When I was about 13, my father would take me on short outings on Saturdays. On the way home, Dad  36  stopped at the Dairy Queen for 10-cent ice creams. I couldn’t  37 it, but I could pray from the   38  we started heading home to that corner where we would either go straight for the ice cream or  39  and go home empty-handed. That corner  40  either mouth-watering excitement or  41  .
On one special day, we were heading home, and again I was praying for the  42  sound of his offer. It   43 . “Would you like an ice cream today?” “That sounds great, Dad!” But then he said, “How would you like to  44  today?”
Twenty cents! My mind reeled（震驚）. I could afford it. I got a weekly allowance of 25 cents, plus some  45  for odd jobs（零活）. But  46 it was my money, ice cream wasn’t a good use of it. In a fit of  47 , I said, “Well, in that case, I guess I’ll   48  .”My father just said, “Okay, Son.”
But as we headed home, I realized how wrong I was and begged him to  49 . But he just said, “That’s okay, we don’t really need one.” I felt  50  for my selfishness and ungratefulness. He didn’t mind, or  51  act disappointed.
I   52 that generosity（慷慨）goes two ways and gratefulness sometimes costs more than “thank you”. On that day gratefulness would have cost 20 cents and it would have been the  53  ice cream I’d ever had.
I’ll tell you one more thing. We  54 another trip the next week. As we  55  the corner, I said, “Dad, would you like an ice cream today? My treat.”

【小題10】

A．extra B． limited C．little D．easy

While getting ready for school today, my 16-year-old daughter came into my room to give me a big hug and kiss. I asked her, “What do you want?” She said, “36 Mum, you always tell us to have a good day 37  we leave the house, but I was 38 about who tells you to have a good day and lets you know how much you are 39.”
I am so 40 by the capacity of love and understanding that 41 my children. My 15-year-old son asked me last night if there was a(n) 42 for him to get a summer job this year in order to help us to pay our bills. 43, in our area, he must be 16.
44 of my children depend on me so much because I am a 45 parent, but just when I pay the 46 that I will not be able to provide for them, they come up with ways to 47. I completely understand that I will 48 have to find a way to pay the bills as I do not want my children to take up anything. But for now the 49 that they have stepped up and 50 to help without anyone asking touches me.
When my daughter was two, I remember rushing to get to 51, getting to the front door and asking her to 52 and come. Then she appeared at the door with a bag that she was holding open. I said, “We don’t have 53 for this.” She stopped me and said, “Fill it with love, Mum.” I 54 to my knees and hugged her and then kissed her. From then55 she would bring the bag and I would bring the love to the door before we left for school and work.

【小題1】

A．nothing B．a(chǎn)nything C．something D．everything

My friend Michelle is blind, but you’d never know it. She makes such good use of her other   36 , including her "sixth sense", that she rarely gives the impression she’s   37  anything.
Michelle looks after her children pretty much like the rest of us,   38  that she doesn’t push too hard on them,   39  really benefit a lot from her relaxed attitude. She knows when to clean the house, she moves around so fast that often   40  don’t realize she’s blind.
I   41  this the first time after my six-year-old daughter, Kayla, went to play there. When Kayla came home, she was very   42  about her day. She told me they had baked cookies, played games and done art projects. But she was  43  excited about her finger-painting project."Mom, guess what?" said Kayla, all smiles. "I learned how to   44  colors today! Blue and red make purple, and yellow and blue make green! And Michelle  45  with us.
To my great   46  , my child had learnt about color from a blind friend! Then Kayla continued, "Michelle told me my  47  showed joy, pride and a sense of accomplishment. She really  48  what I was doing!" Kayla said she had never felt how good finger paints felt   49  Michelle showed her how to paint without looking at her paper.
I realized Kayla didn’t know that Michelle was blind. It had just never   50  in conversation. When I told her, she was  51  for a moment. At first, she didn’t believe me. "But Mommy, Michelle knew exactly what was in my picture!" Kayla   52 . And I knew my child was  53  because Michelle had listened to Kayla describe her artwork. Michelle had also heard Kayla’s   54 in her work.
We were silent for a minute. Then Kayla said slowly, "You know, Mommy, Michelle really did ‘see’ my picture. She just used my  55 ." Indeed, she uses a special type of “vision” that all mothers have.

A few years ago, when I was about 14,I went out for a walk 31  a rainy summer day. I saw a man 32 small, dirty colthes. He had 33umbrella, and he was picking bottles out of bushes. When he found 34 ,he smiled and put it in his big bag. I thought,“I wish there 35 some way to help him. Well, I could give him my umbrella.” Then I walked to him 36 gave the umbrella to him.“You need this more than I 37 .” The man took it with 38 big smile on his face and said,“Thank you! Thank you!” And then I walked away 39 good, I turned around and saw him 40a lot more, even though he was still picking bottles from bushes. “It was just an umbrella.” I thought, not 41 that it was the kindness 42 made him happy.
A few weeks later I was walking on a sunny day, and 43 the same man with the same clothes, 44 the same big bag 45 of bottles. The only 46 was that my umbrella was right in the corner, looking47 he cherished（愛護(hù)） it. It was so clean.
It didn’t 48 that I couldn’t give the man a house and a job and I only did I was able to do. But 50made someone else happier, so that was enough.

閱讀下面短文，從A、B、C對(duì)四個(gè)選項(xiàng)中選出最佳選項(xiàng)。

　　In history，a real cowboy was a simple farm worker on horseback．He spent a long time a day outdoors working with cows ．The work was dirty，tiring and not very well paid．

　　People in the western。states had to 　1　 cattle at low cost and send them by railway to the eastern 　2　 ．But someone had to 　3　 the cattle and get them to the nearest railroad．This was the job of a cowboy．Sometimes the 　4　 was more than a thousand Kilometers away and it could take as 　5　 as six months to move the cattle．The　6　 was long but the cattle were driven 　7　 as not to lose 　8　．Then they could be sold at a good price．

　　Most cowboys were young，　9　 men．A good horse 　10　 their job of moving cattle much easier．A good cowboy 　11　 cows and knew how to control them．At night，he 　12　 to the cows to keep them calm．

　　In the late 1800s，America was changing from a nation of farm to one of 　13　 and cities．The cowboy seemed 　14　 compared with other Americans doing ordinary jobs．

　　Today，the 　15　 of cowboys has 　16　 greatly．One change is the use of trucks．

　　The job is not so hard 　17　 it used to be．And cowboys are better 　18　 now．They are 　19　 to be married．Some of them are farmers teachers or truck drivers．Some work for big companies．　20　 at night and on weekends，they become cowboys．These part-time cowboys increase the total production of meat，keeping the beef price low．

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