_______ the house is empty, memories flood my mind of a time when it was filled with life.

A．Since             B．Unless            C．As if              D．Even though

Maricel Apatan，22，stands in the kitchen of the Edsa Shangri—La Hotel in Manila，preparing to decorate a cheesecake. It would seem to be  a（n）__ __ task for a pastry(糕点) chef，but Maricel is no __ __ chef－she has no hands．

“When I first saw Maricel, I was worried she might __ __ herself when using a chef’s knife __ __ that has never been a problem, ” says Maricel’s manager. “She doesn’t get __ __ treatment and works just as hard as the rest of the chefs.”

Despite financial __ __ from Archbishop Ledesma, a distant relative, Maricel __ __ to deal with her disability. “I was __ __ dependent on my mother and couldn’t do anything,” she recalls.

In 2004, Archbishop Ledesma __ __ for Maricel to live in the House with No Steps, a training centre for people with disabilities. She __ __ how to write and do regular tasks and, more importantly, __ __ her disability. She became more determined to __ __ hard to live a normal life.

Maricel __ __ graduated from high school and enrolled(注册) in a two-year Hotel and Restaurant Management course in Cagayan de Oro City. I have really enjoyed __ __ since I was seven years old,” she says.

After Maricel moved back to Manila to continue her studies, the media started reporting __ __ this determined young woman. She didn't shy away from the __ __.“I wanted others living with disabilities to believe it's __ __ to live a normal life,” Maricel says.

Later, Maricel's three younger brothers and sisters moved to Manila．She __ __ the rent of their small apartment, __ __ their parents look after the family farm in Mindanao．“It is difficult to make ends meet but I don't lose __ __. I believe anything is possible if you dream, and work hard．”

完形填空(Cloze Test)

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。

　　Many of our traditional medicines come from plants that grow wild throughout the world. Folk medicine keeps the health of the body by using medicines taken from surrounding plants since ___1___ for making medicine can be ___2___ everywhere, one can ___3___ folk medicine in any place of the world. They provide the basic ingredients（成分）that were used in the preparation of medicines and remedies（治疗方法）.

　　The practice of folk medicine ___4___ all the way back to the time of early man when both man and animal used plants in order to ___5___ healthy. It is not ___6___, for example, to see an animal suck the sap of some plant after being ___7___ by a poisonous snake. ___8___ animals seem to have their ___9___ gift for knowing which plant will ___10___ what illness, man probably learned how to ___11___ for himself by animal watching.

　　Man ___12___ learned other things from animals. He observed that wild animals when sick remained quiet and rest, depending upon nature's remedies（治疗方法）for ___13___ well--the medicine in plants and pure air. He saw that an animal with a ___14___ could often be ___15___ resting in a cool place, eating nothing and often drinking a lot until the fever was gone.