An African farmer frequently heard of tales about other farmers who had made millions of dollars by discovering diamond mines. The farmer felt so excited at the tales that he could hardly wait to sell his   1   and go looking for diamonds himself.

So he started out and spent the   2   of his life wandering the African continent, searching   3   for the sparkling （闪闪发光） jewels that brought such high prices on the   4  of the world.

Finally,   5  out and extremely disappointed, he threw himself into a river and died.

 6  , back at the farm, the man who had bought his farm   7   to be crossing a small stream on the farm one day   8  he saw something sparkling at the bottom of the stream. He picked it up. It was a brilliant stone – a good size stone – and,   9  it, he later put it on his fireplace mantel as interesting   10  .

Several weeks later, a visitor admired the stone.   11  closely at it and weighing it in his hand, he nearly fainted （晕倒）. He asked the farmer if he knew he’d found something very valuable. When the farmer said   12   and that he thought it was just a piece of crystal （水晶）, the visitor told him he had found one of the largest diamonds   13   discovered.

The farmer was   14  . He told the man that his stream was full of these  15   stones, and his farmland was covered with them. Not all were as large, perhaps, as the one on his fireplace mantel, but they were dotted generously   16   his farm.

Needless to say, the farm the first farmer had sold,   17   he could search of a diamond mine,   18   to he the most productive diamond mine on the entire African continent. The first farmer had   19  , free and clear, acres of diamonds, but had sold them for practically nothing in order to look for them   20 .

1．A．farm                     B．mine                   C．house                  D．cattle

2．A．whole                   B．part                     C．stage                   D．rest

3．A．aimlessly               B．unsuccessfully     C．skillfully              D．undoubtedly

4．A．positions               B．ranges                 C．markets               D．areas

5．A．worn                    B．fitted                   C．tried                    D．given

6．A．Therefore              B．Moreover            C．Meanwhile           D．Somehow

7．A．happened              B．pretended            C．planned               D．intended

8．A．while                    B．as                       C．when                  D．until

9．A．respecting             B．admiring              C．enjoying              D．examining

10．A．invention             B．product               C．patent                 D．curiosity

11．A．Pointing               B．Looking               C．Aiming                D．Working

12．A．yes                     B．so                       C．no                      D．OK      

13．A．once                   B．ever                    C．never                  D．forever

14．A．astonished           B．satisfied               C．encouraged          D．moved

15．A．worthless            B．beautiful              C．delicate               D．shining

16．A．beyond                B．throughout           C．near                    D．among

17．A．even if                B．in case                C．as though            D．so that

18．A．put up                 B．given out             C．turned out           D．set up

19．A．owned                B．found                  C．explored              D．covered

20．A．somewhere          B．anywhere            C．everywhere         D．elsewhere