My husband Mike hated Christmas. He didn’t hate the true meaning of ___36___, but the commercial aspects (方面) of it. Knowing he felt this ____37__, I decided one year to__38__the usual shirts, sweaters, ties and so on. I reached for something __39_just for Mike. The idea came in an unusual way.
　　 Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, was____40__at the junior level at the school he attended and shortly before Christmas, there was a non-league match___41____a team sponsored（资助） by a church.
　　 These youngsters from the church, dressed in shoes so____42___that shoestrings(鞋带) seemed to be the only thing holding them together,___43_____our son’s team were in their beautiful new wrestling shoes.
　　 As the match began, I was___44___to see that the other team was wrestling without a helmet(头盔) designed to___45____a wrestler’s head. They clearly could not____46___ them. Well, our son’s team ended up defeating them and took every weight class. But as the other team ____47__up from the mat(垫子), they walked around with a sense of pride that couldn’t admit___48____.
　　 Mike, seated beside me, shook his head___49___, “I wish just one of them could have won,” he said. “They have a lot of potential(潜力), but___50___like this could take the heart right out of them.” Mike loved__51____and he knew them, having coached little league football, baseball. That’s when the __52____for his present came. That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and ___53____some wrestling helmets and shoes and sent them to the church.
　　 On Christmas Eve, I placed the envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mike what I had done and that this was his____54___from me. His smile was the____55___ thing about Christmas that year.

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和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that thankfulness is indeed a virtue.
—William Bennett
Thanksgiving Day was near. The first grade teacher gave her class a fun __36__ to draw a picture of something for which they were thankful.
Most of the class might be considered economically __37__, but still many would __38__ the holidays with turkeys and other traditional goodies of the season. These, the teacher thought, would be the __39__ of most of her students’ art. And they were.
__40__, Douglas made a different kind of picture. Douglas was a special kind of boy. He was the teacher’s true child of misery, __41__ and unhappy. As other children played at break, Douglas was likely to stand close by her side. One could only guess the pain Douglas felt __42__ those sad eyes.
Yes, his picture was different. When __43__ to draw a picture of something for which he was thankful, he drew a hand. Nothing else. Just a(n) __44__ hand.
His abstract image captured the __45__ of his classmates, whose hand could it be? One child guessed it was the hand of a farmer, because farmers __46__ turkeys. Another suggested a police officer, because the police protect and __47__ people. And so the discussion went ---- until the teacher __48__ forgot the young artist himself.
When the children had gone on to other tasks, she __49__ at Douglas’ desk, bent down, and asked him whose hand it was. The little boy looked away and __50__, “It’s yours, teacher.”
She __51__ the times she had taken his hand and walked with him here and there, __52__ she had other student. How often had she said, “Take your hand, Douglas, we’ll go outside.” Or, “Let me show you how to hold your pencil.” Or, “Let’s do this together.” Douglas was most thankful for his teacher’s hand.
Brushing __53__ a tear, she went on with her work.　　
The story speaks of __54__ thankfulness. It says something about teachers teaching and parents parenting and friends showing friendship, and how much it means to the Douglases of the world. They might not always say thanks, but they’ll remember the hand that __55__.