完形填空

　　One night I was sitting in my kitchen half-listening as my 15-year-old brother Tommy antagonized(招惹)my 12-year-old brother Kevin．I didn’t pay attention when Kevin 　　1　　 up the stairs with the hurt on his face．

　　About 20 minutes later, I heard Kevin crying inside the 　　2　　．I knocked on the door and asked, “Hey, Kev, do you want a talk?” No response．So, I grabbed some index(索引)cards and a pencil and wrote, “If you don’t want to 　　3　　, we can write notes to each other．”

　　An hour later I was still 　　4　　 on the floor outside the bathroom with two piles of index cards in front of me．One was 　　5　　 and one was cards from Kevin on which he had translated all his unpleasant feelings into words．　　6　　 I read one Kevin’s notes, tears came to my eyes．It said,“　　7　　 in this family cares about me．I’m not the youngest, and I’m not the oldest, and I’m not 　　8　　．Tommy thinks I can do nothing and Dad 　　9　　 he had the other Kevin as a(n)　　10　　 because he’s better at basketball．And you’re never around to even 　　1　　 me．”

　　It was 　　12　　 what he had said about me．I wrote back “I really do love you and I’m 　　13　　 I don’t always show it．I am here for you and you are 　　14　　 in this family．”

　　There was no 　　15　　 for a while, but then I heard a 　　16　　 sound coming from inside the bathroom．Kevin, who had 　　17　　 cards wrote on a torn-up paper cup, “Thanks．”

　　Since then, I try my best to never 　　18　　 half-notice my family members anymore．Kevin and I have a closer 　　19　　 now, and sometimes when one of us notices that the other is 　　20　　, we’ll smile and say “Write it on a paper cup．”

阅读下面短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C、D)中，选出最佳选项。

　　It happened in one of those colorful Danish inns which offer service specially for tourists and where English is spoken．I was with my father on a business－and－pleasure trip, and in our free hours we were having a wonderful time．

　　“I wish Mother were here．” I said．

　　“If your mother had come with us,” said Father, “it would have been wonderful to show her around．”

　　He had visited Denmark when he was a young man, I asked him, “How long is it since you were here?”

　　“Oh, about thirty years．I remember being in this very inn, by the way．” He looked around, remembering．“Those were pleasant and enjoyable days…” He stopped wuddenly, and I saw that his face was pale．I followed his eyes and looked across the room to a woman who was setting drinks before some customers．She might have been pretty once, but now she was fat and her hair was untidy．“Do you know her” I asked．

　　“I did once,” he said．

　　The woman came to our table．“Drinks?” she asked．

　　“We'll have beer,” I said．She nodded and went away．

　　“I couldn't believe it! How she has changed! Thank heaven she didn't recognize me,” Father said in a low voice, cleaning his face with a handkerchief．“I knew her before I met your mother, ”he went on．“I was a student, on a tour．She was a lovely young girl, very graceful．I fell madly in love with her, and she with me．”

　　“Does Mother know about her?” I said suddenly, without thinking．

　　“Of course,” Father said gently．He looked at me a little anxiously．I felt embarrassed(尴尬)for him．

　　I said, “Dad, you don't have to…”

　　“Your mother would tell you if she were here．I don't want you wondering about this．I was a foreigner to her family．I depended on my father．If she had married me, she wouldn't have had any bright future．So her father was against our romance．When I wrote to my father that I wanted to get married he stopped posting money to me．And I had to go home．But I met the girl once more, and told her I would return to America, borrow enough money to get married on, and come back for her in a few months．”

　　“We knew, ”he continued, “that her father might stop and take away our letter, so we agreed that I would simply mail her a slip of paper with a date on it, the time she was to meet me at a certain place; then we'd get married．Well, I went home, got the money and sent her the date．She received the note．She wrote me：‘I'll be there．’ But she wasn't．Then I found that she had been married about two weeks before, to a local innkeeper．She hadn't waited．”

　　Then my father said, “Thank God she didn't．I went home, met your mother, and we’ve been completely happy．We often joke about youthful love romance．I suggest that one day you write a story about it．”

　　The woman appeared with our beer．

　　“You are from America?” she asked me．

　　“Yes,” I said．

　　She smiled happily, “A wonderful country, America．”

　　“Yes, a lot of your countrymen have gone there．Did you ever think of it?”

　　“Not me．Not now, ”she said．“I thought so one time, a long time ago．But I stayed here．It's much better here．”

　　We drank our beer and left．Outside I said, “Father, just how did you write that date on which she was to meet you?”

　　He stopped, took out an envelope and wrote on it．“Like this, ”he said．“12/11/13, which was, of course, December11th, 1913．”

　　“No!”I said loudly．“It isn't in Denmark or any European country．Over here they write the day first, then the month．So that date wouldn't be December11th but the 12th of November!”

　　Father passed his hand over his face．“So she was there!” he signed,“and it was because I didn't show up that she got married．” He was silent a while．“Well,” he said, “I hope she's happy．She seems to be．”

　　As we continued walking I said, “It's a lucky thing it happened that way．You wouldn't have met Mother．”

　　He put his arm around my shoulders, looked at me with a heartwarming smile, and said,“I was doubly lucky, young man, for otherwise I wouldn't have met you, either!”