we are dropped, crumpled, and ground（grind的过去式） into the dirt by

the   13   we make and the circumstances(环境)that come our way. We feel   14   we are worthless; but no matter what happened or what     15      happen, you will never lose your

  16  .  

Dirty or   17   , crumpled or finely creased, you are still   18   to those who love you. The worth of our lives comes, not in   19   we do or who we know, but by ...WHO WE ARE. 

You are   20  --- don't ever forget it！

1.  A  up            B  for         C  off           D  over

2.  A  going up       B  lifting up    C  pulling up     D  coming up

3.  A  note           B  paper       C  money       D  coin

4.  A  on            B  in          C  into          D  by

5.  A  even if         B  as if        C  only if       D  what if

6.  A  placed         B  put         C  laid         D  dropped

7.  A  head          B  hand        C  foot         D  shoe

8.  A  However       B  Still        C  So          D  Because

9.  A  had           B  took        C  learned      D  held

10.  A  Whatever     B  However    C  Whichever    D  Wherever

11.  A  lose          B  decrease    C  increase      D  exist

12.  A  world        B  lives        C  heart        D  brain

13  A  decisions     B  mistakes     C  comments    D  money

14.A  as for        B  as though    C  as well       D  as a result

15.A  will          B  can        C  would        D  could

16.A  life          B  money      C  value         D  confidence

17.A  muddy       B  mean        C  foul         D  clean

18.A  valueless      B  worthless    C  priceless     D  helpless

19.A  that          B  where       C  which       D  what

20.A  common      B  special      C  helpful      D  unforgettable

I live in Albuquerque, and some homeless people often stay at the stoplights. I often gave money to them, feeling  1 for their bad luck. But later I became a single mom with no home, a huge debt. As a result, I  2 giving and had a strong sense of  3  .
Things started to  4 for me. Again I had a home, and plenty of food, and I started to  5  myself out of debt. One day we saw a homeless person with the  6  ,"Will work for food." I  7  .
My daughter commented, "Mommy, you  8 to give to those people in  9  ."I replied, "Honey, they just use that money for alcohol or other  10 things. "She didn't respond. But when I said that, I didn't feel right.
Three days later, I was driving to  11 up my daughter from school. A man was standing on the corner, and something deep  12 me said, "Just help him."  13  I rolled down my window, and he ran over with delight, saying "God bless you, I only need 77 cents." I  14 into my ashtray（烟灰缸） and strangely enough, there sat three quarters and two pennies.
I scooped（抓起） it up and gave it to him. He  15  with joy and tears in his 16  "Wow, you just made it  17 for me to see my mom for Christmas! Thank you so much. The bus that has this great sale is  18  in 20 minutes!" It was a moment I'll never forget. I think that man won't forget it either, 19  I was the one who got the best  20  in life——GIVING.

One Sunday, a picture in the newspaper touched me. A young woman stood in front of a totally destroyed home. A little boy stood beside her with his head     . Holding her skirt tightly was a tiny girl, eyes wide with        and fear.

With growing       I noticed that their sizes of each family member closely       ours. This would be a good opportunity to     my children, so I explained their difficult     to my seven-year-old twins and three-year-old Meghan.

“We have so much, but these poor people now have nothing,” I said, “we’ll       what we have with them.”

I brought three large boxes and placed them on the living room floor. Meghan watched seriously       the boys and I filled one box with canned food.

While I      our clothes, I encouraged the boys to go through their toys and      some of their less favorite things. Meghan watched       as the boys piled up useless toys in the box.

“I’ll help you find something for the little girl,” I said to her.

The boys placed the toys they had      to donate into one of the boxes while I filled the third box with clothes. Meghan walked up with Lucy, her worn, faded, much-loved doll     tightly to her chest. She       in front of the box, pressed her little face into Lucy’s face, gave her a       kiss, then, laid her gently on top of the other toys.

“Oh, honey,” I said. “You       to give away Lucy. You love her so much.”

Meghan nodded, eyes shining with tears. “Lucy makes me happy, Mommy.       she’ll make that little girl happy, too.”

I stared at Meghan for a long moment,        how I could teach the boys the lesson she had just taught me.

It’s easy to give what we don’t want any more, but       to let go of things we cherish, isn’ t it?       , the true spirit of giving is to give with your heart.

1.A. off                                        B. up                                C. down                                  D. round

2.A. smile               B. confusion                         C. joy                      D. anger   

3.A. happiness                B. friendship                        C. puzzle                               D. interest

4.A. matched               B. equaled                            C. compared                        D. suited

5.A. help                         B. complain                          C. change                           D. teach

6.A. experience                           B. problem                      C. situation                            D. process

7.A. give                          B. share                           C. send                                   D. spare

8.A. as                                            B. since                                 C. though                              D. because

9.A. came through        B. broke through           C. sorted through                 D. got through

10.A. donate                  B. leave                           C. keep                                   D. sell

11.A. hopefully                   B. anxiously                          C. depressingly          D. quietly

12.A. separated                            B. chosen                   C. bought               D. confirmed

13.A. hugged                                B. tied                              C. grasped                    D. caught

14.A. settled                                 B. regretted                         C. paused                             D. cried

15.A. precious                         B. final                                    C. hearty              D. lovely

16.A. wouldn’t like        B. ought not                    C. had better not                  D. don’t have

17.A. Also                             B. Yet                          C. Maybe                          D. Though

18.A.knowing               B. wondering            C. realizing      D. expecting

19.A. available                     B. necessary                        C. important                         D. hard     

20.A. However                    B. Therefore                        C. Otherwise                        D. Moreover

Dad was not only my best friend, but my compass (指南针). While he was alive, he  36  me with his actions and advice. He taught me one important  37 : “Believe in yourself.”
If there was one phrase my dad  38  liked to hear, it was “I can’t.” He never got to finish high school and  39  two jobs to support his large family,  40  he never complained. Through education and years of hard work, my dad became an excellent journalist.
When I was in high school, I had a  41  time with math. He tried to help me, but I  42 struggled. So my math teacher suggested I meet with him at 7:00 each morning before school for  43  help. I told Dad, “That’s  44 ! I’m tired! I can’t do that!” He replied, “You’re doing it. I’ll send you to school.” Every morning at 6:45, we’d leave the  45 . Despite (尽管) working 12 hours every day, Dad never once  46  driving me to school.
After months of  47 , I was facing the final exam. I was so  48 . On the day of the final, my dad hugged me and said, “Luke,  49  yourself. You can do it.” His words made me realize I needed to trust in my  50  and in the hours of work I’d  51 . When I got my  52  proudly, the first person I called was my father. He cried, “Yes! You deserved it!”
Even now, whenever I  53  that a task is too much for me, I think back to that exam. No matter how  54  something is, if you’re willing to work, you can succeed. I’m forever  55  to Dad for that lesson.

Some years ago I heard Salome Bey sing for the first time. The moment was exciting. Salome’s  36 filled the room and brought the theater to life. I was so  37 that I decided to write an article about her.
I   38 Salome Bey, telling her I was from Essence magazine, and that I wanted to meet her to talk about her career. She  39 and told me to come to her studio next Tuesday. When I hung up, I was scared out of my mind. I   40 I was lying. I was not a writer at all and hadn’t even written a grocery list.
I interviewed Salome Bey the next Tuesday. I sat there  41 , taking notes and asking questions that all began with, “Can you tell me…” I soon realized that  42  Salome Bey was one thing, but writing a story was just impossible. The  43  was almost unbearable. I    44  for days with draft after draft（草稿）. Finally I put my article into a large envelope and dropped it into a mailbox.
It didn’t take long. My article   45 . How stupid of me! I thought. How could I  46  in a world of professional writers? Knowing I couldn’t   47  the refusal letter, I threw the unopened envelope into a drawer.
Five years later, while   48 my apartment, I came across the unopened envelope. This time I opened it and read the editor’s letter in   49 :
Dear Ms Profit,
Your story on Salome Bey is nice. Yet we need some   50  materials. Please add those and return the article immediately. We would like to  51  your story soon.
Shocked, it took me a long time to   52 . Fear of refusal cost me dearly. I lost at least five hundred dollars. More importantly, I lost years of   53  writing. Today, I have become a full-time writer. Looking back on this   54 , I learned a very important lesson: You can’t   55 to doubt yourself.