I’ve always had strong opinions of how love should be expressed, but others had their own ways of showing care.
What I   36  most about visiting my boyfriend’s parents is the loud tick of the clock in the dining room as we   37  ate our meal. With so little conversation I was quick to   38 his family as cold. When we got into the   39   to go home, his father suddenly appeared. 40  , he began to wash his son’s windscreen. I could feel he was a caring man through the glass.
I learned another lesson about love a few years later. My father often  41  me early in the morning. “Buy Xerox. It’s a good sharp price,” he might say when I answered the phone. No pleasant  42 or inquiry about my life, just financial instructions. This manner of his  43 me and we often quarreled. But one day, I thought about my father’s success in business and realized that his concern for my financial security lay behind his  44   morning calls. The next time he called and told me to buy a stock, I  45  him.
When my social style has conflicted with that of my friends, I’ve often felt   46 . For example, I always return phone calls  47  and regularly contact with my friends. I expect the same from them. I had one friend who rarely called, answering my messages with short e-mails. I rushed to the  48  : She wasn’t a good friend! My anger  49   as the holidays approached. But then she came to a gathering I  50 and handed me a beautiful dress I had fallen in love with when we did some window-shopping the previous month. I was  51   at her thoughtfulness, and regretful for how I’d considered her to be  52  . Clearly I needed to change my expectations of friends.
Far too often, I ignored their  53   expressions, eagerly expecting them to do things in my  54 . Over the years, however, I’ve learned to  55  other persons, love signs.

Things of Value

Our area was just a few miles from the largest wildfire in Colorado’s history. We were on “evacuation alert (疏散警报)”. If we got the   1  to evacuate, we would have to leave immediately.

We   2  suitcases with some clothes and set them by the door. We didn’t  3 these things were valuable, but time was. We moved the computers, with which I wrote for newspapers and made a   4 . We took family pictures off the   5  and packed them in boxes. These were truly valuable and could not be replaced.

Then we took a hard look at all that   6 . There was a lamp that belonged to my great grandmother. It was a   7  to my family. And there was the piano my wife   8  to play when she was a little girl. Not of great   9  in itself, but another family connection. It was impractical to move everything from our home and store them for an indefinite (无限的) time. Some important items would have to stay behind.

The thought of   10  something passed down from our families saddened me deeply,   11  I’d never been much attached to things. It’s about what they   12  —family and love. They each had a(n)   13  to tell, and some of them spoke in the   14  of our parents and grandparents.

The fire   15  reached our home. We were lucky. And though I felt grateful that all was   16 , I also realized just how fortunate I had been   17 . I saw just how rich my life had been.

Someone  18 said, “There are people so poor that the only thing they have is money.” And now I  19  I was indeed rich. I was rich in family, rich in memories, rich in everything that really  20 to me. I am wealthier than I ever believed possible.

It took a fire to teach me, I wonder if there is any other kind of wealth worth seeking.

1.                A．answer         B．task            C．chance   D．call

2.                A．packed         B．bought         C．searched D．sold

3.                A．worry          B．think           C．care D．doubt

4.                A．mark           B．sign            C．living D．plan

5.                A．albums         B．ceilings         C．windows  D．walls

6.                A．left            B．remained       C．burnt D．unmoved

7.                A．connection      B．present         C．symbol   D．treasure

8.                A．forgot          B．agreed         C．learned   D．refused

9.                A．quality         B．taste           C．sense    D．value

10.               A．knocking out     B．leaving behind   C．giving away D．picking out

11.               A．even though     B．unless          C．but   D．or

12.               A．contained       B．included        C．represented    D．gathered

13.               A．idea           B．lie             C．right  D．story

14.               A．sounds         B．speeds         C．voices D．feelings

15.               A．once          B．never          C．seldom    D．finally

16.               A．spared         B．returned       C．stopped   D．found

17.               A．at last          B．in return        C．in another way  D．at most

18.               A．curiously       B．accidentally     C．coldly D．wisely

19.               A．knew          B．promised       C．announced D．thanked

20.               A．affects         B．matters         C．helps D．desires

One cold night, I was growing sick of my life in San Francisco．There I was walking home around one o’clock in the morning after a   31  practice at the theatre. With the opening night only a week away, I was still learning my lines by heart. I was having   32  handling my part-time job at the bank in the daytime and my acting at night at the same time. As I walked, I thought seriously about  33  both acting and San Francisco. I had  34  too much of city life.

As I walked down the  35  streets under the tall buildings, I felt very small and cold, so I began  36  both to keep warm and to keep away from any possible robbers. Very few people were still out  37  a few homeless people under blankets.

About a block from my  38 , I heard a sound behind me. I   39  quickly, half expecting to see someone with a knife or a gun. The street was empty. All I saw was a shining streetlight. Still, the noise had made me  40  so I started to run faster. Not until I reached my apartment building and unlocked the door did I   41  what the noise had been. It had been my wallet  42  to the sidewalk.

Suddenly I wasn’t cold or tired anymore. I ran out of the door and back to where I’d heard the noise. Although I searched the sidewalk   43  for 15 minutes, my wallet was   44  to be found.

Just as I was about to quit the  45  , I heard the garbage truck stop to the sidewalk next to  46  . When a voice came from the inside, “Alisa Camacho?” I thought I was dreaming. How could this man know my name? The door opened and out jumped a small blonde(金发碧眼的) man with an  47  look in his eyes. “Is this  48  you’re looking for?” He asked, holding up something like a wallet.

It was already 3 a.m. by the time I got into bed. I couldn’t get much sleep, but I had got my wallet back. I also had got back some  49  of city life. I realized the city couldn’t be a bad place  50  people were willing to help each other.

Honesty comes in many forms. First there’s self-honesty. Is what people see the real article or do you appear through smoke and mirrors? I find that if I try to be something I’m not. I feel unsure of myself and take out a part from my PBA(personal bank account). I love how singer Judy Garland put it. “Always be a first-class version(版本) of yourself, instead of a second-class version of somebody else. ” Then there’s honesty in our actions. Are you honest at school, with your parents, and with your boss? If you’ve ever been dishonest, I think we all have, try being honest, and notice how whole it makes you feel. Remember, you can’t do wrong and feel right. This story by Jeff is a good example of that

In my second year of study, there were three kids in my math class who didn’t do well. I was really good at it. I would charge them three dollars for each test that I helped them pass. I’d write on a little piece of paper all the right answers, and hand them off. At first I felt like I was making money, kind of a nice job. I wasn’t thinking about how it could hurt all of us. After a while I realized I shouldn’t do that any more, because I wasn’t really helping them. They weren’t learning anything, and it would only get harder down the road. Cheating certainly wasn’t helping me.

It takes courage to be honest when people all around you are getting away with cheating on tests, lying to their parents, and stealing at work. But, remember, every act of honesty is a deposit(储蓄) into your PBA and will build strength.

1.The underlined part “appear through smoke and mirrors” in the FIRST paragraph means________.

A．to be unreal                           B．to be honest

C．to become clear                        D．to come from an imagined world

2.Which of the following can best explain Judy Garland’s words?

A．Don’t copy others or you can’t be the first class.

B．Be your true self rather than follow others.

C．Make efforts to be the first instead of the second.

D．Don’t learn from others unless they’re excellent.

3.What does the author expect to show by Jeff’s story?

A．Honesty can be of great help.

B．A bad thing can be turned into a good one.

C．One should realize the wrong in his bad deeds.

D．Helping others cheat can do good to nobody.

4.In the last paragraph the author mainly wants to express________.

A．one must be brave to be honest

B．it’s difficult to be honest when others are not

C．one should be honest when making a deposit

D．honesty in one’s actions can help him in the future

In March 1987, I started a new magazine called Creating Excellence. It was a very proud moment for me. I’d worked hard for over a year to create it, and the premiere issue (首次发刊) was a real success.

Shortly after we mailed 25,000 copies, I received one in the mail. But this one wasn’t as beautiful as the ones we’d sent out. It was marked in red ink correcting the grammatical errors (语法错误) in it. A talented editor had read the issue carefully and found more errors than I could have imagined.

I felt abashed. A magazine called Creating Excellence should be perfect in its content (内容). The stories were good, but the errors this woman had found showed that we were far from being excellent.

At first, I was upset with my editor for not having caught more mistakes, and also upset with the woman who seemed to have taken pleasure in pointing them out. Later, I was upset with myself for not having employed a better editor.

Then I realized that I had to face up to my mistakes. I called the woman who had shown me that we were not so excellent. I thanked her for taking the time to read our magazine so carefully. As painful as it was, I accepted responsibility for it.

Then I offered her the job of editing our publication. The result was a great improvement in it; we could now be very proud of our magazine.

From this I learnt that an upsetting moment could be an opportunity to see the truth, and accepting responsibility could help to prevent one making the same mistakes for a second time, and to make "excellence" a reality.

1.From the first paragraph we learn that _____.

A．the author put little effort into his first magazine

B．the author’s job was selling magazines

C．the author was very satisfied with his work

D．the author experienced a total failure

2.What does the underlined word "abashed" mean?

A．excited.           B．embarrassed.       C．interested.        D．exhausted.

3.What do we learn about the woman who had found the errors in the magazine?

A．She was causing trouble on purpose.

B．She liked pointing out the errors of others.

C．She contributed a lot to the success of the premiere issue.

D．She ended up joining the magazine.

4.What do we learn from this passage?

A．Pride is the biggest enemy of success.

B．Success is behind many failures.

C．Picking holes in something can help you find a job.

D．Accepting responsibility for one’s errors can lead to real excellence.