It was the last day of school and I planned to travel to my friend’s hometown. I hadn’t seen him for years and this was a good  36  to meet him again.

I was busy at school so it was rather  37  when I came back home. It was already 10 o’clock at night. Time was running out. After a hurried meal I left.  38  I found a taxi very soon. Asking the driver to drive me fast to the station, I relaxed for a while, imagining what my friend looked like now. I was soon at the station and was sure that I would be able to  39  the train. Unfortunately, I fell on the way and lost some time. To my complete  40  , when I reached the platform, I saw that the train had just left! It was the last train so I had to  41  home.

My mother was glad to see me back as she had a feeling about my trip. But I was unhappy. I tried to relax and went to bed but I had a  42  sleep. The next morning I was very tired. As I was having breakfast the  43  arrived. I read over the pages and was shocked to  44  that the train I missed had had an accident. How  45  I was that I missed the train!

1.A. sign           B. chance         C. sense          D. dream

2.A. strange         B. cold           C. late           D. quiet

3. A. Finally         B. Suddenly       C. Strangely      D. Luckily

4. A. stop           B. see             C. catch          D. miss

5.A. satisfaction      B. hope           C. surprise        D. joy

6.A. call            B. leave           C. reach          D. return

7. A. deep           B. bad            C. great           D. heavy

8. A. newspaper      B. ticket           C. mild           D. train

9. A. find           B. hear             C. feel           D. remember

10. A. hopeful       B. thankful          C. careful         D. painful

阅读短文,在其后空白处写出各单词的正确形式。单词的第一个字母已经给出。

A disappointing performance

Tom was sick with disappointment. The piano performance was almost a success, however, he f  1.    in his solo(独奏). He couldn’t understand how it could have happened.

He had practiced for weeks that seemed like m   2. . He had given up sports until after the performance because he wanted to make his parents p 3.   of him. He spent all his time with the piano.

His teacher had said he was q  4.   to learn. It was true that he accepted music as another l 5. , another way to talk to people.

His grandparents, aunt, and uncle all came to hear him play, and he was anxious to s  6.   them that he was the best in the whole class.

But, when he stood up to go to the piano, his knees felt w  7. . He looked into the audience and saw his f  8.   smiling back at him.

At this time, he felt n 9.  . His fingers began to tremble (颤抖), shaking as though he had caught a bad cold.

He sat down at the piano. He took a deep breath. He played the first part of his music, then realized with fear that he had forgotten the rest. He s 10.  over, thinking that would help. It didn’t. his bright musical life seemed to end.

I was in my parked car, holding a book and reading. Once in a while I looked up, watching the people passing by. When I raised my    35   again, I saw an old lady with a large bag walking slowly towards my car. The bag seemed not only to make her steps    36  , but also make her out of breath. She looked tired and I thought she must be more than 70 years old.

She stopped and put a hand out to rest    37   it, gently (轻柔地，徐缓地) closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Was there a way I could do something? I tried to keep my body still while my mind    38   for answers. However, because of my careless head movement, she noticed me, and she    39  moved her hand away from the car. I picked up a bottle of water at once, gently opened the door and offered the bottle to her. She    40   me, and then shook her head and walked away.

I was so    41   with myself. I should have been more careful not to move. Instead of    42   a hand, I had interrupted (打扰，中断) the old lady’s    43   moment of rest. I was feeling blue. Just at that moment, I saw the lady coming back again. I opened the door and patted (轻拍) the    44   next to me. She sat down, opened her bag and offered me a banana. I took it and offered her the bottle of water again. She took it.

I ate, she drank and we smiled. She    45   for a couple of minutes. Those minutes brought such quietness to me. Then she took my head in both her hands, made a small kissing    46   in the air, opened the car door and walked away.

I was trying to help someone in distress (困苦，苦恼). In turn, I became distressed and she took away my distress and replaced it with quietness.

       A disappointing performance

    Tom was sick with disappointment. The piano performance was almost a success, however, he f___(76)____ in his solo (独奏). He couldn’t understand how it could have happened.

He had practiced for weeks that seemed like m____(77)_____. He had given up sports until after the performance because he wanted to make his parents p____(78)____ of him. He spent all his time with the piano.

His teacher had said he was q____(79)_____ to learn. It was true that he accepted music as another l_____(80)____ , another way to talk to people.

His grandparents, aunt, and uncle all came to hear him play, and he was anxious to s____(81)____ them that he was the best in the whole class.

But, when he stood up to go to the piano, his knees felt w____(82)____. He looked into the audience and saw his f_____(83)_____ smiling back at him.

At this time, he felt n____(84)____. His fingers began to tremble(颤抖)，shaking as though he had caught a bad cold. He sat down at the piano.

He took a deep breath. He played the first part of his music, then realized with fear that he had forgotten the rest. He s____(85)____ over, thinking that would help. It didn’t. His bright musical life seemed to end.

One night, I wondered what it would be like if I only asked questions. I decided that no matter what anyone said to me the next day, I would reply only with   36  .

I loved to read about scientists and their discoveries, and I knew that scientists always started their research with a question. I hoped that I could become a scientist. Maybe by asking questions, I could train my mind to be   37  .

  I survived the morning easily. “Is there any egg?” I answered when my mother asked what I wanted for breakfast. “Is this seat taken?” I asked when my friend Mike asked where he was going to   38   on the bus.

In the classroom, Mr. Black spoke slowly and clearly while I listened carefully. The problem had been part of my homework the night before. I wrote the answer on the board, “Could the answer be 361?”

  Mr. Black smiled and nodded. I thought,“How did I   39   to get through that?” I almost laughed because asking questions really was starting to become a   40  .

  I thought I had made it safely through the whole day,   41   what I had come to consider my experiment blew up at the dinner table when my dad asked me about my day. “What do I always do?” I replied.

My parents looked at each other. My father   42   again. “Well, I hope you went to school,” he said.

    “Uhhh … why would you think otherwise?” I asked. My parents exchanged another   43    

and were becoming annoyed.

   “Do you think questions are a good way to train your mind to be active?” I asked.

“It   44   the question,” said my father. “Some questions are asked for   45   information. Those are good mind-training questions. Sometimes, people use questions to get the other person to say something. Sometimes people ask questions to get someone to agree with them. Those questions don’t really achieve anything.”

   “I guess my experiment didn’t work,” I said, and I told my father about my   46  .

“I think it worked   47  !” my father said. “You made a discovery, didn’t you? What matters is that you have put your idea into practice.”                               

1.A. actions              B. answers             C. gestures             D. questions

2.A. deep             B. free            C. quick            D. strong

3.A. get                  B. sit                 C. come         D. take

4.A. fail             B. have            C. want             D. manage

5.A. habit            B. step                C. goal                 D. rule

6.A. or               B. so                  C. but              D. and

7.A. tried             B. asked            C. guessed           D. ordered

8. A. look                B. word            C. mind                 D. topic

9.A. refers to            B. belongs to     C. puts on          D. depends on

10.A. sending         B. finding             C. sharing         D. keeping

11.A. test            B. idea            C. plan                 D. wonder

12.A. slowly              B. safely          C. perfectly            D. properly