完型填空

　　I was 15 when my mother died．As I walked out of church after the funeral, it 　　1　　 me：we never got to have one of those heart-to-heart mother-daughter 　　2　　．At that moment, I believe, God had a plan for us：　　3　　 Mom so much, we’d learn to know Dad．Our father had always been loving us, working hard as a high-school teacher．He always had Mom talk to us about 　　4　　 things．He’d get embarrassed to talk them–it was his upbringing, I guess．

　　Now here he was with three teenage girls 　　5　　．Suddenly he had to 　　6　　 things like dating(约会)and bra(乳罩)．The man who 　　7　　 showed his emotions became a man who’d listen to all our deepest heartaches．

　　When I was in college, my boyfriend, Paul, 　　8　　 with me．I thought it was the end of the world．When I came home for the weekend, dad saw something was wrong 　　9　　 I walked in the door．I 　　10　　 him, and everything spilled out．He didn’t have a lot of answers, but he was there to listen．I never felt that 　　11　　 could have done better．

　　Dad’s support helped me get things through：Paul and I decided to 　　12　　．And when it came time, Dad insisted on doing the reception．I was so 　　13　　 to be getting married that I never thought I’d be a nervous bride．But 　　14　　 Dad walked me down the passageway of the church, tears rolled down my checks．When I looked over at him, he was 　　15　　 too．

　　Paul and I now have three kids, and Grandpa is part of their life too．Every Thanksgiving and Christmas we go back to 　　16　　．Then recently we decided with my brothers and sisters to take a camping trip the way we used to 　　17　　 Mom．We camped out for a week–2 of us–Dad and all his kids and grandchildren．

　　Dad helped me 　　18　　 that every person is here for a reason, affecting 　　19　　 in ways we cannot see．We all miss Mom 　　20　　 words can express, but we were given the best mom a dad could be．

阅读理解

　　It is sometimes said that English is English and that there are no differences between different kinds of English, but this is not the case．American English is in general quite different from UK English．The main differences relate to the use of certain words and to spelling．American English is much more phonetic(与发音近似的)than UK English and in American English a ‘z’ or a ‘c’ is often used where an ‘s’ would be used in British English．

　　Words can vary in different types of English as well．An “estate agent” in UK English is someone who works in “real estate” in American English．British people talk of “rubbish” while the Americans call this “garbage”．The UK people have “bins”, but the Americans have “dumpsters”．

　　The differences between these ways of using English make translating works into English a difficult business．There are translation tools available on the Internet, but these can often translate words in a very direct way and the end result is a sentence that has lost its meaning．

　　The best way of translating any written piece of work into the English language is to first decide what kind of English you want the piece to be translated into．For example, if it is for a British market, then use the UK English．For the best result, always use some kind of spelling and grammar checker so you can make sure that you are using the proper terms, spelling and vocabulary．