Hundreds of years ago, a Roman army came north from England to make war on Scotland. The Scots, a brave people, love their country. They fought hard to drive the enemy out of Scotland. But there were too many of the Romans. It looked as if the Romans would win.
　　One night, the leader of the Scots marched his soldiers to the top of a hill. “We will rest here tonight, my men,” he said, “Tomorrow we will fight one more battle①. We must win, or we will die.”
　　They were all very tired. So they ate their supper quickly and fell asleep. There were four guards on duty, but they were very tired, too, and one by one, they fell asleep.
　　The Romans were not asleep. Quickly they gathered at the foot of the hill. Slowly they went up the hill. Closer they came to the sleeping Scots. They were almost at the top. A few minutes more the war would be over. Suddenly, one of them put his foot on a thistle (蓟). He cried out and his sudden cry woke the Scots. In a minute they were on their feet and ready for a battle. The fighting was hard, but it did not last long. The Scots wiped out the Romans and saved Scotland②.
　　The thistle is not a beautiful plant. It has sharp needles all over it. Few people liked it. But the people of Scotland liked it so much that they made it their national flower.
　【小题1】 Hundreds of years ago, the Romans ____ .

Something ________ wrong with the car, and it ________ not start.

　　A. being; could　　　　　　　　　 B. going; should

　　C. was; might　　　　　　　　　　D. went; would

There is an increasing ________ to make movies describing violence now.

A. strength　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B. direction

C. tradition　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D. trend

Recently divorced(离婚), I had no job and was on my way downtown to go the rounds of the employment offices despite the great   36 . My old umbrella was broken, and I could not   37  another one.
I sat down in the streetcar — and there against the seat was a beautiful silk   38  with a silver handle inlaid (镶嵌) with gold. I had   39  seen anything so lovely.
I   40  the handle and saw a   41 . I got off the streetcar and   42  opened the umbrella to protect myself. Then I searched a   43  book for the name on the umbrella and found it. I called and a lady answered.
Yes, she said in   44 , that was her umbrella, which her parents, now dead, had given her for a birthday present.   45 , she added, it had been stolen at school (she was a teacher) more than a year before.
She was so excited that I   46  I was   47  a job and went directly to her house. She took the umbrella, her   48  filled with tears.
I refused the   49   she gave me. We talked for a while, and I must have given her my address. I don’t remember.
The next six months were   50 . I was able to obtain   51  here and there. l reached the lowest point in my   52 . Unless a miracle happened, I would be homeless in January, foodless, jobless.
Christmas Eve came. No money to buy my daughter a gift. I was sobbing (抽泣) in the cold little kitchen   53  the doorbell rang and my daughter Peggy ran to answer it. He was a postman, and his arms were   54  of parcels. “This is a mistake” I said, but he read the name on the parcels and there were for me.
Peggy and I sat on the floor and opened them. I looked for the name of the sender. It was the teacher. The address was   55  “California”, where she had moved.