Without any hesitation, he said, “I’d be better off dead.” Hearing those words come out of my best friend’s mouth tore my heart apart. He has repeated that phrase more than once, and my mind continually plays it over like a voice recording.
I met my best friend about three years ago. After knowing me for six months, he told me about his struggles with depression. Sadness was not the only emotion that came over me; I was shocked. He seemed so outgoing and happy all the time. I soon learnt that he was physically and emotionally abused as a young child, causing him to have suicidal (自杀的) thoughts.
He refuses to talk to others about his depression because he now distrusts adults, especially those in his family. In spite of this, he feels as if I understand him and that I know the right words to say. Thus, when it comes to helping him, convenience is not in my vocabulary. It doesn’t matter where I am or what I am doing, for he takes priority. Sometimes he just needs the assurance of my voice telling him that everything is going to be okay and that I will not let him down.
Many students at his school laugh at him when they notice the scars on his arms from cutting. It seems that other kids have every right to make fun of him and to look down on him. But no one holds such a right, so I encourage him to ignore the heartless kids who treat him badly. When he feels the weight of judging eyes or hateful voices, I always remind him that I care about him unconditionally. Just hearing me say I will always be his best friend seems to give him the security he needs to keep on going.
My best friend once told me that if he hadn’t had me, he wouldn’t be alive. He said that my encouraging words convinced him not to take his life. Our friendship has taught me that a single word can impact on someone’s life. With the fragility of life as it is, I believe in the necessity of encouragement.
【小题1】The author’s friend got into depression mainly because _____ .

阅读下列各小题，根据括号内的汉语提示，用句末括号内的英语单词完成句子。

1.Don’t be too rude to your father. Never in his life _______________ in that way up to now. （speak）

不要对你的父亲那么粗鲁，到目前为止还没有人像那样对他说话。

2.When his mother came home from work, he was lying on the sofa, ____________. (absorb)

母亲下班回家的时候，他正躺在沙发上专心致志地看书。

3.________________ different languages and cultures does a lot of good to children. (expose)

接触不同的语言和文化对孩子们大有裨益

4.I think that it is I rather than my sister _______________ for what happened. (blame)

我认为出了事不能怪姐姐而应该怪我。

5.Although house construction _________________, you can find many diverse styles in each country. (vary)

每个国家的建筑结构都不尽相同,然而在每个国家你能发现各式各样的风格。

6.With ____________, the problem that they had worked on for a long time was eventually worked out. (adopt)

由于采取了新方法，他们钻研了很长时间的问题终于解决了。

7.If he hadn’t hesitated for a moment before kicking the ball, he ______ a goal. (score)

要是他在射门前不迟疑，他就进了一球。

8.Have you ever had a case____________ getting the wrong end of the stick? (accuse)

你们有没有这样的情况：别人控告他们说他们的报道完全失真？

9._________________ is that while I am concentrating on my study, my classmates make so much noise. (put)

我不能忍受的是在我全神贯注地学习时，我的同学那么吵闹。

10._____________to you whether I like it or not, because you never listen to me. (difference)

我喜不喜欢对你来说没什么差别，因为你从来就不听我的。

Driving to a store after a busy day at work, I saw a man standing near the store holding a sign that said, “Will work for food.” I knew at that moment that I was going into the store and   36   him something to eat.

   As I   37   the car park, I saw in my car mirror a lady come out from a hairdresser’s and 38   the man. I thought she must be going to give him some   39   or something to help him out. In the store I was   40   to get the things I needed and also the chicken dinner and a soda that I wanted to give the man outside. I hurried out to my car and   41   that I was going to be able to hopefully help this man.

When I drove out of the car park, I couldn’t see the   42  . As I turned the corner I saw the man sitting in a   43   area away from the hairdresser’s and still   44   up the sign. I immediately   45   over and gave the man the dinner and soda and said, “  46   this will get you through today.” He looked at me and said, “Thank you so much!”

As I got back into my car, I looked in the   47   and saw the man swallowing the dinner as if he hadn’t eaten for days.

I was so   48   that I was able to help him and at the same time I was so sad that the woman from the hairdresser’s,   49  , had asked the man to   50   from her shop. It’s sad to say that   51   I live in a small city where homeless is not as   52   as in larger cities, people are uncomfortable with these people in   53  . All they need to do is lend a helping hand  54   and it could make a huge   55   in their lives.

A. cook                     B. buy                   C. pay                           D. serve

A. turned into      B. got over            C. called at                     D. pointed out

A. interview        B. comfort             C. blame                    D. approach

A. example         B. space                C. money                           D. comfort

A. preparing        B. hurrying            C. hesitating                   D. planning

A. explained        B. wondered          C. agreed                     D. felt 

A. man               B. food                 C. lady                           D. sign

A. different         B. strange              C. famous                      D.comfortable

A. making           B. holding            C. taking                    D. building

A. turned            B. thought             C. pulled                    D. looked

A. Hopefully       B. Finally              C. Luckily                      D. Naturally

A. store                     B. mirror               C. square                  D. crowd

A. popular          B. anxious             C. pleased                    D. patient

A. immediately    B. obviously          C. carefully                    D. nervously

A. stop               B. suffer                C. move                         D. change

A. whether          B. because          C. though                           D. unless

A. poor               B. visible               C. selfish                     D. happy

A. danger            B. action               C. need                          D. moment

A. at times          B. at the time         C. at one time              D. at a time

A. difference       B. mistake          C. decision                     D. living

Mr. Wang would have continued to lead _____ poor life instead of changing his lifestyle if he hadn’t met Mr. Smith by_____ accident who was a businessman. 

A. the; a            B. a; the             C. a; /              D. /; the

It was Saturday when the entire summer world was bright and fresh. Tom looked at the fence, which was long and high, feeling all enthusiasm leaving him. He dipped his brush into the whitewash before moving it along the top board of the fence. He knew other boys would arrive soon with all minds of interesting plans for this day. As walking past him, they would tease him for having to work on a beautiful Saturday—which burnt him like fire.
He, putting his hands into his pockets and taking out all he owned with the expectation of letting someone paint, found nothing that could buy half an hour of freedom. At this dark and hopeless moment, a wonderful idea occurred to him, pouring a great bright light into his mind. He took up his brush and continued to work pleasantly with calm and quietness.
Presently, Ben Rogers came in sight—munching an apple and making joyful noises like the sound of a riverboat as he walked along. Tom went on whitewashing, paying no attention to the steamboat. 
“Hello!” Ben said, “I’m going swimming, but you can’t go, can you?”
No answer. Tom moved his brush gently along the fence and surveyed the result. Ben came nearer. Tom’s mouth watered for Ben’s apple while he kept painting the fence.
Ben said, “That’s a lot of work, isn’t it?”
Tom turned suddenly saying “Here you are! Ben! I didn’t notice you.”
“I’m going swimming,” Ben said. “Don’t you wish you could go? Or would you rather work?”
Tom said, “Work? What do you mean ‘work’?”
“Isn’t that work?”
Tom continued painting and answered carelessly, “Maybe it is, and maybe it isn’t. All I know is it suits Tom Sawyer.”
“Do you mean that you enjoy it?”
“I don’t see why I oughtn’t to enjoy it.”
“Does a boy have a chance to paint a fence frequently” said Tom.
Ben stopped munching his apple.
Tom moved his brush back and forth—stepped back to note the effect—added a little paint here and there. Ben watched every move, getting more and more interested, more and more absorbed1. After a short time, he said, “Tom, let me whitewash a little.”
Tom seemed to be thinking for a moment before he said, “No, Aunt Polly wants this fence to be perfect. If it was the back fence, maybe you could do it. But this fence beside the street is where everybody can see it. It has to be done right.”
“Oh, come on, let me try. I’ll be careful. Listen, Tom. I’ll give you part of my apple if you let me paint.”
“No, Ben, I’m afraid—”
“I’ll give you all the apple!”
Tom handed the brush to Ben with unwillingness on his face but alacrity in his heart. While the riverboat worked and sweated in the hot sun, Tom, an artist sat in the shade close by, munching his apple, and planning how he could trick more of the boys.
Before long there were enough boys each of whom came along the street; stopped to laugh but soon begged to be allowed to paint. By the middle of the afternoon, Tom had got many treasures while the fence had had three layers of whitewash on it. If he hadn’t run out of whitewash, he would have owned everything belonging to the boys in the village.
Tom said to himself that the world was not so depressing after all. He had discovered a great law of human action: in order to make a man cover a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain.
【小题1】By using “Tom continued painting and answered carelessly”, the author shows Tom ______ when he was talking to Ben.