When Mr Smith retired(退休), he bought a small 41  in a village near the sea. He 42   it and hoped to live a quiet life in this house.
But to his great surprise, many tourists came to see his house in summer holidays, for it was the most  43   building in the village. From morning to night there were  44  outside the house. They kept looking into the rooms through the windows and  45  of them even went into Mr Smith’s garden. This was too much for Mr Smith. He decided to ask the visitors to  46   . So he put a notice on the window. The notice said, “If you want 47  your curiosity(好奇心)，come in and look round. Price: twenty dollars.” Mr Smith was sure that the visitors would 48  coming, but he was wrong. More and more visitors came and Mr Smith had to 49   every day showing them around his house.“I came here to   50  not to work as a guide（導(dǎo)游）,”he said angrily. In the end, he sold the house and moved away.

One young academically excellent person went to apply for a managerial position in a big company. He   36   the first interview; the director did the last interview.
The director asked, “Did you obtain any scholarships in school?” The young man answered, “    37  .”
“Who paid the school fees for you?”
“My father passed away   38   I was born, so my mother paid them all.”
“What did your mother do?”
“A laundry woman.”
The director   39   the youth to show his hands. They were smooth and perfect. The director asked, “Have you ever   40   your mother wash the clothes?” The youth answered, “    41  . My mother always wanted me to study and read more books.    42   , she can wash clothes faster than me.”
The director said, “Please go and clean your mother’s hands, and then see me tomorrow.”
The youth felt his   43   of getting the job high. When he went back, he happily asked his mother to let him clean her hands. His mother felt   44  but happy with mixed feelings.
The youth cleaned his mother’s hands   45   . He cried as he did that. It was the first time he had    46  his mother’s wrinkled hands with so many bruises (傷痕) on them. Some bruises were so painful that his mother    47  when they were cleaned. Only by then did he realize it was this pair of hands that assisted him   48   his academic years.
After finishing cleaning his mother’s    49   hands, the youth quietly washed all the  50   clothes for his mother. That night, they talked for a very long time.
The next morning, the director noticed the youth’s swollen    51  and asked, “Can you tell me what you have done and    52  in your house?”
The youth answered, “I cleaned my mother’s hands and also finished washing all the remaining clothes. I know now what    53   is. Without mother, there would not have been my success today.”
The director said, “This is what I am looking for  54  a manager. I want to hire a person who can value the help of others and who knows the    55  of others. You are hired.”

One afternoon in January in 1998, Susan Sharp, 43, and her 8-year-old son David, were walking across an icy square, when Susan’s cane(手杖) slipped on the ice. Her face   36  first into the mud. David   37  her mother’s side, “Are you all right, Mom”  38 , Susan pulled herself up, “I’m okay, Honey,” she said.
Susan was falling more   39  since she had trouble walking. Every inch of ice was a   40  danger for her. “I wish I could do something,” the boy thought. David, too, was having   41  of his own. The boy had a speech problem, so at school he talked   42 .
　　One day, David’s teacher announced a   43  homework. "Each of you is going to come up with an   44 ," she said. This was for "INVENT AMERICA", a national competition to encourage creativity in children.
　　An idea   45  David one evening. If only his mother’s cane didn’t slip on the ice. “What if I   46  your cane to a nail coming out of the bottom” he asked his mother.
　　“  47  the sharp end would scratch(劃破) floors,” Susan said.
　　“No, Mom, I   48  make it like a ball-point pen. You take your hand off the button and the   49  returns back up.” Hours later the cane was finished. David and his father   50  as Susan used it to walk 50 feet about the   51 . Happily Susan cried out, “It   52  !”
　　In July 1999, David was  53  national winner for the "INVENT AMERICA". David began to make public appearance. Thus he was forced to communicate  54 .Today, David is nearly free of his speech problem, and his   55  is becoming well accepted.

Many years ago, I owned a service station and roadhouse on the main road between Melbourne and Adelaide.
One very cold, wet night at about 3:30 a.m., there was a  36  on the front door of our house. A young man, wet from  37   to toe, explained that he had   38   out of petrol about 30 km up the road. He had left his pregnant wife and his two children   39   at the car and said that he would hitchhike(搭便車) back.
Once I had   40    a can with petrol, I took him back to his car where his two-year-old and four-year-old children were both   41 , saying that they were cold. Once the car had started, I suggested that he   42  me back.
Before leaving, I had turned the heater  43   in the roadhouse, so that when we went in, it was nice and  44   .While the little ones played and ran  45   ,I prepared bread and butter for the children, and hot chocolate for the  46  .
It was about 5 a.m. before they   47   .The young fellow asked me how much he   48  me and I told him that the petrol pump had   49  $15.He offered to pay “call-out fee”, but I wouldn’t accept it.
About a month later, I received a  50   from Interstate, a large bus company that we had been trying to  51  to stop off at our roadhouse for a long time. It   52   out that the young fellow I had helped was its general manager, the most  53   person in the company.
In his letter, he thanked me again and   54  me that, from then on, all their buses would stop at my service station. In this  55  ,a little bit of kindness was rewarded with a huge amount of benefits.

When my oldest son was in high school, he planned to attend a Christian contemporary concert with the youth group from our church. To my    36  , Aaron invited me to go along.  I    37   accepted; however, by the time the date of the concert arrived, my youngest son had been ill, and I was    38  about him. My husband    39   me to attend the concert, promising he would take care of our youngest. I hesitated.
Finally, it    40   me. Aaron was sixteen years old. How many    41   would I have to do something fun with him    42   he went away to college? And how many youth actually    43   their mothers to attend a concert with them that was clearly for teens?  The   44  was made. I would not miss this opportunity.
At the concert, I sat with Aaron in the third row, stuffing (填塞) cotton in my ears to block out the    45  , ear-splitting music of the first performer. I stood when the kids stood, clapped when they clapped, and never let anyone know how  46   I was to feel the floor vibrate (震動(dòng)) beneath my feet. Aaron and his friends were  47   at my enthusiasm.
By the time we left the concert, my ears were ringing, but it quickly passed.  48   did my son’s teenage years.   49  he was in college and away from home. I missed him more than I could say. On days when I was especially  50  for his ready smile and his teasing manner, I would think back to the concert we attended and be thankful once again that I didn’t  51  an opportunity to spend time with my son.
Aaron is now grown and has a family of his own, but we are still very  __52 __ . Some days he calls just to __53__ and tell me about his day. I drop everything and   54  the moment, knowing these times too shall    55  .

One day, a train was approaching the small town of Cheekyville. On the train was a   1  man with a big suitcase. He was called William Warbler and he looked very   2  indeed. But what made him most unusual was the fact that whenever he needed to   3  , he did so by singing opera. Even if someone said “good day” to him, he would clear his throat and   4  : “Goood dayyy to youuuuuu..... toooooo!”
Almost everyone considered William unusual, since no one could get a normal   5   word out of him. As no one knew how he made his living — he lived quite   6  , always wearing the same old second-hand suit — they often had no ___7__for him and sometimes even made fun of him.
William had been in Cheekyville for some years, when one day a rumor (謠言) spread that William had received a role in a very important   8  in the nation’s capital, that there had been posters everywhere advertising the event, and that it had been a great   9 . And to everyone’s surprise, when William was being interviewed by reporters, he answered their questions by speaking with good   10 , and with a clear and pleasant voice.
From that day on, William gave up   11  at all hours. Now he sang only during his stage appearances. People wouldn’t have thought him   12  if they had seen what William kept in his big suitcase. It was a large   13 , with a hand-carved message on it.
The message said, “Practice every second, for you never know when your   14   will come.” Little did people realize that he only got the role in the opera because the   15   had heard William singing while out buying a newspaper.
1. A. tall       B. sensitive    C. handsome    D. strange
2. A. common     B. concerned   C. wealthy     D. confident
3. A. appear     B. practice     C. communicate D. debate
4. A. whisper   B. respond      C. repeat     D. tease
5. A. advised   B. printed      C. written     D. spoken
6. A. simply     B. naturally    C. calmly      D. fortunately
7. A. mercy     B.  respect     C. trust       D. money
8. A. concert    B. documentary  C. opera      D. film
9. A. experience B. benefit      C. discovery   D. success 
10. A. movements B. manners     C. efforts    D. signs
11. A. pretendingB. recording   C. singing    D. wandering
12. A. mad       B. skillful    C. artificial  D. desperate
13. A. knife     B. stone        C. medal       D. diamond
14. A. solution  B. inspiration  C. performance D. chance
15. A. neighbor  B. visitor     C. director    D. Teacher

Soon it would be the holidays, but before that, there were final    36  . All the kids had been working hard for some time, reviewing their    37  . If they didn’t pass the exams, they would have to    38   them in September. There were usually a few who _39  , but Jane didn’t want to be one of them. She had worked hard all year, but she was working so hard that her mother   40    her. She went to bed too late. The night before the big day, her mother    41   that she should have an early night and take a sleeping pill. She promised to    42    her up in the morning.
Jane was too   43    to fall asleep. Her mind kept jumping from subject to subject. At last, the    44    did work. In no time at all, she was sitting in the examination hall, looking at the paper, but she couldn’t answer  45   of the questions. Everyone  46___ her was writing pages and pages.    47  , she couldn’t find anything to write about. From time to time she looked at her   48   .
Time was running    49   . There was only an hour to  50  . She started one question, wrote two sentences,   51    and tried another. With only half an hour left she wrote   52  two sentences. By this time she was so worried that she started  53   . Her whole body shook. It shook so much that she woke up. She was still in bed and it had all been a terrible   54   . A minute later,  55    called her name.

   I am Ali. I have always believed in myself. My parents taught me to be  41 and that I could be the best at anything. I  42  challenging my neighbourhood boys to see who could jump the highest and run the fastest. Of course I knew when I made the challenge, I would win. I never even   43  losing.
I started my boxing  44 when I was 12. In high school I boasted (自夸) that one day I was  45 to be the champion of the world. As part of my training, I would run down the street. I would rush in and out of shops to   46  them I was training for the Olympics and I was going to   47  a gold medal. I never thought of failing but only glory(光榮) I was going to    48   when I won. When I said I was going to be the "Greatest of All Time", I   49  myself. And I still do.
But I didn’t know that my will would be  50 when I retired. In 1996, I was asked to  51  the cauldron(圣火) at the summer Olympic Games in Atlanta.
When the   52  came for me to set fire to the cauldron, I realized I had the eyes of the world on me. Then I heard an extremely loud  53 . I was reminded of my 1960 Olympic  54  in Rome, when I won the gold medal. I remembered those 36 years between Rome and Atlanta and  55 that I had come full circle. Nothing in life has defeated me. I am still "The Greatest."

    Dad loved children. And he always wanted a __1__ family. Eventually, he got what he wanted with twelve children in the family. Without fail, he would show us off to visitors.
Once, Dad __2__ presented the first three children in the family, Ann, Mary and Ernestine, to some visitors. Then he picked up a fourth child, and said, "And this is our _3__ model, complete with all the improvements. And don’t think that this is all; we are _4__ the 1953 model some time next month."
But what he _5__ most was taking us out for a drive. On one occasion a man in a village we were passing through shouted _6_ that he had seen eleven people in our car, not __7_ Mum and Dad. _8__, Dad called out over his shoulder, "You 9__ the second baby up from the front here, Mister."
Another time, Dad told us this joke, though we were not sure then whether he was telling us the _10_. Mum, who was a psychologist (心理學(xué)家), once went to give a lecture and left Dad in charge of the _11_. When Mum returned, she asked him if everything had been OK. He said everything was fine _12__ one of the children had been taught a lesson because he had been _13_. When he pointed at the child that had been __14__, Mum looked at him calmly and said, "That’s not one of ours, dear. He _15_ next door."

When someone takes shoes to a shop to be mended, he is given a ticket with a number on it. Then,  21 his shoes are ready, he goes back to the shop, gives the ticket to the shoemaker, gets his shoes and  22  for them.
One day Mrs. Smith gave her husband a  23 of her shoes which needed mending and asked him to  24 them to the shop. Mr. Smith did so, and put the  25 for them in his pocket.
He went back four days  26 to get the shoes,  27 when he went into the shop, he was not able to find his ticket  28 ,and the shoemaker did not want to give him the  29 until he got the ticket.
“How do I know that the shoes are  30 unless you give me the ticket?” he said. “If I give them to you now, somebody  31 may come into my shop with the ticket tomorrow, and then I shall not be able to give him the shoes.”
Mrs. Smith needed the shoes very much, so her husband  32 for a moment and then went out to his  33 , which was at the side of the road   34 the shop. He  35 the door, and whistled（耳語(yǔ)）to his wife’s small  36 , which was sitting on the back seat. Then he went back into the shop and  37 it, “Get the shoes!” The dog began to  38 around the shop, and soon it found Mrs. Smith’s shoes and brought them to Mr. Smith one after the  39 .
“That should prove（證明）that they are my wife’s.” Mr. Smith said.
The shoemaker  40  and then he gave the shoes to Mr. Smith.