My mom is a teacher．She finds a lesson in everything．I was watching Sesame Street by my second birthday so I’d   16   my ABCs and 123s．Our weekly family trips to the library began when I was three．And my mom had me spotting （认出） the historical markers with childlike   17   on family vacations by the time I was six．For her, life was all about learning．But the biggest lesson she   18   me was never to let my   19   define who I am, and never forget what is   20   in life．

       I was born with Freeman-Sheldon Syndrome, an extremely   21   genetic bone and muscular disorder．There are only about 100 reported   22  ．At birth, my knees were bent more than 90 degrees, and I had my first surgery to   23   them when I was just six weeks old．This surgery was the first of many in my   24  ．I’d had 26 surgeries by the time I was 15．

       Strange as it   25  , I have good memories of my medical days．One of my   26   is about my mom and me being in the hospital cafeteria（自助餐厅）．We sat down for an ice cream sandwich dessert．It was   27   fancy, but at that moment, I knew I was   28  ．

       My parents pushed me to be as   29   as possible — even when I didn’t want to be．My mom taught me that I could do anything and that I should   30   let my disability stop me．In high school, I was a member of the National Honor Society, and in college, I was editor-in-chief of my school newspaper．I wouldn’t have had the   31   to push myself if my parents hadn’t been there,   32   me on and giving me a reality check when I got down on myself．

       Every night before I go to bed, I   33   my mom for everything, for all the great help she’s given me．And   34   I get older, I know that “Thanks, Mom” is about so much more than the physical assistance．And that’s   35   matters the most．

A．speak         B．learn          C．say                 D．copy

A．stupidity      B．anxiety        C．enthusiasm           D．curiosity

A．gave         B．taught          C．had                D．took

A．knowledge    B．view         C．disappointment      D．disability

A．interesting     B．amusing        C．important            D．worthwhile

A．rare          B．common       C．regular             D．dangerous

A．cases          B．examples      C．affairs              D．articles

A．strengthen     B．build           C．enlarge             D．correct

A．adulthood      B．career          C．childhood           D．school

A．makes         B．sounds         C．looks               D．is

A．favorites           B．charms       C．regrets             D．worries

A．something     B．nothing         C．anything             D．everything

A．favored      B．encouraged   C．instructed         D．loved

A．normal       B．independent     C．comfortable         D．brilliant

A．never          B．ever           C．seldom              D．hardly

A．skill          B．requirement     C．confidence           D．energy

A．cheering       B．curing          C．keeping             D．turning

A．thank          B．blame          C．pray              D．ask

A．whenever      B．since           C．before              D．as

A．how          B．when         C．what                D．where

My mom is a teacher．She finds a lesson in everything．I was watching Sesame Street by my second birthday so I’d   16   my ABCs and 123s．Our weekly family trips to the library began when I was three．And my mom had me spotting （认出） the historical markers with childlike   17   on family vacations by the time I was six．For her, life was all about learning．But the biggest lesson she   18   me was never to let my   19   define who I am, and never forget what is   20   in life．

I was born with Freeman-Sheldon Syndrome, an extremely   21   genetic bone and muscular disorder．There are only about 100 reported   22 ．At birth, my knees were bent more than 90 degrees, and I had my first surgery to   23   them when I was just six weeks old．This surgery was the first of many in my   24 ．I’d had 26 surgeries by the time I was 15．

Strange as it   25  , I have good memories of my medical days．One of my   26   is about my mom and me being in the hospital cafeteria（自助餐厅）．We sat down for an ice cream sandwich dessert．It was   27   fancy, but at that moment, I knew I was   28 ．

My parents pushed me to be as   29   as possible — even when I didn’t want to be．My mom taught me that I could do anything and that I should   30   let my disability stop me．In high school, I was a member of the National Honor Society, and in college, I was editor-in-chief of my school newspaper．I wouldn’t have had the   31   to push myself if my parents hadn’t been there,   32   me on and giving me a reality check when I got down on myself．

Every night before I go to bed, I   33   my mom for everything, for all the great help she’s given me．And   34   I get older, I know that “Thanks, Mom” is about so much more than the physical assistance．And that’s   35   matters the most．

There are reasons why a middle-aged woman who has been away from the work for her children’s sake decides to go back to work．The  1  reason for me was: years ago my job was that of a bookkeeper（会计）----- it was then that I worked for  2  , and now with my children working, I wanted to do something  3  , something new and exciting．

Money wasn't too important now, as my husband made a very  4  living for us．But what should I do? What sort of   5  should I look for? I knew I needed to be  6   as to what I became involved with．I am not a "quitter"（容易放弃的人） and so I hoped to  7   becoming responsible to an employer in a job that might turn out to be a mistake for me．

While I made painful efforts thinking over what to do, I was   8  of a past incident where I needed to replace my original engagement ring  9  the gold was wearing thin．My husband and I shopped and shopped for one,   10we went, even when we were on vacation． 11  this nonstop searching got my poor   12  to ask, "Just what kind of ring do you want, what exactly are we looking for?" My reply was, "I honestly don't   13, but when I see the correct setting, I will know it." That was the  14  I felt about the new career I wished to start; I didn't have an exact idea as to what I wanted to do, but knew there was a perfect fit for me, if I would  15  be patient.

Fortunately, that summer while I  16  my twenty-fifth high school class reunion（重聚）, I heard a former classmate  17  what she did for a living．She was a travel agent, and she and her husband had just  18 from a trip to Hawaii where they acted as guides for a group of travelers．WOW, that 19   like fun, considerably more fun and exciting than being a  20 : I know what to take up!

1．A．possible                B．obvious               C．believable           D．good

2．A．money                  B．fun                     C．children               D．employers

3．A．valuable                B．reasonable           C．worthy                D．different

4．A．interesting             B．comfortable         C．successful           D．meaningful

5．A．pleasure                B．place                   C．job                      D．man

6．A．careful                  B．useful                  C．joyful                  D．painful

7．A．finish                    B．miss                    C．avoid                  D．forget

8．A．recalled                 B．reminded             C．warned               D．robbed

9．A．where                   B．while                   C．if                        D．as

10．A．nowhere              B．somewhere          C．wherever             D．everywhere

11．A．Actually               B．However             C．Finally                 D．Once

12．A．children               B．classmates           C．employer             D．husband

13．A．care                    B．know                  C．understand          D．find

14．A．way                    B．time                    C．style                   D．thought

15．A．really                  B．ever                    C．just                     D．certainly

16．A．joined                  B．left                      C．started                D．attended

17．A．complaining         B．explaining            C．describing           D．considering

18．A．returned              B．rested                  C．came                  D．stayed

19．A．looked                 B．seemed                C．sounded              D．felt

20．A．traveler               B．wife                    C．employer             D．bookkeeper

The idea about the phoenix goes back to Ancient Egypt, where we find the phoenix described as a handsome, eagle-like bird, with part-golden, part-red plumage, that spent most of its life in the Arabian deserts. It was rarely seen and according to one version of the story, only appeared in Egypt once every five hundred years, when it flew to Heliopolis, “city of the sun”, and deliberately burnt itself to ashes by settling on the altar (祭坛) flame there! However, it seems it did not really die because from those same ashes a young, fully formed phoenix was born and flew away, apparently back to Arabia.
It is pretty obvious that no one has ever seen or will see a living phoenix. The interesting thing is that we can find certain clues which may explain one aspect of the Egyptians’ idea. It may sound unbelievable, but some birds are apparently quite charmed by flames and small fires, especially members of the crow family. One zoologist actually proved this by setting fire to some straw near to a tame（驯养的）rook, a large black bird like a crow. Far from becoming nervous and backing away, the bird deliberately stood over the flames, with raised and vibrating wings. It didn’t get burnt, but the image it presented by its strange behavior was almost exactly like that shown in illustrations of the mythical phoenix!
Why birds should occasionally behave in this strange way is not clear. One idea is that they carefully use the heat of the flames to relieve the annoyance caused by their feather mites (虱) which all birds have. Whatever the reason, it is quite possible that the Ancient Egyptians saw birds behaving in this way, from time to time, and used it as the basis of their phoenix myth, adding fanciful details which closely linked it to their worship of the sun and their belief in resurrection.
Nowadays, the phoenix is much less important to us than it was to the Egyptians. But the logo of modern fire insurance companies, which employ the phoenix as one of their symbols, refers that in one sense the idea of it remains.  
【小题1】 According to the passage, the phoenix _________ .

The idea about the phoenix goes back to Ancient Egypt, where we find the phoenix described as a handsome, eagle-like bird, with part-golden, part-red plumage, that spent most of its life in the Arabian deserts. It was rarely seen and according to one version of the story, only appeared in Egypt once every five hundred years, when it flew to Heliopolis, “city of the sun”, and deliberately burnt itself to ashes by settling on the altar (祭坛) flame there! However, it seems it did not really die because from those same ashes a young, fully formed phoenix was born and flew away, apparently back to Arabia.

It is pretty obvious that no one has ever seen or will see a living phoenix. The interesting thing is that we can find certain clues which may explain one aspect of the Egyptians’ idea. It may sound unbelievable, but some birds are apparently quite charmed by flames and small fires, especially members of the crow family. One zoologist actually proved this by setting fire to some straw near to a tame（驯养的）rook, a large black bird like a crow. Far from becoming nervous and backing away, the bird deliberately stood over the flames, with raised and vibrating wings. It didn’t get burnt, but the image it presented by its strange behavior was almost exactly like that shown in illustrations of the mythical phoenix!

Why birds should occasionally behave in this strange way is not clear. One idea is that they carefully use the heat of the flames to relieve the annoyance caused by their feather mites (虱) which all birds have. Whatever the reason, it is quite possible that the Ancient Egyptians saw birds behaving in this way, from time to time, and used it as the basis of their phoenix myth, adding fanciful details which closely linked it to their worship of the sun and their belief in resurrection.

Nowadays, the phoenix is much less important to us than it was to the Egyptians. But the logo of modern fire insurance companies, which employ the phoenix as one of their symbols, refers that in one sense the idea of it remains.  

1. According to the passage, the phoenix _________ .

2. The reason why birds stand above flames is probably that _________ .

3.Which of the following statements is NOT correct?

4.Which of the following is closest to the underlined word “resurrection” in the 3^rd paragraph?

5.What does the phoenix probably mean in the logo of a fire insurance company?