In a land far away, once upon a time there was great poverty （贫困）,and only the rich could manage without great _36. Three of those rich men and their servants were_37_together on a road when they came to a very_38_village.
The first could not stand seeing the poverty, _39 he took all the gold and jewels from his wagons (四轮载重马车) and shared 40 out among the villagers. He wished them all the best of luck, and he left.
The second rich man ,seeing the _41 situation, stopped for a short time and gave _42 all his food and drink, since he _43  see that money would be of little _44 to them. He made sure that they each 45their fair share and would have enough food to _46 for some time . Then, he left.
The third rich man, on seeing such poverty, _47  and went straight through the _48  without stopping. The two other rich men saw this from a distance and commented with each other 49 the third rich man lacked sympathy. It was _50  that they themselves had been there to offer help.
However, three days later, they 51the  third rich man ,who was coming in the opposite direction . He was 52  travelling quickly, but his wagons,  53  the gold and valuables they had been  54  ,were now full of farming tools and bags of  55 .He was rushing back to help them out of poverty.

Life became hard when I was 14. My mother and I moved to New York to 36 my father, who’d moved there to find 37 work when I was three years old. He had a job at a restaurant and only visited us 38 every couple of years.
　　Before I moved, I knew that people in the US spoke English. But honestly, I didn’t stop to analyze the 39 when I was 40 to leave. Just like I assumed I could easily become a doctor or a lawyer. I assumed that I had the skills to learn English in a few weeks. 
When I 41 in the US and started 8th grade at Ditmas Middle School in Brooklyn, everyone was speaking a(n)  42  language I couldn’t understand. I  43  that life had subtitles, like in foreign movies. School was such a serious place here. Sometimes I felt like I was in a geek（呆子） class. The teachers were always  44  my moves so I couldn’t even throw a paper ball at a classmate’s head. And the worst thing was having to read 45 .
46  after almost seven months of complaining about everything, I realized that complaining didn’t change things.  47 just made my life worse. If I was going to 48   in this new concrete jungle, I had to 49 . I began to learn English by reading newspapers on my own  50  school. After about four months, I started enjoying reading the crime and sports stories. After six months of studying, my teachers 51  my improvement and moved me into a more  52  English class. I could go to the store and ask for things that I wanted to buy without 53 frustration. For the first time I felt like I was living on earth again, 54  I didn’t hear foreign talk. I 55 understand people.

Jonathan lived alone in a house，which he looked after carefully．One summer evening Jonathan returned home   1 usual at 4：53．When he opened the front gate， he suddenly noticed something   2 ．There was   3  in the earth in one of the flower beds．Jonathan was just going to blame(责备)the milkman or the postman   4 he noticed that one of the curtains(窗帘)in the front room downstairs was   5  ．Jonathan never did it like that．
He walked up to the porch(门廊)and   6  it quietly．He   7  carefully for a few seconds．  8  could hear nothing．The front door was half-open．Jonathan studied it carefully,  9  if he had forgotten to close it that morning．He had   10 forgotten before．He stepped silently    11 the hall to the door and looked   12  the room．The shadow(影子)of a man was clearly    13 on the far wall in the evening sunlight．He had clearly been standing  14 the door since Jonathan’s return．Jonathan closed the door and turned the key quickly．Then he quietly picked up  15   and began to call   16  ．The thief, a tall young man, tried to climb     17   a window to get out but Jonathan   18   that．He beat him with his umbrella．Three minutes later the police   19  ．Jonathan was a little angry that he had to have dinner later than usual but on the whole night he felt quite pleased with     20  .

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从36～55各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
Once the King of India was ill and sent for his doctor. The doctor came,  36  him and said, “You will be well soon in a few days if you take bull’s milk.” The King was  37  , for he had never heard of a bull that gave milk. “How is it  38  ?” he asked.
“Order Gulbo to get it for you,” answered the doctor, “He can do anything.” Gulbo was a person with great knowledge and was  39  to the doctor. So the doctor thought this would be a way of making him  40  . When the King told Gulbo what the doctor said and  41  him to get bull’s milk, Gulbo  42  understood what the doctor was trying to do.
When he got home, he sat thinking how to get out of the  43 . His daughter, seeing him worried, asked what was the  44 . On hearing what the King had asked for, she said, “don’t  45  , Father, I will help you.”
The next day she took some old clothes, went to the bank of the river near the palace, and chose a place  46  the King’s bedroom window. In the middle of the night, she started to do her washing. She made so much noise  47  the King could not sleep. The King got very angry and sent a guard to  48  what was the matter. The soldier found the girl, and led her to the King. “Why do you wash your clothes here at night?” said the King.
The girl  49  to be afraid and said, “I had to wash clothes at night. This afternoon my father had a baby, I was  50  all day because of that. Then I found there were no clean  51  for the baby, so I had to come and wash them now.”
“What!” cried the King. “Are you trying to make a  52  of me? I have never heard of man having a baby.”
“Well, if the King himself orders someone to get bull’s milk for him,  53  can’t a man have a baby?”
The King smiled and said, “You must be Gulbo’s  54 . Go and tell your father that he may keep the bull’s milk for his  55.”

There are lots of funny stories in my childhood .The first one that  16  my mind is the story of my first camera. It happened 20 years ago . Just when I was ready to go to school , my grandmother  17  me a new camera from the supermarket as a present . Even if my mother wasn’t too happy about what I had  18  , I asked my father if I could take my camera to my  19   so that I could take pictures with my classmates . He agreed and show me how it  20  . It was very easy.
At school I showed it to all my  21  and we took a lot of pictures,  22  they were not too great . The photo with my friends was the worst as I didn’t took Tom’s head ; instead I  23  his sandwich . The boys were interested in my camera ,   24  Daniel who said he had a  25  one with a flashlight . He explained to us that the flashlight helped to take pictures in the  26  but I accused(指责)him of being a liar . Like all boys we started fighting .  27  ,our teacher separated us .After explaining to him the reason of the fight , I   28  him not to take my camera away.
When my parents knew what had happened , they weren’t glad . My mother punished me for being 29   . She took the camera in order to   30  further problems , telling me that for a boy like me the camera was not a good  31   to play with.
To make her  32  about the fight , I took a picture with her and Dad with the film left . In a couple of days Dad  33  the films and brought the photos home , saying I wasn’t good at taking pictures at all . I got  34  and argued that we all learnt from our   35  .

Several years ago I studied in a university in the biggest city in our country. It’s very beautiful, I could read lots of books there and I made lots of friends there. But it’s hot in  11 . So I usually returned to my hometown when my   12  began. It is not big, but it’s cool and quiet. I could   13  in the daytime and have a good sleep at night.
One day I had some problems to solve. But I didn’t take the   14  home. My father told me Charlie, one of my   15 , had a good library. I went to his house at once. We didn’t see each other after I   16  my middle school. At first he didn’t   17  me. He looked me up and down. And then he called out, “Oh, dear! It’s you, Fred! I haven’t seen you for a long time!”
Of course we were   18  to meet each other again and talked a lot about our schoolmates and   19 . We also talked about the interesting things at that time. Later on he showed me around his   20 . It wasn’t big but there were a lot of nice books in it. And the dictionaries I   21  were in it too. At last I said, “Can you   22  some dictionaries to me, please?”
“I’m sorry I don’t lend any books to others,” said the young man.
“Are you afraid I’ll   23  them?”
“No, I’m not. I’m afraid you won’t   24  them to me. Look! All the books in my library are not   25 , but borrowed!”

On the Iraq­Syria border，a pack of wild dogs circled American soldiers for food．The leader of the pack was a gray­and­white dog．The soldiers called him Nubs．Nubs was shaking and __36__ able to stand．Marine major Brian Dennis looked closer and saw that there was a knife wound __37__ his chest．
Dennis couldn’t stand seeing the dog __38__．He and his men immediately treated the wound，and gave Nubs medicine．Nubs__39__but was still in pain．The next day，the team had to__40__．Ten days later，Dennis’s unit was back，and so was Nubs．He was still___41__，but the men fed him and played with him．
Before long the unit once again__42__an outpost (前哨) 70 miles away．Nubs，slowly but determinedly，__43__them far into the trackless wasteland until the men lost__44__of him．Two days later，beyond Dennis’s__45__，he saw Nubs just outside the outpost．The dog had tracked him across 70 miles of frozen desert to__46__with the friend who had saved his life．From then on Nubs and the men slept in the same place，and ran around in the same ruins．
Until an order came down from above that they were not__47__to have pets. Dennis__48__to make sure the dog would continue to live the__49__life．So he quickly raised $4,000 from his family and friends to fly Nubs to__50__．
A month later，when Dennis and the dog were__51__in California，at first Nubs didn’t recognize the guy．__52__within minutes，the dog jumped into Dennis’s arms，jumping up again and again to__53__ his friend’s face．
A little__54__and concern in the middle of war will not save a violent world．But small stories，like the story of a soldier and a dog，hold a promise of a(n) __55__world．

I found out one time that doing a favor for someone could get you into a lot of trouble. I  was  36   the eighth grade at the time, and we were having a final    37  . During the test，the girl  38   next to me whispered something，but I didn’t understand. So I leaned(倾斜) over her way and found out that she was trying to ask me  39 I had an extra pen. She showed me that  40  was out of ink and would not write．I happened to have an extra one，so I took it out of my pocket and put it on her desk．
Later, after the test papers had been  41 the teacher asked me to  42  in the room when all the other students  43   . As soon as we were alone, she began to talk to me about  44  it meant to grow up；she mentioned how important it was to stand  45   your own two feet and be responsible for your own acts. For a long time, she talked about __46 _and emphasized the fact   that when people do something dishonest，they really  47  themselves．She made me promise that I would think  48   about all the things she had said. Then she told me I could   49  . I walked out of the room wondering   40   she had chosen to talk to me about all those things．
Later on，I found out that she thought I had cheated on the test. When she saw me lean over to talk to the gir1 next to me, it looked   51  I was copying answers  52   the girl’s test paper. So I came to find her and tried to explain about the pen, but all she could say was it seemed very strange to her that I hadn’t   53   anything about the pen the day she talked to me right after the test.  54   I tried to explain that I was just doing the girl a favor   55  letting her use my pen, I was sure she continued to believe that I had cheated on the test．

A 12-year-old boy saw something in a shop window that set his heart racing. But the   1  – five dollars was far beyond Reuben Earle’s money. Five dollars would   2  almost a week’s food for his family.
But hearing the sound of hammering (捶打的声音) from a side street, Reuben had a(n)   3 . He ran towards the sound and discovered he could   4  the hessian sacks (麻袋) which were thrown away and sell them for five cents a piece.
Every day   5 , Reuben walked down the town, collecting   6  . On the day the school closed for the summer, no student was more   7 than Reuben, for he had more time for his “work”. Then one day the time had   8 .
Reuben ran down Water Street to the   9  . “Please, Mister. I have to sell the sacks now.” The man took the sacks,   10  into his pocket and placed four coins in Reuben’s hand. Reuben said a thank you and   11  home. On arriving home, Reuben uncovered the tin can   12 he kept the money. He poured the coins out and began to count. He had   13  .
Then he headed for the shop. “I have the money,” he told the owner   14  . The man went to the window and   15  Reuben’s treasure. He wiped the dust off, carefully wrapped (包裹) it in brown paper and   16  it to Reuben.
Racing home, Reuben shouted, “Here, Mom! Here!” He placed a small   17  in her hands. She unwrapped it carefully. A jewel box   18 . Dora lifted the lid (盖子), tears beginning to fill her eyes. Dora had   19  received such a gift; she had no jewelry   20  her wedding ring. Speechless, she smiled and gathered her son into her arms.

There was once a famous king whose name was Tamerlane. Like Alexander the Great, he  _36__ to become the master of the whole world. So he raised a great   _37__ and made war on other countries. He conquered(征服，打败） many kings and   __38__ many cities. But at last his army was beaten; and Tamerlane escaped alone from the field of __39__ .
For a long time he wandered in __40__ from place to place. His enemies were __41__ him. He was about to lose all hope.
One day he was __42__ under a tree, thinking of his failure. He had now been a wanderer for twenty days. He couldn’t __43___ any longer. Suddenly he saw a small object climbing up the trunk (树干) of the tree. He looked more __44__ and saw it was an ant, __45__ a grain of wheat（麦粒）as large as itself.
There was a __46__ in the tree only a little way above, and that was the home of the ant.
“You are __47__, Mr. Ant,” he said, “but you are carrying something that is too heavy for you.” Just as he __48__, the ant lost its footing and fell to the ground. But it __49__ held on to the grain of wheat. Tamerlane  _50__ the little insect. It tried the second time, the third time ... the twentieth time — but always with the same __51__. Then it tried the twenty-first time. __52__, one little step at a time, it climbed across the rough place where it had  __53__ so often. The next minute it climbed __54__ into its home, carrying the grain of wheat. “Well done!” said Tamerlane, “you’ve taught me a lesson. I, too, will try, try again, __55__ I succeed.”
And this he did.