What’s in a name? Letters offer clues to one’s future decisions, apparently. Previous studies have suggested that maybe a person’s monogram __1__ his life choices — where he works, whom he marries or where he lives — because of “implied self-esteem (自负),” or the temptation of positive self-associations. For instance, a person named Fred might be attracted to the __2__ of living in Fresno, working for Forever 21 or driving a Ford F-150.

Now a new study by professor Uri takes another look at the so-called name-letter effect and __3__ other explanations for the phenomenon. He analyzed records of political donations in the U.S. during the 2004 campaign — which included donors’ names and employers — and found that the name of a person’s workplace more closely related to the first three letters of a person’s name than with just the first letter. But he suggests that the reason for the association isn’t implied self-esteem, but perhaps something __4__ the opposite.

Duyck, one of the researchers whose previous work __5__ the name-letter effect, isn’t so quick to abandon the implied self-esteem theory. He pointed out that the sample group Uri studied may have biased the results: Uri analyzed the name-letter effect in a sample of people who donated money to political __6__. Still, Duyck notes that Uri’s theories are credible, and that even while some people may __7__ the same name of companies, employees may be tending to those companies because they start with the same letter as their names. In the end, whatever the explanation for the name-letter effect, no one really disputes that self-esteem is __8__ on some level. But the true importance of the effect is up for debate. “I can’t imagine people don’t like their own letter more than other letters,” says Uri, “but the differences it makes in really __9__ decisions are probably slim.”

A. offers      B. influences      C. uncovered       D. exactly       E. big

F. found      G. campaigns      H. involved        J. properly       I. notion

What’s in a name? Letters offer clues to one’s future decisions, apparently. Previous studies have suggested that maybe a person’s monogram __1__ his life choices — where he works, whom he marries or where he lives — because of “implied self-esteem (自负),” or the temptation of positive self-associations. For instance, a person named Fred might be attracted to the __2__ of living in Fresno, working for Forever 21 or driving a Ford F-150.

Now a new study by professor Uri takes another look at the so-called name-letter effect and __3__ other explanations for the phenomenon. He analyzed records of political donations in the U.S. during the 2004 campaign — which included donors’ names and employers — and found that the name of a person’s workplace more closely related to the first three letters of a person’s name than with just the first letter. But he suggests that the reason for the association isn’t implied self-esteem, but perhaps something __4__ the opposite.

Duyck, one of the researchers whose previous work __5__ the name-letter effect, isn’t so quick to abandon the implied self-esteem theory. He pointed out that the sample group Uri studied may have biased the results: Uri analyzed the name-letter effect in a sample of people who donated money to political __6__. Still, Duyck notes that Uri’s theories are credible, and that even while some people may __7__ the same name of companies, employees may be tending to those companies because they start with the same letter as their names. In the end, whatever the explanation for the name-letter effect, no one really disputes that self-esteem is __8__ on some level. But the true importance of the effect is up for debate. “I can’t imagine people don’t like their own letter more than other letters,” says Uri, “but the differences it makes in really __9__ decisions are probably slim.”

完形填空（共20小题：每小题1. 5分，满分30分）
阅读下面短文，从短文后所给的四个选项（A、B、C、D）中，选出最佳选项。
It was to be our second Christmas in Germany and we decided to avoid the naked tree problem the year before. We wrote to my father, and he  1 to purchase a tree for us in States. He would ship it to us in several smaller  2 .
Two days before Christmas we were in a   3 .All the boxes had arrived except for one. The tree trunk and stand were still  4 .We decided to wait one more day.
  5 , in Bremerhaven, a young mail clerk  6 a long thin box under a counter. He picked it up and saw the customs tag(标签)which  7 “artificial（人造的）Christmas tree trunk and stand”. He realized that someone in Mannheim would be  8 a tree for Christmas. He felt  9for them, but there wasn’t much he could do. There was no  10 on Christmas.
He put the package on the  11 shelf and headed for the coffee bar. The place was 12 and he ended up sharing a table. Two men were speaking and the clerk  13 that one of his companions at the table was stationed in Mannheim. He had just picked up the  14 he had shipped from the States and was driving back that afternoon. The clerk thought of the 15 and said to the man,“You could really  16 Santa for someone in Mannheim tonight if you’d like to.”He explained about the lost tree trunk and stand. The man agreed.
The following day, my husband was reaching for his coat  17 the doorbell rang. There stood a  18 holding a long thin carton, our tree trunk and stand. He explained about the clerk and the coffee bar meeting. We invited him in,  19 it was Christmas Eve and he left in a hurry.
The next day as we celebrated the Christmas with the beautiful tree, I whispered：“Bless those two strangers who  20 our Christmas with their kindness.”

Night after night, my mother came to my bed, even long after my childhood years. She would   21 down and push my long hair out of the way, and then kiss my forehead. I don’t remember when it first started  22 me-her hands pushing my hair that way, for they felt work-worn and rough  23 my young skin. Finally , one night, I shouted out at her, “Don’t do that any more-your hands are too rough!” she made no  24 and left quietly. But never again did my mother do it with that familiar expression of her  25 .

With the passing years, my   26 returned to that night time after time. By then I   27 my mother’s hands and her goodnight kiss. Sometimes the incident seemed very  28 , sometimes far away, but always it was  29 in the back of my mind.

The years have passed, and I’m not a little girl any more. Mom is in her seventies, and those hands I once  30 to be so rough are still doing things for me and my family.

Now, Mom no longer has Dad and lives  31 . One night on Thanksgiving Eve, I found myself  32 to her house to spend the night with her. As I slept in the bedroom of my youth, a familiar hand hesitantly ran across my face to  33 the hair from my forehead. Then a   34 , ever so gently , touched my forehead. I burst into tears.

In my memory, thousands of times, I   35 the night my young voice complained. Catching Mom’s hand in hand, I told her how  36 I was for that night. I thought she’d remember  37 I did. But Mom didn’t know what I was talking about. She had already forgotten and   38 long ago.

That night, I fell asleep with a new  39 for my gentle mother and her caring hands. And the guilt that I had carried around for so long was   40 to be found.

1.                A．lie             B．bend           C．look D．fall

2.                A．annoying       B．astonishing      C．delighting D．disappointing

3.                A．along          B．above          C．against   D．aside

4.                A．reply          B．promise        C．request   D．agreement

5.                A．pity            B．sadness         C．apology   D．love

6.                A．views          B．opinions        C．spirits    D．thoughts

7.                A．missed         B．forgot          C．held D．shook

8.                A．strange         B．close           C．serious   D．common

9.                A．stressed        B．existed         C．hidden   D．exposed

10.               A．expected       B．changed        C．reminded  D．complained

11.               A．yet            B．away           C．alone D．long

12.               A．drawn         B．carried         C．moved    D．stayed

13.               A．cut            B．wash           C．brush D．take

14.               A．tear           B．kiss            C．press D．hand

15.               A．returned       B．remembered    C．realized   D．recalled

16.               A．sorry          B．happy          C．angry D．nervous

17.               A．when          B．how           C．why  D．as

18.               A．disappeared     B．forgiven        C．apologized D．abandoned

19.               A．imagination     B．inspiration      C．decoration D．appreciation

20.               A．still            B．soon           C．nowhere  D．anyhow