Once upon a time a king, in the company of his ministers, went to the imperial garden for a walk. When he was walking around a pond, a strange idea 26 upon him and he asked, “How many buckets(桶) of water are there in the pond?” The ministers looked at each other,  27 to give an answer.
Rather 28 , the king ordered, “You have three days’ grace. Any one who offers an answer will be handsomely awarded. Those who fail will be 29 .”
The time limit was due in the twinkling（闪烁）of an eye, yet the ministers were still at their wit’s end. At this time a child appeared who declared that he knew the answer. The king told his 30 ministers to go with the child for the measurement. To their 31 , the child refused the suggestion with a smile, “It is very easy. No 32 to go to the pond.” This made the king laugh 33 ,  “Alright, let us know what it is.” The child winked (眨眼) and said, “That 34 on the size of the bucket. If it is as big as the pond, there is one bucket of water; if it is half as big, two buckets; if one third as big, three buckets; if...”“Stop! That’s it. You’ve got the 35 .” The king was satisfied and the child was duly rewarded.
Why did the ministers feel it so different to settle the problem? Because they fell in a pitfall (陷阱), following a wrong way of thinking. People’s thinking often goes a habitual way — the beaten track of straightforwardness. 36  is a static (静态的) way presupposing every object definite and certain, i.e. the size of the pond and the bucket should be clearly 37 . If one of them is unknown, it will be difficult to do the measurement, let alone 38 . Why not change your mode of thought — from static to dynamic（动态的）, from concrete to 39  ? If you adopt an indirect way and try to find out the proportional relation between the pond and the bucket, you’ll get an answer — flexible yet 40 to solve the problem.
Sometimes to get out of the difficulty one must change one’s way of thinking, or simply change one’s approach towards a problem.

The Colors of Friendship
Once upon a time the colors of the world started to quarrel. Green said, “Clearly I am the most important. I am the sign of life and hope. I was chosen for grass, trees and leaves. Without me, all animals would __31__ ."
Blue interrupted, “You only think about the   32  , but consider the sky and the sea.   33__ the water that is the basis of life and drawn up by the clouds from the deep sea. Without my peace, you would all be   34  .
Yellow laughed, “ You are all so serious. I bring laughter, fun, and  35   into the world.”
Orange started next to blow her trumpet, “ I am the color of health and strength. I may be  _36  , but I am priceless for I serve the needs of human life. When I fill the sky at sunrise or   _37  , my beauty is so striking that no one gives another  38  to any of you.
Red could stand it  39   and he shouted out, “I am the ruler of all of you. I am the color of danger and bravery. I am willing to   40_  truth. I am also the color of passion and of love.”
Then came Purple and Indigo.
The colors went on boasting(自夸), each convinced of his or her won superiority(优越). Their _41   became louder and louder. Suddenly there was a startling flash of bright lightning thunder. Rain started to pour down   42  . The colors crouched (蜷缩)down   43  , drawing close to one another for comfort.
In the midst of the shout, rain began to speak, “You foolish colors, fight  44   yourselves, each trying to dominate(统治)  45  . Don’t you know that you were each made for a special purpose,   46   and different? Join hands with one  47   and come to me.”
Doing as they were told, the colors   48   and joined hands. They formed a colorful rainbow. From then on, whenever a good  49   washes the world, a rainbow appears in the sky. They remember to___50__ one another.

On August 26, 1999, New York City was struck by a terrible rainstorm. The rain caused the streets   21  and the subway system almost came to a stop.

Unfortunately, this happened during the morning rush hour. Many people who were going to work were  22  to go home. Some battled to  23  a taxi or to get on a bus. Still others faced the   24  bravely, walking miles to get to work.

I   25  to be one of people on the way to work that morning. I went from subway line to subway line only to find that most  26  had stopped. After making my way  27  crowds of people. I finally found a subway line that was   28  . Unfortunately, there were so many people waiting to   29  the subway that I could not even get down the stairs to the   30  . So I took the train going in the opposite direction, and then switched back to the downtown train. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the train  31  my stop. Then I had to walk several blocks in the increasingly heavy rain. When I got to my office, I was   32  through, exhausted and  33  .

My co-workers and I spend most of the day drying off. When it was 5:00 pm, I was ready to go home. I was about to turn off my computer  34  I received an email from Garth, my Director.

I would like to thank all of you who made the effort and   35  reported to work. It is always reassuring（令人欣慰）, at times like these, when employees so clearly show their  36  to their jobs. Thank you.

Garth’s email was short, but I learned more from that  37  message than I ever did from a textbook. The email taught me that a few words of   38  can make a big difference. The rainstorm and the traffic  39  had made me tired and upset. But Garth’s words immediately   40  me and put a smile back on my face.

A．break         B．flood         C．sink           D．crash

A．forced        B．refused         C．adjusted        D．gathered

A．order         B．pay           C．take           D．search

A．climate      B．scenery         C．storm               D．burden

A．used          B．promised      C．deserved       D．happened

A．practice      B．routine         C．process         D．service

A．to           B．through        C．over          D．for

A．operating   B．cycling          C．turning         D．rushing

A．check         B．carry         C．find           D．board

A．street       B．ground         C．floor         D．platform

A．paused      B．crossed         C．reached         D．parked

A．wet          B．weak         C．sick           D．hurt

A．ashamed   B．discouraged      C．surprised       D．puzzled

A．while       B．when         C．where           D．after

A．hardly      B．casually        C．absolutely       D．eventually

A．devotion   B．donation       C．connection       D．reaction

A．accurate      B．urgent          C．brief          D．humorous

A．promise       B．appreciate     C．advice          D．guidance

A．troubles       B．signals          C．rules          D．sings

A．corrected     B．supported      C．amazed         D．refreshed

It was the end of my first day as waitress in a busy New York restaurant. My cap had gone away, and my feet   26  . The loaded plates I carried   27   to be heavier and heavier. Tired and discouraged, I didn’t seem able to do anything   28  . As I made out a check for a family with several children who had changed their ice cream   29   a dozen times, I was ready to stop. Then the father   30   at me as he handed me my tip. “Well done,” he said, “you’ve   31   us really well.” Suddenly my tiredness   32  . I smiled back, and later, when the manager asked me how I’d like my first day, I said, “  33  ! Those few words of praise had   34   everything. Praise is like   35   to the human spirit; we cannot flower and grow without it. And   36  , while most of us are only too   37   to apply to others the cold wind of criticism (批评), we are   38   to give our fellows the warm sunshine of praise. Why so when one word of praise can bring such   39  ?”

It’s strange how chary (吝啬的) we are about praising. Perhaps it’s    40  few of us know how to accept it. It’s   41   rewarding to give praise in   42   in which an effort generally goes unnoticed or unmentioned. An artist gets admiration for a wonderful picture, a cook for a   43   meal. But do you ever tell your laundry manager how pleased you are when the shirts are   44   just right? In fact, to give praise   45   one nothing but a moment’s thought and moment’s effort.

26．A．rested       B．hurt   C．broke       D．slipped

27．A．remained  B．became     C．seemed     D．had