Sharing Beauty
It was in October. I was aimlessly wandering down the street, heading into a most gloriously beautiful sunset. I had an urge to speak to someone on the street to share that beauty, but it seemed everyone was in a hurry.
I took the next-best action. Quickly I ducked into a department store and asked the lady behind the counter if she could come outside for just a minute. She looked at me as though I were from some other planet. She hesitated, and then seemingly against her better judgment, she moved toward the door.
When she got outside I said to her, “Just look at that sunset! Nobody out here was looking at it and I just had to share it with someone.”
For a few seconds we just looked. Then I said, “God is in his heaven and all is right with the world.” I thanked her for coming out to see it; she went back inside and I left. It felt good to share the beauty.
Four years later my situation changed greatly. I came to the end of a twenty-year marriage. I was alone and on my own for the first time in my life. I lived in a trailer park which, at the time, I considered a real come-down, and I had to do my wash in the community laundry room.
One day, while my clothes were going around, I picked up a magazine and read an article about a woman who had been in similar circumstances. She had come to the end of a marriage, moved to a strange community, and the only job she could find was one she disliked: clothing sales in a department store.
Then something that happened to her changed everything. She said a woman came into her department store and asked her to step outside to look at a sunset. The stranger had said, “God is in his heaven and all is right with the world,” and she had realized the truth in that statement. From that moment on, she turned her life around.
1.The author asked the woman to go outside to ______.
A. admire the sunset B. cheer her up C. offer some help D. have a chat
2.Four years later, the author ______.
A. found her dream job
B. put an end to her marriage
C. worked in a laundry room
D. lived in the same community
3.After reading the article in the magazine, the author was probably______.
A. disappointed B. puzzled C. inspired D. overjoyed
The Little Angel
Sally jumped up the moment she saw the surgeon(外科医生) come out of the operating room. She asked, “How is my little boy?”
The surgeon said, “I’m ____. We did all we could, but your boy didn’t ____ it.”
Sally ____into the chair. The surgeon asked, “Would you like some time with your son before he was transported to the ____?” Sally nodded. While saying goodbye, she ran her fingers ____ through his thick curly hair. “Would you like a lock(一撮)of his hair?” the surgeon asked. Sally nodded yes. The surgeon cut a few hairs, and handed them to Sally. The mother said, “It was Jimmy’s idea to ____ his body to the university for study. He said it might ____ somebody else. “I said no at first, ____ Jimmy said, ‘Mom, I won’t be using it after I die. Maybe it will help some other little boy spend one more day with his Mom.’”
“My Jimmy had a heart of ____, always thinking of someone else, always wanting to help others if he could.” she went on.
Sally walked out of the hospital. She put the bag with Jimmy’s ____ on the seat beside her in the car. The drive home was ____. It was even harder to enter the ____ house. She carried Jimmy’s belongings, and the lock of his hair to her son’s room. She started placing the model cars and other personal things back in his room ____ where he had always kept them. She lay down across his bed and, hugging his pillow, ____ herself to sleep.
It was around midnight when Sally ____. Lying beside her on the bed was a letter. The letter said,
“Dear Mom,
I know you’re going to ____ me, and me too. I will always love you, Mom, even more ____ each passing day. Someday we will see each other again. Until then, if you want to ____a little boy so you won’t be so lonely, that’s OK with me. He can have my room and old toys to play with.
Don’t be sad thinking about me. I don’t hurt any more. The cancer is all ____. I don’t have to stand that ____any more. The angels in Heaven are so tender. They say I’m a Special Angel! I love you, Mom.”
1.A. worried B. sorryC. happy D. grateful
2.A. make B. passC. winD. like
3.A. knocked B. lookedC. sank D. got
4.A. house B. church C. hospital D. university
5.A. anxiously B. lovinglyC. patientlyD. angrily
6.A. donateB. moveC. showD. lend
7.A. affect B. help C. protectD. impress
8.A. for B. and C. soD. but
9.A. gold B. stone C. wisdom D. bravery
10.A. toys B. clothes C. belongingsD. letters
11.A. long B. smoothC. difficult D. dangerous
12.A. emptyB. familiarC. bigD. old
13.A. roughly B. exactlyC. especiallyD. possibly
14.A. put B. sent C. cried D. buried
15.A. wrote B. spokeC. sleptD. awoke
16.A. understandB. forgiveC. leaveD. miss
17.A. withB. around C. onD. in
18.A. saveB. hostC. visitD. adopt
19.A. lost B. gone C. cured D. spotted
20.A. depression B. sadness C. pain D. stress
Take the note as a reminder_________ you forget to buy some sweets for the kids while shopping there.
A. so that B. even if C. in case D . as if
The 13:30 train to Shanghai has been put off __________ the heavy storm.
A. due toB. in case ofC. aside fromD. except for
You cannot take back your words _________ they are out of your mouth.
A. beforeB. whetherC. onceD. while
—What’s that noise?
—There’s a truck stopping outside. It’s someone _____ something.
A. deliverB. to deliverC. deliveringD. delivered