Girls are born to imagine, particularly those at the age of seventeen or eighteen.   16 , I was one of them and sometimes I would go to extremes. That was exactly what happened several days ago, causing me great embarrassment.

I was waiting for my train home at the station when a boy   17  at my side. His beautifully-curved face, his fashionable clothing and everything else about him, was so  18  that I just couldn’t help gazing (注视) at him. What was more   19  was that, he was also stealing some   20  at me, which made me blush (脸红) to the ends of my ears! Still, I tried to be calm and   21  that nothing had happened. However, once again when our eyes met, I could hear my heart   22  wildly, with an inner voice yelling, “Oh, my goodness, he is driving me   23 !” Shortly, I lowered my head to   24  his eyes, but my thoroughly red face had revealed (泄露) 25 .

To my pleasant surprise, my   26  came true this time, as the handsome guy was drawing

  27 ! “Oh, please! Don’t   28 . Look at me. I am so sweaty and sloppy (多情的). Please don’t   29  my telephone number. You know I will give it to you without   30 , and that is so unladylike!” I was still struggling and trembling when he   31  right in front of me. “Excuse me...” he said with a slight hesitation. His voice was so nice, but I wish I had not   32  it, for in the end, he said: “I am sorry, but could you please give me my   33  back? Yours is over there.” Oh, my God! Nothing could have been more   34  when I handed his bag back to him, as shame almost brought me to tears.

From that, I drew a big   35 : never imagine too much if someone gives you a few glances.

I have a painfully vivid memory of my first homecoming from college, in December 1983. After three whole months away, I was back home with my brand new opinions, attitudes and tastes. How could they watch such terrible television programs? I, the English Literature major with Shakespeare and Milton and James Joyce, could hardly bear to sleep under the roof of a house whose few bookshelves held thrillers and bound editions of the Reader’s Digest. I’m sure my family was glad to see the back of me when, at the end of the holiday, I packed up my books and headed back up to university in the north of England.

   But the next year must have been even more painful to my parents: I didn’t show up at all. Now, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with young people spending a little time away from their families and with their friends.  It’s part of growing up, something you need to do if you are to become properly independent. However, if you’re not going to be home for the festival, you should at least have the decency to telephone and say you’re not coming.

   In English we have an expression, “wet behind the ears.” A person who is wet behind the ears is so immature, that they don’t know how to dry the back of their head after a bath. Just before the following year’s holiday I fell ill, quite seriously so. I’m sure my own behavior contributed to my getting sick: staying out too late, not eating properly—perhaps you know someone like the person I was then. I lay in bed with a fever, feeling very sorry for myself.

   I’m sure you can guess who came to my rescue. My long-suffering parents got in their car and sped up the motorway to rescue their son from the consequences of his own irresponsibility.

   I hope I’m a better son now; if not, it’s getting a little late in the day if I want to change. I’ve worked in China for nearly 10 years and so I don’t get to see them as often as I like, but my parents are online all the time so we talk many times each week. And this Spring Festival I will be flying back to England for a visit. 

   I’m really looking forward to it.

1.What can we learn from the first paragraph?

A. The author liked reading thrillers and the Reading Digest.

B. The author couldn’t fall asleep in a house with few books.

C. The author thought his parents were happy to see him back.

D. The author didn’t seem to share the same tastes with his parents.

2.What can we learn from the second paragraph?

A. The next year the author’s parents were very happy to see him.

B. The author went to see his parents during the second year in college.

C. If you aren’t going to spent an important day with your family, inform them in advance.

D. To leave away from family is not a proper way if you want to gain some independency.

3. If you are a person who is wet behind the ears, you are       .

A. old and experienced                  B. young and inexperienced 

C. young and experienced                    D. mature and experienced

4.We can infer from the last two paragraphs that       .

A. the author thinks he has become a good son

B. the author will be with his family the next Spring Festival

C. the author will not change himself to a better one because it is too late

D. the author keeps in touch with his parents through the Internet regularly

5.What would be the best title for the text?

A. Pleasant memories about Christmas

B. Horrible things happened in the past

C. Interesting memories about Christmas

D. Share with you some of my Ghosts of Christmas Past

Passage 1 is from the introduction to a Zen Buddhist (禅宗的佛教僧侣) manual on the art of “mindfulness”, the practice of paying close attention to the present moment. Passage 2 is from an essay by a United States author.
Passage 1
Every morning, when we wake up, we have 24 brand-new hours to live. What a precious gift! We have the capacity to live in a way that these 24 hours will bring peace, joy, and happiness to ourselves and to others.
Peace is right here and now, in ourselves and in everything we do and see. The question is whether or not we are in touch with it. We don’t have to travel far away to enjoy the blue sky. We don’t have to leave our city or even our neighborhood to enjoy the eyes of a beautiful child. Even the air we breathe can be a source of joy.
We can smile, breathe, walk, and eat our meals in a way that allows us to be in touch with the abundance of happiness that is available. We are very good at preparing how to live, but not very good at living. We know how to sacrifice ten years for a diploma, and we are willing to work very hard to get a job, a car, a house, and so on. But we have difficulty remembering that we are alive in the present moment, the only moment there is for us to be alive. Every breath we take, every step we make, can be filled with joy, peace, and serenity. We need only to be awake, alive in the present moment.
Passage 2
The argument of both the hedonist (享乐主义者) and the guru (印度教的宗师)is that we were but to open ourselves to the richness of the moment, to concentrate on the feast before us, we would be filled with bliss. I have lived in the present from time to time and can tell you that it is much overrated. Occasionally, as a holiday from stroking one’s memories or brooding (担忧) about future worries, I grant you, it can be a nice change of pace. But to “be here now,” hour after hour, would never work. I don’t even approve of stories written in the present tense. Ads for poets who never use a past participate, they deserve the eternity they are striving for.
Besides, the present has a way of intruding whether you like it or not. Why should I go out of my way to meet it? Let it splash on me from time to time, like a car going through a puddle, and I, on the sidewalk of my solitude (孤独), will salute it grimly like any other modern inconvenience.
If I attend a concert, obviously not to listen to the music but to find a brief breathing space in which to meditate on the past and future. I realize that there may be moments when the music invades my ears and I am forced to pay attention to it, note for note. I believe I take such intrusions gracefully. The present is not always anunwelcome guest, so long as it doesn’t stay too long and cut into my remembering or brooding time.
【小题1】The author of Passage 1 would most likely view the author of Passage 2 as _______.