When studying in a middle school，I read a quote that went something like：“If you live each day as if it were your last，someday you’ll most certainly be right. ”It made a deep   36 on me, and since then, for the past 33 years，I have  37 in the mirror every morning and asked myself：“If today were the last day of my life，  3 8 I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a  39 ，I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I’ll be  40 soon is the most important tool I’ve ever known to help me make the big  41 in life because almost everything falls away in the face of death，  42 only what is truly important.

About a year ago I was  43 with cancer. My doctor even advised me to go home and get my affairs   44 order，which is a doctor’s way of telling people to prepare to die. I  45 with that diagnosis all day.   46 ，at last an advanced test showed that it was a very rare cancer that is  47 with surgery. I had the surgery and I’m fine now.

 48 wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all  49 . No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be，because death is very likely the single best invention of  50 . It is life's change agent. It clears out the old to  51 for the new. Right now the new is you. But someday not too  52 from now，you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic，but it is quite true.

Your time is  53 ，so don’t waste it living someone else’s 1ife. Don’t be  54 by dogma(教条) —which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner  55 . And most importantly，have the courage to follow your heart.

Can you walk in a straight line? The question is much more difficult to answer than you think. Believe it or not, your eyes and ears help you to walk!

A recent experiment held in Japan shows that it is almost impossible for people to walk exactly straight for 60 meters.

　　The Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology asked 20 healthy men to walk as straight as possible for 60 meters at normal speed.

Each man had to wear socks soaked with red ink and walk on white paper fixed flat to the floor. The footprints showed that all walked in a winding rather than a straight line.

Researchers found that people readjust their direction of walking regularly. The amount of meandering（曲折前行） differed from subject to subject.

This suggests that none of us can walk in a strictly straight line. Rather, we meander, mainly due to a slight structural or functional imbalance of our legs. So steps by the left and right legs of a person are different.

As a result, although we may start walking in a straight line, several steps afterwards we have changed direction. Eyesight helps us to correct the direction of walking and leads us to the target.

Your ears also help you walk. After turning around a lot with your eyes closed, you can hardly stand still or walk straight. It's all because your ears are still spinning and can't help you keep your balance. Inside your inner ear is a structure containing liquids. Inside your ears are many minute hair-like structures that move around as the liquid flows.

When you spin the liquid inside also spins. The difference is that when you stop, the liquid continues to spin for a while. Dizziness（眩晕） is the result.

　　For the moment, although your eyesight tells you to walk in a straight line your brain listens to your spinning ears, thus you don't walk in a straight line!

1．When you walk for 60 meters, you         .

       A．can walk straight without effort           

       B．meander at first, and in while walk in a straight line

       C．can’t walk exactly straight at any time

       D．can almost not cover the distance in a straight line

2．Why most time can we only wind our way?

       A．Because our eyes direct us to.

       B．Because our ears direct us to.

       C．Because of a slight structural or functional imbalance of our legs.

       D．Because our eyesight and ears aren’t always in harmony with each other.

3．According to the research, we can be led to the target mainly due to         .

       A．our eyesight         B．our brain             C．our inner ear        D．our sense of direction

4．Which of the following can prove that your ears help you walk according to the passage?

       A．Your are always meandering most time, but you can arrive where you want to go.

       B．After you turn around a lot with your eyes closed, you almost can’t keep balance.

       C．When you walk to a target, you readjust your direction of walking regularly.

       D．You start walking in a straight line, several steps afterwards you’ll change direction.

Twenty years ago I drove a taxi for a living. One night I went to pick up a passenger at 2:30 AM. When I­­­­­­­­­­­­   21  -，I found the building was dark except for a single light in a ground floor    22 

I walked to the door and knocked “Just a minute” answered a weak elderly      23

After a long pause the door opened. A small woman in her eighties stood    24    me by her side was a small suitcase. I took the suitcase to the car and then  25to help the woman. She took my arm and we walked   26 toward the car.

She kept thanking me for my kindness. “It’s nothing” I told her. “I just try to   27  my passengers the way I would want my mother treated.” “Oh you’re such a good man.” She said. When we got into the taxi she gave me an address and then asked“Could you drive   28 downtown”

“It’s not the shortest way” I answered quickly.

“Oh I’m   29 ” she said. “I’m on my way to a hospice临终医院. I don’t have any   30  left. The doctor says I don’t have very long.”

I quietly reached over and   31  the meter计价器.

For the next two hours we drove through the city. She   32  me the building where she had once worked the neighborhood where she had lived and the furniture shop that had once been a ballroom where she had gone  33  as a girl.

Sometimes she’d ask me to slow down in front of a   34 building and would sit staring into the darkness saying nothing.

At  35  she suddenly said” I’m tired. Let’s go now.”

We drove in silence to the   36 she had given me. “How much do I   37 you” she asked. “Nothing.” I said. “You have to make a living” she answered. “Oh there are other   38 ” I answered. Almost without thinking I   39  and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly. Our hug ended with her remark“You gave an old woman a little moment of joy.”

I walked into the  40 morning light. Behind me, a door shut. It was the sound of the closing of a life.

 When I was 17，I read a quote that went something like：“If you live each day as if it were your last，someday you’11 most certainly be right．”It made a deep  36  on me．and since then。for the  past 33 years，I have  37  in the mirror every morning and asked myself：“If today were the last day of my life，  38  I want to do what I am about to do today?”And whenever the answer has been“No”for too many days in a  39  ，I know I need to change something．

    Remembering that I’ll be  40  soon is the most important tool I’ve ever known to help me make the big  41  in life because almost everything falls away in the face of death，  42 only what is truly important

    About a year ago I was  43  with cancer My doctor even advised me to go home and get my affairs  44  order，which is a doctor’s way of telling people to prepare to die．I  45  with that diagnosis all day．  46  ，at last an advanced test showed that i。。t was a very rare cancer that is  47  with surgery．I had the surgery and I’m fine now

     48  wants to die．Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there And yet death is the destination we all  49  ．No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be，because death is very likely the single best invention of  50  ．It is life's change agent It clears out the old to  51  for the new．Right now the new is you．but someday not too  52  from n6w，you will．gradually’become the old and be cleared away．Sorry to be so dramatic，but it is quite true．

    Your time is  53  ，so don’t waste it living，someone else’s 1ife．Don’t be  54  by dogma（教条） —which is living with the results of other people’s thinking．Don’t let the noise of others’opinions drown out your own inner  55  ．And most importantly，have the courage to follow your heart

36．A．impression         B．curse               C． decision                   D．joke

37．A．seen               B．looked             C．found               D．1ost

38．A．would              B．should             C．might                D．could

39．A．hurry               B．1ine               C．moment              D．row

40．A．successful           B．rich               C．dead              D．frustrated

41．A．apologies           B．fortune            C．impressions           D．choices

42．A．proving            B．leaving             C．confirming          D．telling

43．A．diagnosed           B．cured             C．treated               D．round

44．A．on                 B．for               C． in                 D．at

45．A．met                B．got               C．did                        D．1ived

46．A．However           B．But               C．Therefore          D．So

47．A．incurable           B．curable               C．fatal               D．changeable

48．A．Anyone            B．Someone          C．No one            D．Everyone

49．A．want              B．avoid              C．share            D．escape

50．A．destination         B．1ife               C．science             D．disease

51．A．make up              B．make for           C．make our           D．make wav

 52．A．distant              B．short               C．long               D．away   

 53．A．1imited             B．rare                C．enough            D．1ost

54．A．wasted               B．cheated             C．excited             D．trapped

55．A．voice                B．love               C．direction           D．confusion

Early one morning the sub-inspector at a station at the other end of the town rang me. An elephant was damaging the town. Would I please come and do something about it? I did not know what I could do, but I got onto a horse and started out. I took my gun, maybe too small to kill an elephant, but I thought the noise might scare him. Various local people stopped me on the way and told me about the elephant's doings. It was not, of course, a wild elephant, but a tame one. It had been chained up but last night it had broken its chain and escaped. Its owner had set out to run after it, but had taken the wrong direction. He was now twelve hours' journey away, and in the morning the elephant had suddenly appeared in the town. It had already destroyed somebody's bamboo hut (棚屋), killed a cow and turned over fruit¬stalls. I came round the hut and saw a man's dead body sprawling in the mud. He was an Indian, and he could not have been dead many minutes. The people said that the elephant caught him with its trunk, put its foot on his back and   grounded him into the earth. This was the rainy season and he was lying on his stomach in the soft mud, the peacebreaker standing beside, looking innocent. As I lifted my gun, I hesitated a few seconds. Then I fired. That was a shot for him. You could see the pain of it knocking the last strength from his legs. But in falling he seemed for a moment to rise, his trunk reaching skyward like a tree. He trumpeted, for the first and only time. And then down he came, with a crash that shook the ground.
【小题1】Which of the following statements about the author is TRUE?