By the third year of teaching I’d begun to expect Christmas break more for the school holiday and less for the excitement of the children. I was teaching fourth grade and my students had made me   36  . I just had to get through one of the hardest days of the school year.
　The morning bell rang. I walked   37  through the cold into the overly heated school building. Twenty-two smiling faces   38  me at the school bus stop. I forced myself to   39  their smiles. Back into the classroom, they   40 , comparing plans for the   41  . I had to remove one student from each arm   42  I could take a seat at my desk for my morning duties. Before I could find my roll book（点名册） my desk was covered with   43  and gifts followed by a   44  of “Merry Christmas” wishes.
　“Oh, thank you,” I must have   45  a million times. Each gift was truly special to me, except my   46  mood. It was kind of them to   47  me. After a while, I heard a small nervous   48  say my name. I looked up to see Brandon standing   49  by my desk, holding a small, round gift. “This is for you.”
　“Thank you, Sweetheart.” I laid it on my desk with the others.
　“Um, could you   50  it now?”
　I gently tore at the paper and tape. “  51  ,” he said, “it’s breakable.” Slowly I opened a small, green Christmas tree ornament（装饰物）, complete with a hook already   52 . It dawned on me what he had done. Then a nearby student said that he just pulled that off his own tree. I tried to keep my   53  back.
Later that day, I sat   54  the ornament in my hands. Was I really so important to this child that he had searched for something to give me? Now every year as I   55  pull a green Christmas ball from my ornament box, I remember the deep influence my students have on me.

【小题17】

A．exposed B．adapted C．adjusted D．attached

We took the bus from the suburb every early morning that summer 3 years ago. One of the passengers was a small   36  man who took the bus to the centre for senior citizens every morning. He walked with a stoop (佝偻) and a sad look on his face when he, with some difficulty,   37  the bus and sat down alone behind the driver. No one ever paid very much attention to him.

　　Then one   38   morning he said good morning to the driver and smiled before he sat down. The driver 39  guardedly. The rest of us were silent. The next day, the old man boarded the bus energetically,   40  and said in a loud voice: “And a very good morning to you all!” Some of us looked up, amazed, and murmured “Good morning,”  41  . The following weeks we were more alert (留意的). Our friend was now dressed in a nice old suit and a wide out-of-date   42 . The thin hair had been carefully combed. He said good morning to us every day and we  43  began to nod and talk to each other.

　　One morning he had a bunch of wild flowers in his hand. The driver   44  smilingly and asked:“Have you got yourself a girlfriend, Charlie?”and he nodded shyly and said yes. The other passengers   45  and clapped at him. Charlie bowed and waved the   46  before he sat down on his seat. Every morning after that Charlie always brought a flower. Some of the   47  passengers began bringing him flowers for his bouquet(花束).

The summer went by, and    48   was closing in, when one morning Charlie wasn't waiting at his usual    49 . When he wasn't there the next day and the day after that, we started wondering if he was sick or —   50  — on holiday somewhere.

One day, we learned from the staff working in the centre for senior citizens that the elderly   51  was fine, but he hadn't been coming to the   52   that week. One of his very close friends had died at the weekend. They   53  him back on Monday. How silent we were the rest of the way to work.

　　The next   54   Charlie was waiting at the stop, stooping a bit more, a little bit more grey, and without a tie. He seemed to have shrinked（缩小）again. Inside the bus was a  55 . All of us sat with our eyes filled with tears and a bunch of wild flowers in our hands.

Most of us spend our lives seeking the natural world. To this end, we walk the dog, play golf, go fishing, sit in the garden, drink outside rather than inside the pub, have a picnic, live in the suburbs, go to the seaside, buy a weekend place in the country. The most popular free time activity in Britain is going for a walk. And when joggers (慢跑者) jog, they don’t run the streets. Every one of them automatically heads to the park or the river. It is my firm belief that not only do we all need nature, but we all seek nature, whether we know we are doing so or not.

But despite this, our children are growing up nature-deprived (丧失). I spent my boyhood climbing trees. These days, children are robbed of these ancient freedoms, due to problems like crime, traffic, the loss of the open spaces and strange new ideas about what is best for children, that is to say, things that can be bought, rather than things that can be found.

The truth is to be found elsewhere. A study in the US: families had moved to better housing and the children were assessed for ADHD (多动症). Those whose housing had more natural views showed an improvement of 19%; those who had the same improvement in material surroundings but no nice view improved just 4%.

A study in Sweden indicated that kindergarten children who could play in a natural environment had less illness and greater physical ability than children used only to a normal playground. A US study suggested that when a school gave children access to a natural environment, the entire school would do better in studies.

Another study found that children play differently in a natural environment. In playgrounds, children create a hierarchy (等级) based on physical abilities, with the tough ones taking the lead. But when a grassy area was planted with bushes, the children got much more into fantasy play, and the social hierarchy was now based on imagination and creativity.

Most bullying (恃强凌弱) is found in schools where there is a tarmac (柏油碎石) playground; the least bullying is in a natural area that the children are encouraged to explore. This reminds me unpleasantly of Sunnyhill School, with its hard tarmac, where I used to hang about in corners dreaming about wildlife.

But children are frequently discouraged from involvement with natural spaces, for health and safety reasons, for fear that they might get dirty or that they might cause damage. So, instead, the damage is done to the children themselves: not to their bodies but to their souls.

One of the great problems of modern childhood is ADHD, now increasingly and expensively treated with drugs. Yet one study after another indicates that contact with nature gives huge benefits to ADHD children. However, we spend money on drugs rather than on green places.

The life of old people is much better when they have access to nature. The most important for the growing population of old people is in quality rather than quantity of years. And study after study finds that a garden is the single most important thing in finding that quality.

In wider and more difficult areas of life, there is evidence to indicate that natural surroundings improve all kinds of things. Even problems with crime and aggressive behaviour are reduced when there is contact with the natural world.

Dr William Bird, researcher from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, states in his study, “A natural environment can reduce violent behaviour because its process helps reduce anger and behavior that people might regret later.” Wild places need encouraging for this reason, no matter how small their contribution.

We tend to think human beings are doing nature some kind of favor when we are protecting nature. The error here is far too deep: not only do humans need nature for themselves, but the very idea that humanity and the natural world are separable things is damaging.

Human beings are a species of animals. For seven million years we lived on the planet as part of nature. So we miss the natural world and long for contact with non-human life. Anyone who has patted a dog, stroked a cat, sat under a tree with a glass of beer, given or received a bunch of flowers or chosen to walk through the park on a nice day, understands that.

We need the wild world. It is necessary to our well-being, our health, our happiness. Without other living things around us we are less than human.

1.What is the author’s firm belief?

　　A. People seek nature in different ways.

　　B. People should spend most of their lives in the wild.

　　C. People have quite different ideas of nature.

　　D. People must make more efforts to study nature.

2.What does the author say people prefer for their children nowadays?

　　A. Personal freedom.　　            B. Things that are natural.

　　C. Urban surroundings.　　          D. Things that are purchased.

3.What does a study in Sweden show?

　　A. The natural environment can help children learn better.

　　B. More access to nature makes children less likely to fall ill.

　　C. A good playground helps kids develop their physical abilities.

　　D. Natural views can prevent children from developing ADHD.

4.Children who have chances to explore natural areas ________.

　  A. tend to develop a strong love for science　    

B. are more likely to dream about wildlife

　  C. tend to be physically tougher in adulthood　   

D. are less likely to be involved in bullying

5.What does the author suggest we do to help children with ADHD?

　　A. Find more effective drugs for them.　　   

B. Provide more green spaces for them.

　　C. Place them under more personal care.　　

D. Engage them in more meaningful activities

6. In what way do elderly people benefit from their contact with nature?

　　A. They look on life optimistically.　　    B. They enjoy a life of better quality.

C. They are able to live longer.            D. They become good-humored