As a teenager I was a productive letter writer． One letter I wrote
1 ．to56pages, and was 2 ．of the extremely ordinary details (微不足道的事) of daily life． It could only have been of interest to me, and maybe, the receiver． But then, 3 , it might become attractive just because of the 4 details it recorded．
Official records of history-books and pictures--may record important events 5 they were always intended to have a large audience． 6 , letters tend not to be modified (修) , often true to 7 ． They were, after all, 8 for just one pair of eyes．
Sadly, however, we don t write proper letters any more． Not only that, but, it's a fact that nowadays hardly anyone 9 to the letters they have receivedWe think only about 10 living and throwing things out． Who among us will leave any helpful papers for historians? In researching a book, I would never have found out that, in the late 19 th century, showy(花枝招展) waistcoats caused a lot of 11 , if I hadn't read the 12 ． One fellow even wrote to a friend to say that if he were to ever meet a man wearing a kind of showy clothes he 13 shoot the man on sight．
What a 14 if such details were lost due to lack of letter writing and a little saving． I think we should all 15 to write at least one letter a month any try to 16 those we get．
17 good emails should be printed out and kept, too． Emails may not leave an example of our handwriting, but 18 they allow us to record our lives． Some years ago, a friend 19 me with a bundle of letters that I'd sent her since I was 16 ． They gave a wonderful 20 of my teenage． History will need to know this, I'm sure．
It was three days before the opening of the Pirates(海盗)of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland．Walt Disney was touring the 1 and suddenly felt strangely 2 ．In his heart he felt th at something was 3 , although he wasn't quite sure 4 it was．He 5 as many employees as h e could find－including the repairing workers and food service people－and 6 them through a kind of inspection(检查)trip．
“Does it look right?”he asked．Yes, the clothes and scenes were 7 ; the buildings had been copied from the New Orleans French Quarter in Caribbean．
“Does it sound right?” Disney 8 the latest sound equipment installed(安装)in order to exactly 9 the sounds of music, voices, boats and even animals that you'd 10 to the Caribbean．Yes, it sounded right．
“Does it feel right?”He had controlled the temperature to perfectly 11 that of a New Orleans night．Yes, it felt right．
12 , something was still missing．“What is it?” Disney asked．
Finally, one of the young men who had been sweeping the floors said, “ 13 , Mr, Disney, I 14 up in the South, and what 15 me is that on summer night like this, there 16 be lightning bugs(虫子)．”Disney's face 17 up．That, of course, was 18 !The young man was given a generous prize, and Disney actually had live lightning bugs 19 in to make his ride more real 20 he could figure out a way to imitate(模仿)them mechanically．
I work as a volunteer for an organization that helps the poor in Haiti．Recently I took my son Barrett there for a week, hoping to 1 him．
Before setting out, I told Barrett this trip would be tiring and 2 ．For the first two days, he said almost nothing．I worried the trip was too 3 for a 17-year-old．Then, on day three, as we were 4 over high rocky mountains, he turned to me and grinned(咧嘴笑), “Pretty hard．”
After that there was no turning back．A five-year-old girl, wearing a dress several sizes 5 large and broken shoes, followed Barrett around, mesmerized(着迷)．He couldn't stop 6 ．Later he said 7 , “I wish I could speak French．” I was 8 － this from a boy who hated and 9 French classes throughout school．
Usually silent, he 10 Gaby, our host, and kept asking questions about the country and its people．He blossomed(活泼起来)．
11 , the moment that really took 12 breath away occurred in a village deep in the mountains．I was 13 a woman villager for an article．135 centimeters tall, she was small in figure but strong in 14 ．Through determination, she had learned to read and write, and 15 to become part of the leadership of the 16 ．
Learning her story, Barrett was as 17 as I by this tiny woman's achievements．His eyes were wet and there was a 18 of love and respect on his face．He had finally understood the importance of my work．
When leaving for home, Barrett even offered to stay 19 as a volunteer．My insides suddenly felt struck．This 20 achieved all I'd expected．Soon he will celebrate his 18 th birthday．He'll be a man．
There are people in Italy who can't stand soccer．Not all Canadians love hockey．A similar situation exists in America, where there are those individuals you may be one of them who frown when somebody mentions baseball．Baseball to them means boring hours watching grown men in funny tight outfits standing around in a field staring away while very little of anything happens．They tell you it's a game better suited to the 19 th century, slow, quiet, and gentlemanly．These are the same people you may be one of them who love football because there's the sport that values “the hit”．
By contrast, baseball seems abstract, cool, silent, still．
On TV the game is divided into a dozen perspectives, replays, close-ups．The geometry(几何学) of the game, however, is essential to understanding it．You will view the game from one point as a painter does his subject; you may, of course, project yourself into the game．It is in this projection that the game affords so much space and time for involvement．The TV won't do it for you．
Take, for example, the third baseman．You sit behind the third base and you watch him watching home plate．His legs are apart, knees flexed(弯曲)．His arms hang loose．He does a lot of this．The skeptic(怀疑论者) still cannot think of any other sports so still, so passive．But watch what happens every time the pitcher throws：the third baseman goes up on his toes, flexes his arms or brings the glove to a point in front of him, takes a step right or left, backward or forward, perhaps he glances across the field to check his first baseman's position．Suppose the pitch is a ball．“Nothing happened,” you say．“I could have had my eyes closed．”
The skeptic and the innocent must play the game．And this involvement in the stands is no more intellectual than listening to music is．Watch the third baseman．Smooth the dirt in front of you with one foot; smooth the pocket in your glove; watch the eyes of the batter, the speed of the bat, the sound of ball on wood．If football is a symphony of movement and theatre, baseball is chamber music, a spacious interlocking(连锁) of notes, chorus(和声) and responses．
(1)
The passage is mainly concerned with ________．
[ ]
A．
the different tastes of people for sports
B．
the superiority of football
C．
the attraction of baseball
D．
the different characteristics of sports
(2)
Those who don't like baseball may complain that ________．
[ ]
A．
it is only to the taste of the old
B．
it is not exciting enough
C．
it involves fewer players than football
D．
it is pretentious and looks funny
(3)
The author admits that ________．
[ ]
A．
baseball is too peaceful for the young
B．
football is more attracting than baseball
C．
baseball is more interesting than football
D．
baseball may seem boring when watched on TV
(4)
By stating “I could have had my eyes closed．” the author means (4 th paragraph last sentence) ________．
[ ]
A．
Even if the third baseman closed his eyes a moment ago, it could make no difference to the result
B．
The third baseman is so good at baseball that he could finish the game with eyes closed all the time and do his work well
C．
The consequence was so bad that he could not bear to see it
D．
The third baseman would rather sleep than play the game
If you have a watch, don’t repair it! I know it 1 ．Once I had a beautiful watch．And this watch 2 perfect time．But one night it happened that I forgot to 3 it up．Next morning I went to a watchmaker as I wanted my perfect watch to 4 by the exact time．The watchmaker examined my watch and said, “The regulator(校准器)is to be pushed up 5 your watch is four minutes 6 ．”
I tried to stop him, tried to 7 him understand that my watch kept perfect time, but he did not listen to me and pushed the regulator．
My beautiful watch began to gain time．It 8 faster and faster day by day．By the end of the second month it 9 all the clocks and watches of the town far behind．
What did I have to do? To take it to another watchmaker to be regulated．I expected him to regulate the watch immediately 10 he asked me to come in a week’s time．When at last I took my watch from him it began to 11 down．And I began to be late for trains, business appointments and even missed my dinners．
Now I went to 12 watchmaker．While I waited for him to repair my poor watch, he 13 it to pieces and said that he could finish this work 14 three or four days．I could do nothing but 15 ．That time my watch went for half a day and then stopped．
So I kept 16 my watch from one watchmaker to another for a considerable period of time．
And as a result of it the cleverest man in the world could not 17 the time by my watch．The thing was getting 18 ．My watch had 19 two hundred dollars originally but I paid for repairs more than two hundred．At last I decided to buy 20 watch, which I did．