---Alice, why didn’t you come yesterday?

--- I______, but I had an unexpected visitor.

Music to My Ears

Robby was 10 for his first piano lesson in my class. Much as he tried, he ____ even the basic rhythm. However, he dutifully reviewed the pieces that I required.

 Over the months he tried and tried while I ____ and encouraged him. At the end of each lesson he'd always say, "My mom's going to hear me play some day." ____ it seemed hopeless.

I only knew his mother from a ____as she waited in her aged car to pick him up. Then one day Robby stopped coming. I was secretly ____ that he stopped because of his lack of ability.

    Weeks later I informed the students, including Robby, of the coming recital（独奏）. To my ____, Robby asked me if he could be included. I told him he really did not qualify because he had ____ out. He said his mom had been sick and unable to take him to lessons but he was still ____ .

“I've just got to play!" he ____. Something inside me let me allow him to.

Then came the recital night. The gym was ____ with parents. I put Robby up ____, thinking that I could save his poor performance through my “curtain closer（谢幕）.”

The recital went off smoothly. Then Robby came up on stage. His clothes were wrinkled and his hair was ____. "Why didn't his mother at least make him comb his hair for this special night?" I thought.

Robby pulled out the piano bench and began. I was not ____ for what I heard next. His fingers were ____ on the keys. Never had I heard Mozart played so well by people of his age. After he ended, everyone was ____ their feet in wild applause.

In ____ I ran up on stage and put my arms around Robby. "I've never heard you play like that, Robby! How did you ____ it?"

Robby explained, "Well, Miss Hondorf…remember I told you my mom was sick? …____ she had cancer and passed away yesterday. She was born deaf, so tonight she could hear me play in heaven. I wanted to make it special."

There wasn’t a ____ eye in the house. That night I felt he was the teacher and I was the pupil, for it was he who taught me the meaning of perseverance and ____.

1.A. lacked                                B. had                             C. showed                           D. got

2.A. listened                     B. learned                   C. checked                         D. played

3.A. And                            B. But                           C. So                               D. Or

4.A. conversation          B. performance          C. distance                         D. picture

5.A. guilty                           B. sad                C. anxious                           D. glad

6.A. relief                          B. surprise              C. pleasure                D. satisfaction

7.A. stepped                          B. worn             C. run                              D. dropped

8.A. acting                                  B. performing    C. practicing                        D. recording

9.A. insisted                           B. suggested     C. complained                     D. threatened

10.A. lined                                 B. packed                    C. piled                                  D. filled

11.A. least                                  B. most               C. first                           D. last

12.A. messy                           B. cool           C. neat                               D. dull

13.A. eager                 B. concerned       C. prepared                        D. grateful

14.A. hesitating                         B. dancing                    C. touching                               D. crawling

15.A. over                                  B. under              C. in                                      D. on

16.A. chaos                           B. tears                C. silence                             D. return

17.A. find                          B. feel                           C. make                                D. like

18.A. Gradually          B. Suddenly                     C. Frequently                      D. Actually

19.A. dry                           B. curious                     C. bright                               D. wet

20.A. regret                           B. talent                       C. love                                  D. courage

Dinah is one of the most good-natured children that ever lived, but she is very, very lazy. There is nothing she likes, or used to like, so much as to curl up in some warm corner in the sun and do nothing.
Dinah’s mother wished very much that her child should learn to read, but the lady who tried to teach her soon give it up. “It is no   16  ,” she said, “Dinah   17  not learn. She is not stupid, but too lazy.”
It happened soon that a young man from Massachusetts came to the house where Dinah lived. He brought with him something no one else in the neighborhood had ever seen before－a pair of roller-skates.
When Dinah saw the young man going rapidly up and down the piazza (广场) on his skates she was so   18 . She ran after him like a cat, her black eyes shining.
One day the young man allowed her to   19  the skates. The child was too happy for words. Of course she fell down, but did not   20  at all.
“Look here, Dinah,” said the young man, “I understand that my aunt has been trying to teach you to read. Why didn’t you learn? Now, if you can read, I will send you a pair of good roller-skates.”
For a moment she said  21 , then exclaimed decidedly, “I’ll have those skates, sure.”
And she did. When she   22  her mind on her work, she could always do it well,  23  it was.
The lady who had before this found her   24   difficult a child to teach, now had no trouble. If Dinah showed the least   25  of her former laziness, the word SKATES was enough to draw her attention back to her lesson instantly.
On New Year’s morning she received a box marked in large printed letters:
MISS DINAH MORRIS,
Care of Mrs. Lawrence Delaney,
NEW ORLEANS, LA.
If she can read what is on the outside of this box she can have what is inside.
And as Dinah read every word clearly and quickly, of course she had the fine roller-skates the box held. And now sitting curled up in the sun, doing nothing, is not the thing she likes to do best.

补全对话，从对话后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳答案。（共5小题，每小题1分，满分5分）

---- What was the party like last night, Bruce?

---- Not bad at all, thanks, Betty. There are some interesting people there. 1.

---- Well. I couldn’t get away from work early. And when I got home I had a headache, so I had to go straight to bed. But I wasn’t able to sleep for hours.

---- __2._Why didn’t you take some sleeping pills?

---- I don’t like them. I used to take them when I wasn’t able to sleep, you know, but they did have side effect.

----__3._

---- Three every night.

---- _4..

---- Because I was under a lot of stress. Anyway, I used to feel terrible the next morning.

---- 5._

---- The doctor said I had to be careful.

---- He was quite right.

---- So I have decided to give up the habit of taking coffee late at night.

E. What do you have in mind? F. How many did you use to take?

G. Oh, why did you take so many?

—Alice,why didn’t you come yesterday??

—I __________,but I had unexpected visitor.?

A.had             B.would         C.was going to              D.did ?