Helen was loved as a friendly 1ady by a11 who knew her. She had belonged to the same church for almost all her adult lire and was highly 36.______. Poor Helen was well into her 90’s. Since her husband passed away，she moved in with Jennifer, her young granddaughter. However, life is 37._______. One night driving home from the store, Jennifer was hit dead by a drunk driver. Once again, Helen was alone.
The 38._______ of losing those closest to her and the loneliness of being all alone were 39.______ she could bear. She changed--she fell into 40._______ and hopelessness. Naturally, people around her saw the change. But nobody seemed to know how to 41._______ her. Months passed. It was now December, and the holiday season was 42._______ to be harder than Helen imagined it would be. She felt like she was 43._______, slowly inside. She wondered if she would see Christmas this year.
44._______, the second Sunday of December, the Sunday School teacher came to her with a special request. Would she be 45.______ enough to help decorate the tree that was in the middle of the children’s classroom? Each child had handmade a special decoration to 46.______ on the tree, and they needed assistance. Helen attempted to 47._______ refuse, but the teacher said that the children had requested she be the 48._______ that year. It was important to them for some reason, the teacher whispered.
The night of the special event, Helen was present and wore the best smile. The 49.______ of the young children was bittersweet, which held memories of her dear Jennifer. For the first time in months, though, you could see her eyes 50._______ through tears. She was happy that the children had 51.______ her. Most decorations had been placed on the tree 52._______ a group of nine children came and sat in front of her. Each of them either had no grandmother any longer, 53.______ had never even known theirs. This was a very special celebration and union. In the middle lay a gift-wrapped box 54._______ for her with a card reading “Our Grandma, with love. ”
Christmas this year wasn’t unkind to Helen. No, it was a new 55._______, a brand-new start and nine new reasons to her…
A．valued B．rewarded C．approved D．respected
A．funny B．challenging C．boring D．diverse
A．weakness B．coldness C．sadness D．tiredness
A．other than B．more than C．rather than D．1essthan
A．nervousness B．anxiety C．depression D．separation
A．acknowledge B．distinguish C．appreciate D．comfort
A．desired B．pictured C．aiming D．proving
A．crying B．dying C．moving D．struggling
A．Gradually B．Recently C．Then D．Meanwhile
A．kind B．optimistic C．patient D．enthusiastic
A．base B．place C．hide D．set
A．politely B．personally C．seriously D．unwillingly
A．volunteer B．visitor C．teacher D．assistant
A．view B．thought C．sight D．scenery
A．staring B．shining C．looking D．1ighting
A．helped B．treated C．invited D．amused
A．while B．when C．as D．after
A．or B．nor C．and D．but
A．intended B．written C．sent D．1eft
A．ending B．process C．goal D．beginning
完形填空（共1小题）
Money was a constant source of tension and stress when I was growing up. My parents were , well-educated and hard-working, but they lived from paycheck to paycheck. When I was 13, they split up. Then my mom to raise three kids, often relying on free lunch tickets and food stamps. As my mother retirement age, she was filled with over the fact that she hadn’t saved enough for her golden retirement years, she often sighed. My father had always been to work—we had always he’d work less and spend more time with us . But he is just a workaholic(工作狂).
My parents were trying so hard to make ends meet, so I couldn’t become a on them. As a result, I college and spent the next couple of years drifting from one minimum wage job to another. I my broken-down car, went to work on foot, reduced my by sharing a one-bedroom apartment with three other women, and got free food during Happy Hour at our local bar. I learned to do whatever it took to .
One night, while I was working at a donut shop and 34 coffee for a homeless customer, I that I was one paycheck away from being homeless myself. That was my wake-up . Motivated by fear of an uncertain , I opened the Yellow Pages(电话黄页), professional dog trainers and negotiated an unpaid apprenticeship(学徒工作). Less than a year later, I was by a dog trainer, and I loved the work. A couple of years later, I started my own dog-training school, which luckily turned out to be . My efforts paid off.
Though I didn’t have rich parents to rely on, I discovered the power of asking for what I want.
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阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。
Learning a life lesson on managing time
One day，an expert was speaking to a group of students about how to manage their time．He ________ an example those students will never forget．
He pulled out a wide jar and put it on the table．He also ________ about a dozen rocks and carefully ________ them into the jar．One at a time．When no more rocks would ________ inside，he asked，“Is this jar full？”
Everyone in the class answered loudly，“Yes．” The expert said，“Really？” He ________ under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel (砾石)．He put some gravel in and ________ the jar，causing it to go down into the ________ between the big rocks．He then asked the group once more，“Is this jar full？”
“ ________ not，” one of them answered this time．“Good！” he replied．From under the table he brought out a bucket of sand and started ________ the sand in the jar and it went into all of the spaces left ________ the rocks and the gravel．Once more he asked the question，“Is this jar full？”
“No！” the class shouted．Once again he said，“Good．” Then he ________ a cup of water in ________ the jar was full．Then he looked at the class and asked，“What is the ________ here？”
Immediately one ________ student raised his hand and said，“The point is，no matter how full your ________ is，if you try really hard you can always fit ________ things in！” “No，” the expert replied，“that’s not the point．The point is if you don’t put the big rocks in ________ ，you’ll never get them in ________．What are the ‘big rocks’ in your ________ ？Time with your loved ones，your education，or your dreams？Remember to put these big rocks in first or you’ll never get them in at all，________ you’ll never have the real quality time you need to spend on the big，important things．”
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阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。
My husband, Tom, has always been good with animals, but I was still amazed when he befriended a female grouse (松鸡)．It's impossible for a grouse to have any contact (接触) with people．In fact, they're hard to spot, they usually fly off when they hear humans approaching.
This grouse came into our lives in ．Tom was working out in the field when he her walking around at the edge of the field．She was unafraid and seemed to be curious about what he was doing.
Tom saw the bird several times, and she got more comfortable around him．We quickly grew f the bird and decided to call her Mildred.
One day, as Tom was working, Mildred came within a few feet of him to watch．Tom he didn't see her and kept working to see what she would do next.
Apparently, she didn't like to be ignored．She'd run up and peck (啄) at Tom's hands, then________off to see what he would do．This went on for about 20 minutes, until Mildred became tired of the ________and left.
As spring went and summer came, Mildred started to ________ more and more often．________Mildred felt comfortable enough to jump up on Tom's leg and stay long enough for me to get a picture of the two of them together．This friendly grouse soon felt________ not just with our family, but with anybody who walked or drove by.
When hunting season opened, we put a ________at the end of our driveway asking ________ not to shoot our pet grouse．My father, who lived down the road, ________ warned people not to shoot her．In fact, hunters would stop and take pictures, because they had never seen anything like her.
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阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
An old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law, and 4-year-old grandson. The old man’s hands , his eyesight was not clear, and his unsteady（不稳定的）. The family were every night at the dinner table. But the elderly grandfather’s shaky hands and sight made this rather difficult. Peas rolled off his spoon onto the floor. When he grasped the glass, would often spill（洒落）onto the tablecloth. “We must do some-thing about grandfather,” said the husband.
So the husband and wife set a small table in the corner. There , grandfather ate in the corner while the rest of the family enjoyed dinner at the dinner table. grandfather had already broken a dish or two , his food was served in a bowl. Sometimes, when the family grandfather, he had a tear in his eye as he ate alone. , the only words the couple had for him were sharp when he dropped a fork or spilled food. The 4-year-old boy watched all this .
One evening before supper, the father his son playing with wood scraps（小块）on the floor. He asked the child sweetly :“What are you making?” Just as , the boy answered: “Oh, I am making a little for you and mama to eat your food from when I grow up.”The 4-year-old boy smiled and went back to on it.
The words the parents so much that they were . Then tears started to stream down their cheeks. no word was spoken , both knew what they had to do. That evening, the husband took grandfather’s hand and led him back to the family table.
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阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
The Value of an Hour
It was Thanksgiving morning. In the crowded kitchen of my small home I was busy preparing the traditional Thanksgiving turkey the doorbell rang. I opened the front door and saw two small children in clothes and thin little sandals(凉鞋), staying together at the door on the top step.
“Any old ， lady？” asked one of them.
I was . I wanted to say “no” until my eye their sandals, which were wet with heavy snow.
“ and I’ll make you a cup of hot cocoa.”
They walked and sat down at the table. Their wet sandals left marks upon the . I served them cocoa and bread with jam to fight the freezing cold outside. I went back to the kitchen and started again on my household budget for Thanksgiving Day.
The silence in the front room struck me. I looked in. The girl held the empty cup in her hands, looking at it. The boy asked in a flat voice，“Lady, are you ？”
I looked at my old sofa covers. The girl put her cup back in its saucer(托盘) and said, “Your cups match your saucers.” Her voice was with a need that no amount of food could supply. They left after that， their papers against the wind. They hadn’t said “Thank you.” They didn’t need to. They had me that I had so much for which to be grateful. Plain blue china cups and saucers were worth five pence. But they matched.
I tasted the potatoes and the meat soup. Potatoes and brown meat soup, a roof over our heads, my man with a good steady job—these ，too.
I moved the chairs back from the fire and the living room. The muddy(沾上泥的) of small sandals were still wet upon my floor. Let them be for a while, I thought, just in case I should begin to how rich I am.
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