As Christmas is coming, there are presents to be bought, cards to be sent, rooms to be cleaned. Parents are  with difficult jobs of hiding presents from curious young children. If the gifts are large, this is sometimes a real . On Christmas Eve, young children find the  almost unbearable（难以忍受的）. They are  between the wish to go to bed early so that Father Christmas will bring their presents quickly and the wish to  up late so that they will not  the fun. The wish for gifts usually proves stronger. But though children go to bed early, they often lie  for a long time, hoping to get a short look at Father Christmas.

　　Last Christmas, my wife and I  managed to hide a few large presents in the storeroom. I feared the moment when my son, Jimmy, would  me where that new bike had come from, but  he did not see it.

　　On Christmas Eve, it took the children hours to go to sleep. It must have been nearly  when my wife and I went quietly into their room and began  stockings. Then I pushed in the  I bought for Jimmy and left it beside the Christmas tree. We knew we would not get  sleep that night, for the children were  to get up early. At about five o'clock the next morning, we were woken by loud sounds coming from the children's room － they were shouting excitedly!  I had time to get out of bed, young Jimmy came  into the room on his new bike, and his sister, Mary,  close behind pushing her new baby carriage. Even the baby arrived, he moved  the hands and knees into the room dragging a large balloon behind him. Suddenly it burst. That woke  up completely. The day had really begun with a bang（巨响）.

1.A. faced　　　　 B. met　　　　　 C. filled　　　D. pleased

2.A. question　　　B. matter　　　　C. problem　　　D. business

3.A. joy   　　　B. excitement      C. presents     D. parents

4.A. pulled　　　B. divided　　　C. separated　　  D. torn

5.A. get　　　　 　B. stay　　　　　C. stand　　　 D. wake

    6.A. lose　　　　　B. break　　　　 C. miss　　　　 D. leave

7.A. awake　　　　B. wake　　　　　C. asleep　　　　D. sleep

8.A. hopefully　　B. busily      C. gladly　　D. successfully

9.A. answer　　　 B. tell　　　　　  C. ask　　　　　 D. search

10.A. sadly　　　　B. unluckily   C. possibly　　D. fortunately

11.A. morning　　　B. midnight    C. evening　　　D. daybreak

12.A. filling　　　　B. sewing　　C. mending　　D. preparing

13.A. present　　　 B. stocking　　　 C. bike　　　　　 D. tree

14.A. 1ittle　　　　 B. some　　　　　C. enough　　　 D. much

15.A. sorry　　　　 B. sure　　　　　C. glad　　　　　 D. eager

16.A. Before　　　　B. After　　　　 C. Until　　　　　D. Since

17.A. running　　　 B. laughing　　　 C. shouting　　　 D. riding

18.A. walked　　　　B. moved　　　　C. followed　　　D. jumped

19.A. with　　　　　B. on　　　　　　C. over　　　　 D. by

20.A. him　　　　　B. her　　　　C. me　　　　　　　D. us

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从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。

After their business trip, John and Mary returned, eager to see their lovely children. As they drove into their home town feeling glad to be back, they noticed 1 , and they went off their usual route（路线）to see what it was. They found a 　2 in flames. Mary said, “Oh, well, it isn’t our fire, let’s go home.”

But John 3 closer and screamed, “That home belongs to Fred Jones who works at the plant. He wouldn’t be 　4 work yet, maybe there is something we could do.” It has nothing to do with us, Mary 　5 .

But John drove up and stopped and they were both horror-stricken to see the whole house in 6 . A woman on the lawn was screaming, “The children! Get the children!” John 7 her by the shoulder saying, “Get a hold of yourself and tell us where the children are!” “In the 　8 ,” cried the woman, “down the hall and to the left.”

In spite of Mary’s disagreement John 9 for the basement which was full of smoke and 　10 hot. He found the door and two children. 11 he left he could hear some more whimpering（呜咽）. He 12 the two badly frightened children into 　13 arms and started back asking how many more children were down there. They told him 　14 more and Mary grasped his arm and screamed, “John! Don’t go back! It’s 　15 ! That house will fall down any second.”

16 he ran into the smoke-filled hallway and at last he found both children. As he climbed up the 　17 stairs, the thought went through his mind that there was something strangely 18 about the little bodies next to him, and at last when they came out into the 　19 and fresh air, he found that he had just 　20 his own children.

The baby-sitter had left them at this home while she did some shopping.

1．A．direction　　 B．mistake　　 C．danger　　　 D．smoke

2．A．home　　　　 B．plant　　　 C．store　　　 D．kitchen

3．A．ran　　　　　 B．walked　　　 C．drove　　　 D．rode

4．A．at　　　　　 B．off　　　　 C．to　　　　　 D．on

5．A．whispered　　 B．nodded　　　 C．disagreed　 D．required

6．A．ruins　　　　 B．pieces　　　 C．flames　　　 D．silence

7．A．pushed　　　 B．seized　　　 C．greeted　　 D．stopped

8．A．basement　　 B．department　 C．house　　　 D．hall

9．A．went　　　　 B．reached　　 C．asked　　　 D．rushed

10．A．heavily　　 B．slightly　　 C．partly　　　 D．terribly

11．A．If　　　　　 B．As　　　　　 C．Since　　　 D．Unless

12．A．comforted　 B．delivered　 C．recognized　 D．protected

13．A．cheering　　 B．freezing　　 C．waiting　　 D．suffering

14．A．many　　　　 B．several　　 C．three　　　 D．two

15．A．dangerous　 B．foolish　　 C．practical　 D．painful

16．A．Therefore　 B．So　　　　　 C．Instead　　 D．But

18．A．particular　 B．interesting C．familiar　　 D．fortunate

19．A．car　　　　 B．sunlight　　 C．crowd　　　 D．arms

20．A．rescued　　 B．found　　　 C．lost　　　　 D．missed