How often one hears children wishing they were grown-ups and old people wishing they were young again. Each age has its pleasures and its pains, and the happiest person is the one who enjoys what each age gives him without wasting his time in useless regrets.
Childhood is a time when there are few responsibilities to make life difficult. If a child has good parents, he is fed, looked after and loved, whatever he may do. It is impossible that he will ever again in his life be given so much without having to do anything in return. What’s more, life is always presenting new things to the child — things that have lost their interest for older people because they are too well-known. But a child has his parents. He is not so free to do what he wishes to do; he is continually being told not to do things or being punished for what he has done wrong.
When the young man starts to earn his own living, he can no longer expect others to pay for his food, his clothes, and his room, but has to work if he wants to live comfortably. If he spends most of his time playing about in the way that he used to as a child, he will go hungry. And if he breaks the laws of society as he used to break the laws of his parents, he may go to prison. If, however, he works hard, keeps out of trouble and has good health, he can have the great happiness of building up for himself his own position in society.
【小题1】According to the second paragraph, the writer thinks that __.

Years later, I began ______ what he told me right.

1. A.
   knowing
2. B.
   to know
3. C.
   recognize
4. D.
   to recognize

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从21～40各题所给的四个选项（A.B.C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题纸上将该选项标号涂黑。
The subway train moved back and forth, its wheels producing more loud sounds than ever against the tracks. Outside the window was just the  21  cold of winter. The carriage was filled with frozen self-centered, bored  22 .
Suddenly a little boy  23  his way in between grown-up legs.  24  his father stayed by the door, the boy sat next to the window, surrounded by  25 , half-awake adults. What a brave child, I thought. As the train entered a tunnel (隧洞), something totally  26  happened. The little boy slid down from his seat and put his  27  on my knee. For a moment, I thought that he wanted to go  28  me and returned to his father, so I moved a bit. But instead of moving on, the boy held his  29  up towards me. He wanted to tell me something, I thought. I  30  to listen to what he had to say. Wrong  31 ! He kissed me softly on the cheek.
Then he returned to his  32 , settled down and cheerfully started looking out of the window. But I was  33. What happened? A kid kissing an unknown grown-up on the train? To my amazement, the kid  34  to kiss all my neighbors. 
Nervous and puzzled, we looked questioningly at his father. “He’s so happy to be  35 .” the father said. “He’s been very sick.”
The train stopped and the father and son got down and  36  into the crowd. The doors closed. On my cheek I could still  37  the child’s kiss -- a kiss that had caused  38  soul-searching. How many grown-ups go around kissing each other  39  the joy of being alive? How many even give much thought to the privilege of living? What would happen  40  we all just started being ourselves?
The little boy has given us a sweet but serious lesson: Don’t let yourself die before your heart stops!

A friend of mine named Paul received an expensive car from his brother as a Christmas present. On Christmas Eve when Paul came out of his office, a street urchin （顽童） was walking around the shining car. “Is this your car, Paul?” he asked.
Paul answered, “Yes, my brother gave it to me for Christmas.” The boy was surprised. “You mean your brother gave it to you and it cost you nothing? Boy, I wish…” He hesitated.
Of course Paul knew what he was going to wish for. He wished he had a brother like that. But what the boy said surprised Paul greatly.
“I wish,” the boy went on, “that I could be a brother like that.” Paul looked at the boy in surprise, and then he said again, “Would you like to take a ride in my car?”
“Oh yes, I’d love that.”
After a short ride, the boy turned and with his eyes shining, said, “Paul, would you mind driving in front of my house?”
Paul smiled a little. He thought he knew what the boy wanted. He wanted to show his neighbors that he could ride home in a big car. But Paul was wrong again．“Will you stop where those two steps are?” the boy asked.
He ran up to the steps. Then in a short while Paul heard him coming back, but he was not coming fast. He was carrying his little crippled （残疾） brother. He sat him down on the step and pointed to the car.
“There she is, Buddy, just like I told you upstairs. His brother gave it to him for Christmas and it didn’t cost him a cent. And some day I’m going to give you one just like it… Then you can see for yourself all the nice things in the Christmas window that I’ve been trying to tell you about.”
Paul got out and lifted the boy to the front seat of his car. The shining-eyed older brother climbed in and the three of them began an unforgettable holiday ride.
【小题1】The street urchin was very surprised when __________.