______ your help, we would never have been able to get out of trouble.

A. But for                B. As for              C. Because of          D. According to

Last Christmas was a very difficult time for me. My family and all of my close friends were back home in Florida, and I was all alone in a rather cold California. I was working too many hours and became very sick.

I was working a double shift at the Southwest Airlines ticket counter, it was about 9:00 PM on Christmas Eve, and I was feeling really miserable inside. There were a few of us working and very few customers waiting to be helped. When it was time for me to call the next person to the counter, I looked out to see the sweetest-looking old man standing with a cane. He walked very slowly over to the counter and in the faintest voice told me that he had to go to New Orleans. I tried to explain to him that there were no more flights that night and that he would have to go in the morning. He looked so confused and very worried. I tried to find out more information by asking if he had a reservation or if he remembered when he was supposed to travel, but he seemed to become more confused with each question. He just kept saying, “She said I have to go to New Orleans.”

After much time, I was able to at least find out that this old man had been dropped off at the curb on Christmas Eve by his sister-in-law and told to go to New Orleans, where he had family. She had given him some cash and told him just to go inside and buy a ticket. When I asked if he could come back tomorrow, he said that she was gone and that he had no place to stay. He then said he would wait at the airport until tomorrow. Naturally, I felt a little ashamed. Here I was feeling very sorry for myself about being alone on Christmas, when this angel named Clarence MacDonald was sent to me to remind me of what being alone really meant. It broke my heart.

Immediately, I told him we would get it all straightened out, and our Customer Service agent helped to book him a seat for the earliest flight the next morning. We gave him the senior citizen’s fare, which gave him some extra money for travelling. About this time he started to look very tired, and when I stepped around the counter to ask him if he was all right, I saw that his leg was wrapped in a bandage. He had been standing on it that whole time, holding a plastic bag full of clothes.

I called for a wheelchair. When the wheelchair came, we all stepped around to help him in, and I noticed a small amount of blood on his bandage. I asked how he hurt his leg, and he said that he had just had bypass surgery and an artery was taken from his leg. Can you imagine? This man had had heart surgery, and then shortly afterward, was dropped off at the curb to buy a ticket with no reservation to fly to New Orleans, alone!

I never really had a situation like this, and I wasn’t sure what I could do. I went back to ask my supervisors if we could find a place for him to stay. They both said yes, and they obtained a hotel voucher for Mr. MacDonald for one night and a meal ticket for dinner and breakfast. When I came back out, we got his plastic bag of clothes and cane together and gave the porter a tip to take him downstairs to wait for the airport shuttle. I bent down to explain the hotel, food and itinerary (行程) again to Mr. MacDonald, and then patted him on the arm and told him everything would be just fine.

As he left he said, “Thank you,” bent his head and started to cry. I cried too. When I went back to thank my supervisor, she just smiled and said, “I love stories like that. He is your Christmas Man.”

1.Last Christmas the writer had a miserable time because ______.

A．there were more customers than usual waiting to be helped

B．it was freezing cold in California at Christmas time

C．she was working all alone at the ticket counter

D．she was far away from her family and friends

2.The writer’s first impression of the old man was that he was ______.

A．gentle-looking and weak                  B．tired out and worried

C．confused and very sick                   D．sad and anxious

3.The old man wanted to fly to New Orleans to ______.

A．see his friends there

B．spend the Christmas with his family

C．visit his sister-in-law

D．undergo heart surgery

4.On hearing the old man say that he would wait at the airport the whole night, the writer felt a bit ashamed. This is because ______.

A．she felt sorry that she couldn’t do the old man a favor

B．she realized that someone was even more miserable than she felt

C．it took her a long time to find out how helpless the old man was

D．the old man was like an angel in the writer’s eyes

5.The writer called for a wheelchair for the old man because ______.

A．the old man had broken his leg when he was dropped off at the curb

B．the old man could spend the whole night on it at the airport

C．the old man was carrying a whole lot of clothes

D．the old man had had surgery just before and was very weak by then

6. By calling the old man the writer’s Christmas Man, the writer’s supervisor implied that ______.

A．the old man had told the writer a love story on Christmas

B．the old man had caused a lot of trouble for the writer on Christmas

C．the old man was the best gift the writer could have received on Christmas

D．the old man was the only customer the writer had served on Christmas

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。

I have lived in Falmouth for about 10 years. I had moved several times before finding Falmouth,  1setting in one place for a long time. My favorite experience of Falmouth was when I   2to deliver Thanksgiving dinner to families or individuals unable to drive or suffering from illness. It was (a)n   3experience.

Volunteers checked in, lined up and followed the   4given. There were many people working. How they manage all of this is quite amazing. The   5of such an event is inspiring.

The best part of the day was delivering the food to homes.   6, they had enough drivers and no assignment for us.   7, the gentleman in front of us checking in had six meals to deliver. So my husband and I   8him, offering to help him fill his box and take the meals to his car. He was   9and we began our task. When he was   10to deliver his quota(配额，限额), he handed us one of the delivery cards, saying, “Since this is your first time, I want you to be able to feel the   11that comes from meeting the people.” I   12that I was somewhat nervous at this first   13. Who knows what I might find behind a stranger’s door.

We rang the doorbell and were met by an extremely   14man. He asked us inside and from the hallway, I could see the silver   15of a walker approaching. We saw a little old lady. She expressed deep gratitude for the delivery.   16she had been diagnosed with cancer, she has had trouble getting out. She could not have been any more gracious and handed me a beautiful scarf she had made and an envelope of   17to the homeless. Can you imagine? Cancer, unable to get out to gather dinner and she still   18such deep gratitude. We   19but not before we hugged goodbye. The gentleman that was kind enough to give us one of his deliveries was   20. This was the best part.

1.A. still                B. never                C. even                 D. ever

2.A. volunteered    B. failed                C. pretended                D. happened

3.A. confusing      B. strange                    C. amazing                   D. secret

4.A. troubles         B. helpers                    C. directions         D. cars

5.A. hope             B. reason                     C. goal                        D. harmony

6.A. At once          B. For this reason   C. At first                    D. Shortly afterwards

7.A. However               B. Furthermore             C. Therefore         D. Otherwise

8.A. cheated          B. approached              C. passed                    D. remembered

9.A. disappointed   B. sympathetic             C. angry                      D. grateful

10.A. allowed              B. forced                    C. refused                   D. driven

11.A. regret          B. panic                C. surprise           D. joy

12.A. forgive         B. admitted                  C. dreamt                    D. hoped

13.A. expression  B. embarrassment   C. task                 D. agreement

14.A friendly         B. cruel                       C. worried                   D. depressed

15.A. wings          B. legs                 C. rings                      D. lines

16.A. Unless                B. If                           C. Although          D. Since

17.A. thanks         B. tickets             C. donation          D. advice

18.A. hid                     B. exhibited           C. saved                     D. exchanged

19.A. left                    B. promised          C. met                         D. greeted

20.A. risky           B. challengeable             C. right                       D. stupid

　 I shook hands with my father in the truck，and for a long time he looked straight ahead and didn’t say a word.But I knew he was going to say a little to me.“I can’t tell anything，” he finally said.“I never went to college，and none of your brothers went to college.I can’t say don’t do this and do that，because everything is different and I don’t know what is going to come up.I can’t help much with money either，but I think things will work out.”

　 He gave me a new check?book.“If things get pushing，write a small check.But when you write one，send me a letter and let me know how much.There are some things we can always sell.” In four years all the checks I wrote were less than a thousand dollars.My part?time jobs such as reading to the blind student and sitting with the teachers’ kids filled in the financial gaps.

　 “You know what you want to be，and they’ll tell you what to take，” my father went on.“When you get a job，be sure it’s honest，and work hard.” I knew that soon I would be alone in the big town，and I would be missing the cool winds and a life where your thinking was done for you.

　 Then my dad reached down beside his seat and brought the old，broken Bible that he had read so often，the one he used when he wanted to look something up in a friendly quarrel with one of the neighbours.I knew he would miss it.I knew，though，that I must take it.

　 He didn’t say read this every morning.He just said，“This can help you if you will let it.”

　 Did it help? I got through college without being a burden on the family.I have been able to make money since.

1.What is the writer’s main purpose (目的) in writing this passage?

　 A.To tell the readers his life story.

　 B.To tell people what kind of person his father was.

　 C.To let people know how poor he was.

　 D.To tell the readers what present he got from his father.

2.Why did the father not ask his son not to do this and do that?

　 A.Because he felt quite confident of him.

　 B.Because he was born from a poor family.

　 C.Because he was a man of few words.

　 D.Because he didn’t want to be much too strict with him.

3.What would you learn from this passage?

　 A.How to live by oneself.

　 B.How to stand on one’s own feet.

　 C.What a good father should do.

　 D.What the self?important is like.

4.What may be the proper Chinese for the underlined part in the passage?

　 A.闲暇时光。 　　　　　　　 B.学费。

　 C.经济不足。 　　　　　　　 D.精神空虚。

5.What kind of book did the Bible seem to be to the writer’s father?

　 A.It was a book which told you how you should get on well with others.

　 B.There were many good examples for you to copy in it.

　 C.It was a book that told you how to get a good job and a good future.

　 D.It was a good book that could help you when you were in trouble.