Every day on the way to work I drive down a street lined with pine trees. One tree in particular __41__ my attention. It must have suffered some __42__ . Part of its trunk grew nearly parallel to the ground, and then in an effort to __43__ its own course of life, the trunk took a 90 degree turn __44__ to stand tall and stretch toward the sun.
This tree became a __45__ for me. Each day as I drove by, I saw this bent but determined tree and I would be __46__. It was a reminder to me that __47__ I may not have had the best start in life, I could change __48__ in the parts of my life at any time.
I was planning to stop one day to get a perfect __49__ of my kindred-spirit (志趣相同的) tree. But that week I was __50__. After that busy week, I still didn’t take any action. Every time I drove by the tree I would __51__ myself, “Tomorrow, I’ll stop tomorrow to take one.” Then one day, as I __52__ by “my” tree, I glanced over, and much to my __53__ found a sawed-off stump（树桩）where that symbolic tree had stood. Gone. I had __54__ my plan until “tomorrow” and tomorrow proved to be too __55__.
A picture of a tree is not of great __56__. But my lesson rang through clearly __57__ I found out one of my colleagues had been __58__ with stage-four cancer. He may no longer have many __59__.
What have you been putting off? What would you do if you knew you would __60__ have the opportunity to do it again? Why not do those things in time that you have been putting off until tomorrow?
41. A. paid | B. caught | C. fixed | D. escaped |
42. A. damage | B. influence | C. experience | D. defeat |
43. A follow | B. design | C. change | D. imagine |
44. A. applying | B. attempting | C. happening | D. learning |
45. A. shelter | B. signal | C. sign | D. symbol |
46. A. interested | B. satisfied | C. encouraged | D. educated |
47. A. even though | B. as if | C. in case | D. if only |
48. A. purpose | B. plan | C. habit | D. direction |
49. A. glance | B. view | C. picture | D. knowledge |
50. A. busy | B. free | C. worried | D. bored |
51. A. tell | B. help | C. call | D. see |
52. A. wandered | B. drove C. rode | D. ran |
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53. A. surprise | B. pleasure | C. regret | D. happiness |
54. A. put on | B. cut off | C. put off | D. called on |
55. A. cold | B. far | C. sunny | D. late |
56. A. value | B. achievement | C. fun | D. disappointment |
57. A. when | B. before | C. because | D. unless |
58. A. linked | B. combined | C. provided | D. diagnosed |
59. A. lives | B. tomorrows | C. lessons | D. opportunities |
60. A. surely | B. almost | C. ever | D. never |