第二节完形填空（共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分）

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

“Hey, Dad, are you going to come to my award ceremony tonight?” I   36   asked my father. “I have to work late tonight. I doubt whether I’ll be able to   37   it on time. I am just too busy right now,” he replied.

My mind could not   38   the idea that he would be too busy working late. He was also too busy to   39   my horse show, football games and the 15th birthday party. He always used the same   40  . Why had I even bothered to ask?   41  , there was always a slight hope that tonight would be   42 .

As my mother and I arrived at school, two friends   43   me. “Jill, meet my dad. Dad, this is my friend Jill.” I shook the hand of a tall man. Camera flashes lit up the room, and claps filled the   44   as students accepted their awards. My name was finally called,  45   three others. I followed my classmates to the   46  . When I reached out my hand to shake the   47  , a big smile lit up her face. The blinding flash from my mother’s camera   48   my eyes and I knew my dad wasn’t there. I walked back to my seat   49  .

Back at home, seeing my dad’s car in the garage, I told myself he would not be   50  . But the strong smell of alcohol hit me as soon as I   51   inside, and I could feel my tears   52  .

I followed the sound of his drunken words and saw him   53   on the couch.

54   did father lie to me? I threw my award on the floor, walked to my bedroom, and shut the door. Tears rolled down my face. I wondered if I would ever be more   55   than his whiskey bottle.

36. A. confidently                B. eagerly                     C. proudly             D. fearfully

37. A. reach                         B. keep                        C. take                  D. make

38. A. create                        B. support                    C. appreciate          D. accept

39. A. watch                        B. avoid                       C. attend               D. speed

40. A. excuse                       B. reply                        C. promise             D. trick

41. A. Besides                      B. Thus                        C. Otherwise          D. However

42. A. active                        B. formal                    C. different            D. serious

43. A. recognised                 B. greeted                 C. encouraged        D. showed

44. A. air                             B. audience               C. school           D. playground

45. A. apart from                 B. other than          C. except for      D. along with

46. A. stage                         B. position                    C. office                D. exit

47. A. Jill’s                          B. teacher’s                  C. mother’s           D. father’s

48. A. fixed                         B. touched                    C. hurt                  D. inserted

49. A. successfully            B. disappointedly      C. delightedly     D. hopefully

50. A. drunk                        B. woken                  C. forgiven            D. hidden

51. A. stepped                  B. noticed                     C. examined          D. glanced

52. A. getting off                 B. taking down             C. building up        D. turning around

53. A. leaning                  B. lying                    C. putting                     D. carrying

54. A. How                          B. Where                  C. Why                 D. Whether

55. A. perfect                   B. comfortable                 C. fortunate           D. Important

My mind went blank when I saw the gun pointing against the car window as we pulled out of the garage. This can’t be happening to me. Then I felt the gun, cold, against my head, and I heard my friend Jeremy saying, “What do you want? Take my wallet,” but at the time I thought of nothing.

I remember being a little annoyed when the gunman pulled me from the car by the hair. I remember the walk to the house --- Jeremy, me, the two men with two guns. I remember the fear and anger in the gunmen’s voices because Jeremy was being slow, and I remember wondering why he was being slow. I did not realize that Jeremy had thrown the keys into the bush. But I remember that sound of the gun hitting Jeremy’s head and the feeling as the man who had hold of my hair released me. And I remember the split second when I realized he was looking at Jeremy, and I remember wondering how far I could run before he pulled the trigger. But I was already running, and upon reaching the car across the street, I didn’t crouch(蹲伏) behind it but screamed instead.

I remember thinking there was something ridiculous and illogical about screaming “Help, help!” at eight o’clock on a Tuesday evening in December and changing my plea(恳求) to the more specific “Help, let me in, please let me in!” But the houses were cold, closed, unfriendly, and I ran on until I heard Jeremy’s screams behind me announcing that our attackers had fled.

The neighbors who had not opened their doors to us came out with baseball bats and helped Jeremy find his glasses and keys. In a group they were very brave. We waited for the police to come until someone said to someone else that the noodles were getting cold, and I said politely, “Please go and eat. We’re O.K.”

I was happy to see them go. They had been talking of stricter sentences for criminals, of bringing back the death penalty(处罚) and how the President is going to clean up the country. I was thinking, they could be saying all of this over my dead body, and I still feel that stiffer sentences wouldn’t change a thing. In a rush all the anger I should have felt for my attackers was directed against these contented people standing in front of their warm, comfortable homes talking about all the guns they were going to buy. What good would guns have been to Jeremy and me?

People all over the neighborhood had called to report our screams, and the police turned out in force twenty minutes later. They were ill-tempered about what was, to them, much trouble about nothing. After all, Jeremy was hardly hurt, and we were hopeless when it came to describing the gunmen. “Typical,” said one policeman when we couldn’t even agree on how tall the men were. Both of us were able to describe the guns in horrifying detail, but the two policemen who stayed to make the report didn’t think that would be much help.

The policemen were matter-of-fact about the whole thing. The thin one said, “That was a stupid thing to do, throwing away the keys. When a man has a gun against your head you do what you’re told.” Jeremy looked properly embarrassed.

Then the fat policeman came up and the thin one went to look around the outside of the house. “That was the best thing you could have done, throwing away the keys,” he said. “If you had gone into the house with them…” His voice became weaker. “They would have hurt her” --- he twisted his head toward me – “and killed you both.” Jeremy looked happier. “Look,” said the fat policeman kindly, “there’s no right or wrong in the situation. There’s just luck.”

All that sleepless night I replayed the moment those black gloves came up to the car window. How long did the whole thing last? Three minutes, five, eight? No matter how many hours of my life I may spend reliving it, I know there is no way to prepare for the next time --- no intelligent response to a gun. The fat cop was right. There’s only luck. The next time I might end up dead.

And I’m sure there will be a next time. It can happen anywhere, anytime, to anyone. Security is an illusion(幻觉); there is no safety in locks or in guns. Guns make some people feel safe and some people feel strong, but they’re fooling themselves.

1. When the writer saw the gun pointing against the car window, ______.

A. she felt very annoyed              B. she lost consciousness

C. she felt very much nervous          D. she lost the power of thinking

2.What most possibly drove the two gunmen away?

A. Jeremy’s fighting                B. The author’s screaming

C. Their neighbour’s brave action      D. The police’s arrival

3.When the author called for help, the neighbors didn’t come out immediately because ______

A. they were much too frightened

B. they were busy preparing dinners

C. they needed time to find baseball bats

D. they thought someone was playing a trick

4.The author was happy to see the neighbors go because ______.

A. she hated to listen to their empty talk

B. she did not want to become an object of pity

C. she was angered by their being late to come to her help

D. she wanted to be left alone with Jeremy to get over the shock

5.The police were rather angry because ______.

A. the author was not hurt and gave a false alarm

B. they thought it was a case of little importance

C. the author and Jeremy could not tell the police anything

D. the gunmen had already fled when they arrived on the scene

6.What the author wants to tell us is that______.

A. neighbors are not helpful in moments of difficulty

B. the police are not reliable when one is in trouble

C. security is impossible as long as people can have guns

D. preventing robbers entering your house is the best choice

6.I have to go to work by taxi because my car ____at the garage.

　　 A. will be repaired B. is repaired

　　 C. is being repaired D. has been repaired

During Christmas break from college, a young man wanted to borrow his father's car to drive to a New Year's Eve __16__ to be held in Vermont. The father was __17__ about the son hitting one of the roadblocks that people set up all over the place on New Year's Eve. The __18__ that was reached was that the son would be allowed to use the car, but he would not drink at all.
So he drove to Vermont, got completely __19__ and attempted to drive home. On the way home he hit a roadblock. He was told to __20__ the car and stand in a line of people that were being given the infamous sobriety (not drunk) __21__. However, the policeman __22__ him out. He was __23__ standing off to the side while the others were __24__ the police officer how well they could walk a __25__ line, etc.
At 7:00 a.m., his father got up to answer the __26__. There were __27__ policemen there. They asked him if he was the __28__ of that red FIAT. He replied, "Yes, I am," One of the policemen asked him if he was driving the car the evening before and he said that his son had been the driver.
When the young man __29__ himself in front of the policemen, he knew he was in some sort of __30__. Upon questioning, he __31__ that he was driving the car, but when asked if he had been __32__, he said, "No!" When the policemen asked if he could see his car, he was unable to remember the __33__. He said that it was in the garage.
And when the four of them walked out to look at the car，instead of looking at the car he had driven the __34__ before, they saw a __35__ car parked there.

A young man applied for a job as a farmhand. When the farmer asked for his qualifications(资历), he said, “I can sleep when the wind blows.”
This puzzled the farmer. But he liked the young man, and hired him.
A few days later, the farmer and his wife were awakened in the night by a violent storm. They quickly began to check things out to see if all was safe from damage. They found that the doors of the farmhouse had been safely fastened, and a lot of wood had been set next to the fireplace.
The young man slept soundly.
The farmer and his wife then looked at their property (财产) carefully. They found that the farm tools had been placed in the storage room, safe from the bad weather. The tractor had been moved into the garage. The barn was properly locked. Even the animals were calm. All was well.
The farmer then understood the meaning of the young man’s words, “I can sleep when the wind blows.”
The farmhand did his work loyally. When the sky was clear, he had prepared for the storm in case it broke. So when the wind blew, there was no need for him to be afraid. He could sleep in peace.
【小题1】The underlined word “fastened” in Para. 3 can be replaced by ______.