阅读下面短文，从短文后各题的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出合适填入对应空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该选项涂黑。

I had been playing hockey (冰球)for about 10 years, I was always the one sitting at the end of the bench, and 26 got into a game.I went to all the  27        and showed up even when it was so 28 that your ‘breath froze’ and when players  had decided to stay home. I felt I had   29   enough and thought of quitting”

阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并从答题卡上将该选项涂黑。

I had been playing hockey（冰球）for about 10 years. I was always the one sitting at the end of the bench, and      got into a game. I went to all the      and showed up even when it was so      that your ‘breath froze’ and when the other players had decided to stay home. I felt I had      enough and thought of quitting.

 I finally decided to      the news to my mom that I was leaving the team. My mom may have looked like a tiny and quiet lady but on      my words, she said, “Remember, ‘A quitter never wins and a winner never quits.’ Your mother didn’t raise    , so think about yourself in a      way and see yourself as a winner!” So I worked harder than ever at getting in better shape,      my shot accuracy and changing my      . 

Once in a match, we      our first game badly. What’s worse, one of our best players got hurt. I was sitting at my      place, at the end of the bench, when the coach came over and told me I was going    , I was nervous, excited and terrified all at the same time.

The opposing team was fast and I had to admit I was a little     .  But my mom’s words      out in my head like a church bell. Instead of being afraid, I was “pumped” and I very quickly found that all my      work was paying off.  I was as fast a skater as anyone else on the ice, and I seemed to get the      to score. The crowd went quiet.  All the time I spent on the ice when everyone had gone home had _____ me for this moment.

Won! I won!

   The lesson I learned from my mom’s      has stayed with me over the years. I hear them whenever I am faced with a challenge, or whenever I     myself.  

1.A. once  B. seldom C. usually  D. even

2.A. meeting         B. shows         C. matches        D. practices

3.A. cloudy        B. wet        C. cold       D. windy

4.A. suffered         B. explained          C. planned          D. escaped

5.A. write          B. tell         C. read      D. report

6.A. noticing         B. gathering    C. hearing D. analyzing

7.A. talkers        B. dreamers      C. attackers      D. losers

8.A. positive         B. familiar            C. brief        D. convenient

9.A. testing        B. improving      C. questioning   D. affecting

10.A. aim  B. taste      C. habit     D. attitude

11.A. lost          B. controlled     C. practiced       D. continued

12.A. usual        B. safe       C. secret   D. private

13.A. off   B. in  C. by D. up

14.A. annoyed        B. nervous    C. delighted       D. bitter

15.A. ran    B. gave          C. stood   D. rang

16.A. delicate        B. extra  C. creative         D. casual

17.A. chance         B. message    C. order       D. note

18.A. spared         B. requested  C. prepared       D. sent

19.A. actions         B. reasons      C. words   D. promises

20.A. judge        B. express          C. comfort         D. doubt

I try not to be biased（偏见）but I had my doubts about hiring Stevie. His social worker assured me that he would be a good, reliable busboy. But I had never had a mentally handicapped employee. He was short, a little fat, with the smooth facial features and thick-togued speech of Down’s Syndrome（唐氏综合症）. I thought most of my customers would be uncomfortable around Stevie, so I closely watched him for the first few weeks.
I shouldn’t have worried. After the first week, Stevie had my staff wrapped around his stubby little finger, and within a month my regular trucker customers had adopted him as their official truck stop mascot. After that, I really didn't care what the rest of the customers thought of him. He was like a 21-year-old in blue jeans and Nikes, eager to laugh and eager to please, but fierce in his attention to his duties. Every salt and pepper shaker was exactly in its place, not a bread crumb or coffee spill was visible when Stevie got done with the table. Our only problem was persuading him to wait to clean a table until after the customers were finished.
Over time, we learned that he lived with his mother, a widow who was disabled. Money was tight, and what I paid him was probably the difference between them being able to live together and Stevie being sent to a group home.
That's why the restaurant was a gloomy place that morning last August, the first morning in three years that Stevie missed work. He was at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester getting a heart surgery. His social worker said that people with Downs Syndrome often had heart problems at an early age and there was a good chance he would come through the surgery in good shape and be back at work in a few months.
A ripple of excitement ran through the staff later that morning when word came that he was out of surgery, in recovery, and doing fine. Frannie, my head waitress, did a little dance when she heard the good news. Belle Ringer, one of our regular trucker customers, stared at her and asked, “Okay, Frannie, what was that all about?”
"We just got word that Stevie is out of surgery and going to be okay."
"I was wondering where he was. I had a new joke to tell him. What was the surgery about?"
Frannie quickly told Belle Ringer and the other two drivers sitting at his booth about Stevie's surgery, then sighed: "Yeah, I'm glad he is going to be OK," she said. "But I don't know how he and his Mom are going to handle all the bills. From what I hear, they're barely getting by as it is."
Belle Ringer nodded thoughtfully, and Frannie hurried off to wait on the rest of her tables.
After the morning rush, Frannie walked into my office. She had a couple of paper napkins in her hand.
"What's up?" I asked.
“I cleared off that table where Belle Ringer and his friends were sitting after they left, and I found this. This was folded and tucked under a coffee cup."
She handed the napkin to me, and three $20 bills fell onto my desk when I opened it. On the outside, in big, bold letters, was printed "Something For Stevie".
That was three months ago. Today is New Year’s day , the first day Stevie is supposed to be back to work. His placement worker said he had been counting the days until the doctor said he could work, I arranged to have his mother bring him to work, met them in the parking lot and invited them both to celebrate his day back. I took him and his mother by their arms. “To celebrate you coming back, breakfast for you and your mother is on me.”
I led them toward a large corner booth. I could feel and hear truck customers and the rest of the staff following behind as we marched through the dining room. We stopped in front of the big table. Its surface was covered with coffee cups and dinner plates, all sitting slightly on dozens of folded paper napkins.
"First thing you have to do, Stevie, is clean up this mess," I said.
Stevie looked at me, and then pulled out one of the napkins. It had "Something for Stevie" printed on the outside. As he picked it up, two $10 bills fell onto the table. Stevie stared at the money, then at all the napkins peeking from beneath the tableware, each with his name printed on it.
I turned to his mother. “There's more than $10,000 in cash and checks on that table, all from truckers and trucking companies that heard about your problems. Happy Thanksgiving!”
While everybody else was busy shaking hands and hugging each other, Stevie, with a big, big smile on his face, was busy clearing all the cups and dishes from the table.
【小题1】Why did the author have doubts about hiring Stevie?