Question

For much of my childhood, my mother filled the evening hours doing something for someone else. Sometimes she knitted (编织) hats for babies, and at other times she cooked chicken soup for sick neighbors. Therefore, I wasn't when one evening my mother announced she'd start a new project.

"I'm going to telephone neighboring every night," said my mother.

"Every night? But you don't even these people. "

"Doesn't matter," she said. "What's important is that I want to listen."

I was sixteen years old and couldn't figure out why my mother was willing to spend her evenings talking to strangers. She had friends and my two elder sisters to call she felt lonely.

My didn't affect my mother's project. That evening after supper, she settled on the sofa with the phone and began making phone calls.

For a while, I listened as she asked the lady on the phone about her day, what she had eaten for dinner, and asked if she had that the beautiful roses had come out in a neighboring park. When she finished the call, I said, "What do you whether she had cookie or cream pie for dessert?"

My mother replied, "I'm the person she talked to today."

It took me nearly thirty years to understand the of what she was doing. Now, as my mother is nearing sixty, I find myself thinking about those nightly she used to make.

I am often the only person who telephones my mother, and sometimes I'm the only person she speaks to all day. I ask her what she cooked for dinner, but mostly I just as she describes a walk she took, or how her dog Lucky stole a piece of cheese from the kitchen.

I that my mother's calls were lifelines (生命之线 ) that kept lonely seniors connected to the world. Somehow, she managed to work full-time and a family while improving the lives of others.

That kind of needs commitment (奉献，投入) and organizational skills that I do not have. While she freed several seniors from , I struggle to call just one － my mother.

1.A. interested B. satisfied C. surprised D. excited

2.A. teenagers B. children C. juniors D. seniors

3.A. meet B. know C. pass D. find

4.A. because B. if C. though D. until

5.A. doubt B. advice C. answer D. praise

6.A. decided B. felt C. noticed D. imagined

7.A. hate B. love C. mean D. care

8.A. only B. early C. first D. last

9.A. difficulty B. importance C. possibility D. difference

10.A. visits B. orders C. calls D. cries

11.A. think B. listen C. talk D. write

12.A. realize B. explain C. express D. recognize

13.A. protect B. start C. affect D. support

14.A. service B. experience C. promise D. tradition

15.A. hopelessness B. illness C. loneliness D. helplessness

Answer 1