My husband hasn’t stopped laughing about the thing that happened to me. It’s  26  now but it wasn’t that time.
Last Friday, after doing all the family shopping in town, I  27  a rest before catching the train, so I bought a   28  and some chocolate and went to the station coffee shop that was a cheap, self-service place with long   29 to sit at. I put my heavy bag down on the floor, put the newspaper and chocolate on the table to   30  a place and went to get a cup of coffee.
When I came back with the coffee, there was someone in the   31   seat. It was one of those   32  young man, with dark glasses and torn clothes, and hair colored bright  33  at the front, not so unusual these days. What did  34  me was he’d started to eat my chocolate! Naturally, I was annoyed. However, to avoid trouble—then really I was rather uneasy about him—I just   35  down at the front page of the newspaper, tasted my coffee, and took a bit of chocolate. The boy looked at me    36   . then he took another piece of my chocolate. I could hardly   37  it. Still I didn’t want to start an argument. When he took a  38    piece , I felt more  39  than annoyed. I thought, “ Well, I shall have the last piece.” And I  40  it.
The boy gave me a   41  look, and then stood up. As he left, he shouted out, “This woman is mad!” Everyone   42  . That really made me feel silly, but it was   43   when I finished my coffee and got ready to leave. My face went red—as red as his hair when I   44    I’d made a mistake. It wasn’t my chocolate he’d been taking. There was mine, unopened, just under my  45   .

A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had 16   a beautiful sports car in a dealer’s showroom, and   17   his father could well 18  it, he told him that was all he wanted.
On the morning of his graduation day his father called him into his own study and told him how 19   he was to have such a fine son. He handed his son a beautiful gift box. 20  but slightly disappointed, the young man 21  the box and found a lovely book. 22  , he raised his voice at his father and said, “ 23  all your money you give me a book?” and rushed out of the house 24  the book in the study.
He did not contact（聯系）his father for a whole year 25   one day he saw in the street an old man who looked like his father. He  26  he had to go back home and see his father.
When he arrived at his father’s house, he was told that his father had been in hospital for a week. The moment he was about to  27  the hospital, he saw on the desk the 28  new book ,just as he had left it one  29  ago. He opened it and began to 30 the pages. Suddenly, a car key 31 from an envelope taped behind the book .It had a tag（標簽）with dealer’s name, the 32 dealer who had the sports car he had 33  .On the tag was the 34 of his graduation, and the 35 PAID IN FULL.

【小題2】

A．finding B．proving C．deciding D．knowing

One dark stormy night, an elderly couple hurried into a hotel and asked whether they could be  36  for the night, “I’m very sorry,” the clerk on night shift said politely, “we are all  37 tonight.  38 ,you could stay in my room if you don’t mind. I’m 39 ,so I’ll be here.” The young man gave the sincere advice.
The elderly couple accepted his  40  with gratitude. They apologized for the  41  they had caused him. The next day, the rain stopped and it  42 . When the old gentleman went to pay his bill, the same clerk said, “The room you and your wife stayed in is not a proper   43  room in this hotel, so you don’t need to pay.”
The old gentleman nodded in  44  : “You are an employee that every boss in the hotel business would dream of . Perhaps someday I’ll build a hotel for you.” The clerk was  45  but, deciding that the guest must have been 46  , he gave the remark  47 thought.
Two years later, the young man received a letter from the old gentleman, in which he  48 the experience of that dark stormy night. The letter also  49 a formal invitation, asking that young man to pay a visit.
At a street corner in Manhattan, the young man met his  50  guest. The old gentleman, pointing to a magnificent new building  51  over the crossroads, “Look, that is the hotel I 52 to build for you. I hope you will  53  it for me .Remember what I said then? Well, I was  54  about it.”
The young man stammered, “But…will there be any   55 , sir? Why do you choose me? And who are you?”
“My name is William Aster.” This building was none other than the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, a symbol of supreme status and honor in New York.

One Saturday afternoon, a six-year-old girl went for a walk. She crossed a large area of grassland into the woods __36__ she realized that she was lost.
Sitting on a rock and __37__ what to do, she began crying. After a while. she__38__ to walk along a wide path lined with tall trees and thick bushes. __39__ it was getting dark, she saw a small, dark wooden house. She opened the door and __40__ stepped in. Suddenly, she heard a strange noise, and she ran out the door and back to the __41__. Cold and tired, she fell asleep near a __42__.
The girl’s parents were out and her dog, Laddy, was at home. Laddy __43__ that his mistress was in danger. He jumped __44__ a window, breaking the glass. He looked in the fields. But he couldn’t find his mistress anywhere. However, from the ground came a __45__ scent (氣味) as he lowered his head. He __46__ the scent and walked across the grassland. Barking __47__ into the air, the dog __48__ through the woods until he found the __49__ . But the girl was not there, so he headed back to the woods. Much to his __50__ , he saw his mistress’ blue shirt in the distance. He __51__ over some bushes and saw the little stream, where the girl was __52__.When she opened her eyes and   53   her dog standing beside her, the girl said, “you   54  me, Laddy,” and she kissed him several times. Seeing their daughter and dog coming back, the parents burst into tears of    55   . That night Laddy had a hero’s supper: a huge meal of steak

Mr.Gray traveled a lot on business. He sold machines of various kinds to famers, which he thought not really a very _36_ job, but he had always been interested in _37_, and he was quite satisfied with his life. He had a big_38_, and usually enjoyed driving it long distances, but he was also quite_39_to go by train sometimes too especially when the weather was_40_. He was a little frightened of driving in the rain or snow, and it was _41_tiring to sit comfortably in a train and look out of the windows without being worried about how one was going to get to the next place. One of Mr. Gray’s  _42_was often where to stay when he reached some small _43_in the country. He did not expect _44_and wonderful food, but he found it annoying when he was given a cold room, and when there was no hot water _45_ good food after a long and tiring day.
Late one winter evening, Mr. Gray arrived at a small railway station. The journey by train that _46_had not been at all interesting, and Mr. Gray was cold and tired and _47_. He was looking forward to a _48_but satisfying meal by a brightly burning _49_, and then a hot bath and a comfortable bed. While he was walking to the taxi stand, he said to a local man who was also _50_there. “As this is my _51_visit to this part of the country and I was in too much of a hurry to find out about a hotel before I _52_home, I would very much like to know how many you have here.” The local man answered, “We have two.” “And which of the two would you _53_me to go to?” Mr. Gray asked then. The local man scratched his _54_ for a few moments and then answered, “Well, it’s like this: _55_one you go to, you’ll be sorry you didn’t go to the other.”

“Where is the bus? Why is it always late?” I asked myself. I was going to be late ___36___ the manager wasn’t going to be pleased. “Thank God, here it is!” The bus came round the corner and I got on. Ten minutes later I was walking into the ___37___ where I work. “Twenty-five past nine. I ___38___ the manager doesn’t notice.” But I was not ___39___.
“Smith!” shouted the manager.  “Late again. What’s your ___40___ this time?” “I am afraid the bus was late, Mr. Brown.” “___41___ up earlier tomorrow! Anyway, go to your place at the counter. We’ll be opening in a few minutes.”
My first customer was a pretty girl wearing a red dress. ___42___ her was a young man of about 25. He seemed very ___43___, and every few seconds he looked towards the main entrance. The girl drew some money and ___44___ about opening an account(帳戶). I gave her necessary ___45___ and she went out. ___46___, I noticed a tall man by the door, carrying something ___47___ with brown paper. Turning to my next customer, I was frightened to see a gun sticking out of his coat. The next moment a loud noise ___48___ my ears. Everything went black. I was falling… It seemed to be a long time ___49___ I opened my eyes and I found myself in bed! ___50___ shaking from the memory of this terrible dream, I got dressed  and ran out of the house. ___51___, the bus wasn’t on time, and I got to the bank at 9:25.
“Smith!” the manager cried out in a voice like thunder. “___52___ of your excuses! Start work at once!” To my ___53___, the first customer was a girl ___54___ a red dress  and behind her stood a man carrying something wrapped in brown paper. The ___55___! Sometimes life is full of coincidences (巧合)!

I found out one time that doing a __36____for someone could get you into a lot of trouble．I was in the eighth grade at the time, and we were having a final test．During the test, the girl sitting next to me ___37____ something, but I didn’t understand．So I __38______ her way and found out that she was trying to ask me if I had an extra pen．She showed me that hers was ____39_____ and would not write．I happened to have an extra one, so I took it out of my pocket and ____40_____ it on her desk．
Later, after the test papers had been turned in, the teacher asked me to stay in the room when all the other students were____41_____．As soon as we were alone she began to talk to me about ____42____ it meant to grow up; she talked about how important it was to____43____ your own two feet and be responsible for your own ____44____．For a long time, she talked about honesty and emphasized the fact ____45____ when people do something____46____, they are really cheating themselves．She made me ____47____ that I would think seriously about all the things she had said, and then she told me I could leave．I walked out of the room ____48____ why she had chosen to talk to me about all those things．
____49____, I found out that she thought I had cheated on the test．When she saw me lean over to talk to the girl next to me, it looked as if I was copying answers ____50____ the girl’s test paper．I ___51____ to explain about the pen, but all she____52____ say was that it seemed very strange to her that I hadn’t talked of anything about the pen the day she talked to me ____53____ after the test．____54____ I tried to explain that I was just doing the girl a favor by letting her use my pen, I was sure she ____55____ to believe that I had cheated on the test．

Mr. Flower was well-known around for growing the best flowers of the year and his four glass-houses were taken good care of. These glass-houses were close to a public path, which was always used ___36__ children and young people walking to and from __37__. Boys of about thirteen years of age, especially, were often tempted（嘗試） to throw a stone or two at one of Mr. Flower’s __38_ . They managed to resist the temptation(抵制誘惑) when Mr. Flower was around, but the temptation often seemed to be too __39__ when Mr. Flower was __40__ to be seen. For this reason, Mr. Flower did his best to be __41__ his glass-houses at the beginning and end of the school days.
However, it was not always possible for him to be on guard at these times. Mr. Flower had tried __42__ to prevent the damage to his glass; but nothing that he had done had been__43__. He had been to the school to complain(抱怨) to the headmaster, but this had not done any__44__. He had hidden in the bushes（灌木叢）and __45__ those boys that threw stones __46__ his garden, but the boys could run __47__ faster than he, and they even __48__ at him at a distance. He had even walked along the path and picked up all those __49__ that he could find so that the boys would have nothing to __50__, but they soon found others, or threw lumps of earth instead.
Then just as he had given __51__ hope of winning the battle, a truly wonderful __52_ came up to him. He set up a large notice board made of good strong wood, some meters away from the glass-houses __53__ it could be clearly seen from the path. On the board he painted the __54__ : DO NOT THROW AT THIS NOTICE. After this, Mr. Flower had no __55__ . The boys were much more tempted to throw stones at the notice board than at the glass-houses.

Nancy had just got a job as a secretary in a company. Monday was the first day she went to work, so she was very    36   and arrived early.
She    37   the door open and found nobody there. “I am the    38  to arrive.” She thought and came to her desk. She was surprised to find a bunch of   39 on it. They were fresh. She   40  them and they were sweet. She looked around for a    41   to put them in. “ Somebody has sent me flowers the very first day!” she thought   42   . “ But who could it be?” she began to     43   .
The day passed quickly and Nancy did everything with    44    interest. For the following days of the    45   , the first thing Nancy did was to change water for the followers and then    46   her work.
Then came another Monday.    47  she came near her desk she was overjoyed to see a(n)    48   bunch of flowers there. She quickly put them in the vase,   49  the old ones.
The same thing happened again the next Monday. Nancy began to think of ways to find out the     50   .
On Tuesday afternoon, she was sent to hand in a plan to the    51    . She waited for his directives(命令)at his secretary’s    52   . She happened to see on the desk a half-opened notebook, which    53   : “ In order to keep the secretaries    54  , the company has decided that every     55    a bunch of fresh flowers should be put on each secretary’s desk.”
Later, she was told that their general manager was a business management psychologist（心理學家）.

The friendship between us never fades. Mary Allen was my best friend—like a sister I never had. We did everything together: piano lessons, movies, swimming, horseback riding, and so on.
When I was 13, my family moved. Mary and I   36  in touch through letters, and we saw each other on special  37  — like my wedding and Mary’s. Soon we were  38  with children and moving to new homes, and we wrote less. One day a card that I sent came back,  39  “Address Unknown.” I had no idea how to   40   Mary.
Over the years, I thought of Mary often. I wanted to  41  stories of my children and then grandchildren. I need to share my   42 when my brother and then my mother died. There was an empty place in my heart that only a friend like Mary could  43 .
One day I was reading a newspaper   44  I notice a picture of a young woman who looked a lot like Mary and whose last name was Wagman— Mary’s married name. “There must be thousands of Wagmans,” I thought,  45 I wrote to her anyway.
She called as soon as she got my letter. “Mrs. Tobin!” she said excitedly, “Mary Allen Wagman is my mother”. Minutes later I heard a voice that I  46   at once, even after 40 years. We laughed and cried and asked about each other’s   47  .
Now the empty place in my heart is filled, and there is one thing that Mary and I know for sure: We won’t lose each other again!