We took the bus from the suburb every early morning that summer 3 years ago. One of the passengers was a small   36  man who took the bus to the centre for senior citizens every morning. He walked with a stoop (佝僂) and a sad look on his face when he, with some difficulty,   37  the bus and sat down alone behind the driver. No one ever paid very much attention to him.
　　Then one   38   morning he said good morning to the driver and smiled before he sat down. The driver 39  guardedly. The rest of us were silent. The next day, the old man boarded the bus energetically,   40  and said in a loud voice: “And a very good morning to you all!” Some of us looked up, amazed, and murmured “Good morning,”  41  . The following weeks we were more alert (留意的). Our friend was now dressed in a nice old suit and a wide out-of-date   42 . The thin hair had been carefully combed. He said good morning to us every day and we  43  began to nod and talk to each other.
　　One morning he had a bunch of wild flowers in his hand. The driver   44  smilingly and asked:“Have you got yourself a girlfriend, Charlie?”and he nodded shyly and said yes. The other passengers   45  and clapped at him. Charlie bowed and waved the   46  before he sat down on his seat. Every morning after that Charlie always brought a flower. Some of the   47  passengers began bringing him flowers for his bouquet(花束).
The summer went by, and    48   was closing in, when one morning Charlie wasn't waiting at his usual    49 . When he wasn't there the next day and the day after that, we started wondering if he was sick or —   50  — on holiday somewhere.
One day, we learned from the staff working in the centre for senior citizens that the elderly   51  was fine, but he hadn't been coming to the   52   that week. One of his very close friends had died at the weekend. They   53  him back on Monday. How silent we were the rest of the way to work.
　　The next   54   Charlie was waiting at the stop, stooping a bit more, a little bit more grey, and without a tie. He seemed to have shrinked（縮�。゛gain. Inside the bus was a  55 . All of us sat with our eyes filled with tears and a bunch of wild flowers in our hands.

A certain student passed all his examinations. Then he went to college to  21  his studies. There he wrote down his  22 for a course in English, but after the first 23 , he didn’t go to it any more.
The English lecturer 24_this student was always absent (缺席的) and thought he had  25_to another course, so he was  26  when he saw the boy’s name on the list of students who wanted to take the English  27at the end of this year.
The lecturer had  28 a difficult paper, which followed his  29 closely, and he was eager (熱切的) to see  30 this student would answer the questions. He  31__the boy’s answers would be very bad, but when they  32 him and he examined them  33 , he was able to find only one small mistake in them. As this surprised him greatly, he  34 the paper repeatedly but still couldn’t find more than one mistake, so he  35 for the student to question him about it.
When he came and sat down, the lecturer asked him, “I  36 you came to my first lecture and you’ve been absent from all the others. But I’ve examined your  37 carefully and I’ve found only one small mistake in it. I’m curious (好奇的) to know your  38 .”
“I’m very  39  about that mistake,” answered the student. “After the examination, I  40  what I should have done. I would not have made that mistake if I had not been confused by your first lecture.” 

After 17 years of marriage, my wife wanted me to take another woman out to dinner and a movie. She said, “I love you, but I know this other woman loves you and would love to spend some     36   with you.”
The other woman that my wife wanted me to visit was my MOTHER, who has been     37  for 20 years, but the demands of my work and my boys made it possible to visit her only     38   .
Then I called to visit her to go out for dinner and a movie. When I arrived at her house, I noticed that she had curled her    39  and was wearing a nice dress. My mother took my arm     40   she were the First Lady.
During the dinner, we had an agreeable    41 —nothing extraordinary but catching up on recent events of each other’s life. We talked so much that we missed the movie. At last, she said,” I’ll go out with you again, but only if you let me invite you.” I    42  .
Two days later, my mother died of a massive heart attack. It happened so suddenly that I didn’t have a    43   to do anything for her.
Later, I received a copy of a restaurant receipt from the place mother and I had dined. A(n)    44   note said, “I paid this bill in advance. I wasn’t sure that I could be there; but nevertheless, I paid for two plates—one for you and the other for your wife. You will never know what that night     45   for me. I love you, son.”
At that moment, I understood the importance of saying in time “I LOVE YOU” and giving our loved ones the time that they     46   . Nothing in life is more important than your family. Give them the time they deserve, because these things cannot be     47  till “some other time”.

Because my family were not going to be helpful, I decided I would look for one all by myself and not tell them about it till I’d got one.
I had seen an agency advertised in a local newspaper. I rushed out of the 36 in search of it. I was wildly excited, and as  37 as if I were going on the stage. Finding the 38  quite easily, I ran breathlessly through a door which said “Enter without knocking, if you please.”
The simple atmosphere of the office 39  me. The woman looked carefully at me 40 through her glasses, and then 41  me in a low voice. I answered softly. All of a sudden I started to feel rather 42 ,She wondered why I was looking for this sort of 43  . I felt even more helpless, when she told me that it would be 44  to get a job without 45 .I wondered whether I ought to leave,  46  the telephone on her desk rang, I heard her say:“ 47  , I’ve got someone in the 48  at this very moment, who might 49  .” She wrote down a 50  , and held it out to me, saying: “Ring up this lady. She wants  a 51  immediately. In fact, you would have to start tomorrow by cooking a dinner for ten people.”
“Oh yes,” said I — 52  having cooked for more than four in my life. I 53  her again and again, and rushed out to the 54  telephone box. I collected my thoughts, took a deep breath, and rang the number. I said confidently that I was just what she was looking for.
I spent the next few hours 55  cook books.
【小題1】A. bed           B house             C. agency       D. office

I can still remember when I met my best friend．She had just moved into the neighborhood and her grandmother brought her down to   1  me．I hid behind my mother she hid behind her grandmother，   2   to look at each other．Soon we lost the    3 and started playing with each other．
In the 7^th grade，I first intentionally distanced myself from her．At that time, she was  4  family problems and I deserted her to be with me because she got _  5 than ever before．None of my new friends liked her as much as I did because they knew she had_  6 ．However，every summer we couldalways sit at each other’s house and watch soap operas，and talk about all the boys we liked．
It was last year when I noticed the problem．I guess I was too devoted in high school to    7   she needed someone there for her．Anyway，she made a new best friend and so did I．Then I didn’t know why，but she started cutting herself!
She then was diagnosed（診斷）with clinical depression．At first，I was very 8 ，but we still stayed in  __9___．I wanted to be there for her since her new best friend basically  10 __ her and people were calling her  11 ．
Yesterday she came to me and said：“I never knew what a best friend was until you were the only person that would stop me cutting．I  12 you so much，and you didn’t even know you were ___13 me．”
We both cried．And a kind of  14 that I learn from my life so far is never to give up on your friends．Even if they aren’t as warm as others，or people think they are crazy，they need someonethere．If you desert them，you will only be  15 yourself.

A couple of years ago, I went to a lady’s house to buy some vitamins. Upon entering the house, I  36  that there was an electronic keyboard on a stand, leaning  37  the wall. Being a piano music lover and  38 , I asked, if the woman played. She nodded and added that she had been  39  lessons at age 54! I told her that it was very   40  that she was pursuing （追求） her passion（熱情）to play the piano.
Then she asked me  41  question. “I have been playing for 8 years now,” I answered. 
“Then you must play a song for me before you leave,” she  42 .I thought she was joking and I simply smiled. At the end of the deal of the vitamins, she  43 me of our musical “ 44 _”. She then showed me to an old upright piano in the living room,  45   asked me to play a song for her. I thought  46   and decided to play David Lantz’s “Return to the Heart”, since she had so much passion for  47 ,and it was my soul-searching song. 
I played the song to the best of my ability, and with my emotions  48  into it as possible. She loved it.  49  I was about to step out of the door, I heard a weak voice calling out, “Young man!”
I turned around. And there was an old lady  50  one little step at a time with the help of another woman. “I wanted to come out to  51  you for the beautiful song that you played. I have been very sick, and it’s very hard for me to  52 my bed, but your music made me feel good ”she said. With that, she turned around and walked  53  back to her room. 
I was deeply  54  by her appreciation and felt a deeper understanding for the song. It served its purpose beautifully, returning to one’s  55  for peace and joy. 

Once there was an old farmer, with a horse which was almost as old as himself. He __16__ one morning with his young son, 17   the horse before it died. Father and son walked, 18 the farmer did not want the horse to be 19 . ?
They met two men on the road20 said: “Why are you walking, farmer? You have a horse. It's __21__to market.” The farmer knew that this was__22__, so he rode on the horse, __23__his son walked. ?
Then they met two old ladies. “__24__are you doing up there, farmer? Can't you__25__how tired your boy is?” __26__the farmer got down, and his son rode__27__. ?__28__, three old men stopped them. One said: “Why are you walking, farmer?__29__. It's too hot for an old man like you to walk today.” So the farmer got up　 30__his son, and they__31__. __32__, a young woman passed them. “Why aren't you walking?” she asked. “It isn't __33_ to market. Give your poor old horse a rest.”
So the farmer, and his son, got down__34__.
It is a fact that you cannot please__35__the people all the time.

In 1956 Phoenix, Arizona, was a city with boundless blue   1 . One day as I walked around the house with my sister Kathy’s new parakeet （小鸚鵡）on my finger, I wanted to show Perky what the sky looked like. I took him into the backyard, and then, to my horror , Perky flew off. The enormous, blue sky swallowed up my sister’s blue  2   and suddenly he had gone, clipped wings and all. 
I told Kathy about Perky's disappearance and I was anxious that she would blame me. But , unexpectedly, Kathy managed to   3  me. With fake optimism, she even tried to convince me that Perky would find a new    4   . But I was far too clever to   5   that such a thing was possible.
Decades later, I watched my own    6  growing. We shared their activities, spending soccer Saturdays in folding chairs with the   7 of the kids’ friends, the Kissells. The two families went camping around Arizona together. We became the best of friends. One evening, the game was to tell Great Pet stories. One person claimed（宣稱） to  8  the oldest living goldfish. Someone else had a psychic dog. Then Barry, the father of the other family, took the floor and ___9___that the Greatest Pet of All Time was his blue parakeet, Sweetie Pie.
"The best thing about Sweetie Pie," he said, "was the  10   we got him. One day, when I was about eight, out of the clear, blue sky, a little blue parakeet just  11   down and landed on my finger."
When I was finally able to  12 , we examined the amazing evidence. The dates and the locations and the pictures of the bird all  13 . It seems our two families had been  14  long before we ever met. Forty years later, I ran to my sister and said, "You were  15 ! Perky lived!"

When I come across a good article in reading newspapers, I often want to cut and keep it．But just as I am about to do so, I find the article on the   36  side is as much interesting．It may be a discussion of the way to  37  in good health, or  38  about how to behave and conduct oneself in society．If I cut the front article, the opposite one is likely to  39   damage, leaving out half of it or keeping the text 40  the title．Therefore, the scissors would  41  before they start,  42   halfway done when I find out the  43   result．
Sometimes two things are to be done at the same time, both worth your  44 ．You can only take up one of them, the other has to wait or be  45  up．
But you know the future is unpredictable—the changed situation may not allow you to do what is left 46  ．Thus you are  47   in a difficult position and feel sad．How  48  that nice chances and brilliant ideas should gather around all at once? It may happen that your life   49  greatly on your preference of one choice to the other．
In fact that is what  50  is like: we are often  51   with the two opposite sides of a thing which are both desirable like a newspaper cutting．It often occurs that your attention is drawn to one thing only  52   we get into another．The  53  may be more important than the latter and give rise to divided mind．I  54   remember a philosopher's remarks: "When one door shuts, another opens in life．" So a casual  55   may not be a bad one．

I moved to a new neighborhood two months ago. In the house with a large  21  across the road lived a taxi driver, a single parent with two school-age children. At the end of the day, he would  22  his taxi on the road. I  23  why he did not park it in the garage.
Then one day I learnt that he had another car in his garage. In the afternoon he would come home  24  work, leave his taxi and go out for his  25  affairs in his other car, not in his taxi. I felt it was  26 . 
I was curious to see his personal car but did not make it until I  27  to be outside one evening two weeks  28  ,when the garage door was  29   and he drove out in his “own” car: a Rolls-Royce（勞斯萊斯）! It shook me completely  30  I realized what that meant. You see, he was a taxi driver. But 31   inside, he saw himself as something else: a Rolls-Royce owner and a（n）32  . He drove others in his taxi but himself and his children in his Rolls-Royce. The world looked at his taxi and  33   him a taxi driver. But for him, a taxi was just something he drove for a living. Rolls-Royce was something he drove for a（n）34  . 
We go to bed every night and  35   every morning as parents or children, not as bankers, CEOs or professors. We go for a  36   as close friends or go for a vacation as a  37 . We love life as it is. Yet often, we base our entire happiness and success on how high we  38   the social ladder—how much bigger and better a  39 we have. And we ignore our Rolls-Royce, by keeping it dusty in our garage. We should focus more on  40  we are than what we do!