Now you’re a fool for helping. “I don’t want to get involved” seems to have become a national motto. One summer I was driving from my hometown of Tahoe City, California to New Orleans, Louisiana. In the middle of the desert, I passed a young man standing by the roadside. He had his  ?   out and held a gas can in his other hand. I drove right by him. There was a time  ?  you’d be called a jerk (混蛋) for passing by somebody ?? .

?? Several days later I was still  ?   about the hitchhiker (搭便车的人), about how I didn’t even lift my foot  ?   the accelerator (加速踏板) for him. “Does anyone stop any more?” I wondered. I recalled Blanche DuBois’s famous line—”I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.” Was that  ?   these days? One way to test this would be for a person to journey  ?   the US without any money, just  ?   on the good will of others. What would happen? Would he find food, shelter and support?

?? The idea intrigued (激起兴趣) me.

?? The week I  ?   37, I realized that I had never done something truly crazy.  ?   I decided to really do it: travel from the Pacific to the Atlantic without a penny. I would only accept  ?   of rides, food and places to sleep. For six weeks I hitched 82 rides and covered 4,223 miles across 14 states. I was treated kindly  ?   I went. I was  ?   by people’s readiness to help a stranger.

   ? In Oregon, a house painter named Mike  ?   the cold weather and asked if I had a coat. I didn’t, so he gave me a big green army-style jacket. A lumber-mill worker in Michigan named Tim invited me to a  ?   dinner with his family in their shabby house. Then he offered me a tent. I refused, but Tim insisted, packing it into my bag himself. I found people were generally compassionate. Hearing I had no money and would take none, people bought me food or  ?   with them whatever they happened to have. Those who had the  ?   to give often gave the most.

?? I’m  ?   to all the people I met for their rides, their food, their shelter and their gifts. My faith in ordinary folks was  ? . I was proud to live in a country where people were still willing to help. In spite of everything, you can still depend on the  ?   of strangers.

1.A. thumb    ?? B. finger       ?????? C. foot         ????????? D. hand

2.A. that ????  ? B. where      ?????? C. which      ???????? D. when

3.A. in danger     B. in need      ????? C. in trouble   ??????? D. in favor

4.A. worrying   ? B. considering  ???? C. bringing     ??????? D. thinking

5.A. off          ?? B. on          ??????? C. away         ???????? D. from

6.A. interesting   B. possible     ????? C. necessary      ?????? D. important

7.A. across   ??? B. through     ????? C. in      ???????????? D. over

8.A. basing   ??? B. relying    ??????? C. insisting   ???????? D. relating

9.A. seemed   ?? B. got      ????????? C. became   ????????? D. turned

10.A. But        ?? B. So    ??????????? C. And   ???????????  D. Howeve

11.A. jobs   ????? B. supplies      ????? C. helps           ?????? D. offers

12.A. nowhere  ?? B. everywhere ????   C. anywhere  ??????  D. somewhere

13.A. frightened ?  B. annoyed   ?????? C. disappointed  ????? D. amazed

14.A. noted  ????  B. saw           ?????  C. felt           ?    ???? D. sensed

15.A. simple   ??? B. rich            ????? C. delicious  ????????  D. interesting

16.A. supplied ??  B. offered  ???????  C. shared    ?????????? D. provided

17.A. fewest  ???  B. most    ????????? C. least   ??????????? D. best

18.A. careful  ???  B. grateful   ?????? C. hopeful   ?????????? D. helpful

19.A. created   ??? B. reminded   ????? C. renewed   ????????? D. returned

20.A. kindness ??  B. happiness      ??  C. fairness  ??????????  D. brightness

My school makes students take one religion (宗教) class every year. But religion is really hard, especially with Mr Frank Smith for a teacher.
Mr Smith is 55 years old, with grey hair and a moustache (胡子). He always wears a blue school T-shirt, shorts and tennis shoes with long white socks. My friends say he looks like a cat.
In his class, we did yoga (瑜珈) and meditation (冥想) (actually most of the children in my class lay on the ground sleeping), tasted some strange tea, had classes outside in the garden, and watched videos and movies about Tibetan Buddhism (藏传佛教), God, and so on.
It was fun sometimes. However, the course (课程) was quite hard when it came to tests. The girls often worked until one or two o'clock in the morning on nights before the tests, but they still got bad scores.
When our test scores were bad, he would give us some makeup assignments (补考作业). Once I got a B, which I thought was bad, so I asked Mr Smith for an assignment to bring up my grades.
As a matter of fact, his assignments were often worse than the tests. The tests were just a lot of multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blanks, or short essays (文章). But his assignments usually included a speech in class.
I was not afraid of public speaking, yet it took me three days to collect the information, two days to write the speech, one day to make a PowerPoint and several hours to prepare. I knew my presentation (课堂展示) was good, because I saw Mr Smith's big smile when he listened to me. He gave me an A at last.
After finishing the course, I may not remember how hard it was or the meaning of some vocabulary. But through Mr Smith, I learned a lesson that will be with me my whole life. That is: no matter what we do, we need to put our hearts into it, and then our work will pay off.
【小题1】The religion class is hard because Mr Smith _______.

B
About a year ago, I went to stay at a Detroit hotel. I didn’t want to carry too much money with me, so I asked the desk clerk to put a hundred- dollar bill in the safe for me.
The next morning, however, the clerk said he knew nothing about my money. I didn’t have any proof that I had given the man the money. There was nothing I could do but go to the nearest lawyer.
The lawyer advised me to return to the hotel with him and give another hundred-dollar bill to the clerk. This I did. An hour later, I went back to the desk and asked for my money. Since I had the lawyer as an eyewitness to the second hundred-dollar bill, the clerk could not say he knew nothing about it.
Another hour later, I put the second part of the lawyer’s plan into action. This time both the lawyer and I went to the hotel. I asked for the hundred-dollar bill once again, and when the clerk insisted he had already given it to me, I denied（否认）it. The lawyer said to him, “I saw this gentleman give you a hundred dollars. If you don’t hand it over immediately, I’ll be forced to call the police.”
The clerk realized he had been tricked, so he gave me back the first hundred-dollar bill.
“I don’t know how to thank you enough for getting my money back,” I said to the lawyer. And what you suppose he answered?
He said, “Oh, don’t thank me. That will be a hundred dollars, please.”
60. The man went to a Detroit hotel one day to___________.
A. get his money back                    B. put a hundred-dollar bill in the safe
C. ask to be a desk clerk             D. stay for the night
61. The hotel clerk at last returned the first hundred-dollar bill to the man because _________.
A. he knew the lawyer’s plan very well  
B. he found the lawyer tricking him
C. he didn’t want to get into trouble with the police  
D. he wanted to give the man a surprise
62. Which of the following statements is true?
A. The man didn’t get his 200 dollars back.
B. The lawyer was happy that the man got both his bills back.
C. The lawyer asked for 100 dollars.
D. The man thanked the lawyer by paying him some money.
63．The man was _______.
A. wise             B. foolish          C. happy           D. sad

He gave me some very _____ advice on buying a house.

　　A. precious    B. worthy    C. precise    D. valuable

（2011·浙江卷）完形填空

Although I love my life, it hasn’t been a lot of fun as I’ve been ill for 28 years.

Music has always been a great love of mine and, in my 20s, when my   21   was more manageable , I   22   ten years as a professional singer in restaurants, playing and singing folk songs.   23    that was years ago and times have changed.   24    I live with mother on a country farm.

Two years ago, I decided that I would need to have some kind of extra work to   25   my disability pension (残疾抚恤金).   26   I needed to sleep in the afternoons,  I was limited in my   27   . I decided that I would consider  28     to singing in restaurants.

My family are all musicians, so I was   29  when I went into our local music store. I explained that I wanted to sing again but using recorded karaoke music. I knew that discs were very expensive and I really didn’t have a lot of   30    to get started. And 31   you find only three to four songs out of ten on a disc that you can   32   use.

When I told the owner of the shop about my   33   ; he gave me a long thoughtful    34   . “This means a lot to you, doesn’t it?” he said. “Come with me.”

He led me   35   the crowded shop and to a bench with a large professional karaoke box on it. He placed his large hand  36   on his treasure and said, “I have 800 karaoke songs in here. You can take your  37   and I’ll record them for you. That should get you started.”

I   38   . Thanking him, I made a time with him to listen to all the songs and choose   39  that I could sing. I have come full circle with his help.

His   40  still warms my heart and makes me do just that bit extra, when I have the chance.

21. A. loneliness           B. sadness                   C. tiredness                 D. sickness

22. A. set                     B. enjoyed                    C. kept                        D. shared

23. A. Gladly                B. Eventually                C. Unfortunately           D. Surprisingly

24. A. Now                  B. Then                       C. Sometime                D. Meanwhile

25. A. add up to            B. make up for             C. get rid of                 D. take advantage of

26. A. If                             B. As                          C. Though                  D. Before

27. A. movement                B. condition                 C. choices                   D. positions

28. A. reaching out       B. living up                  C. getting on                D. going back

29. A. recognized          B. interviewed              C. found                      D. invited

30. A. money                      B. time                        C. energy                     D. knowledge

31. A. thus                   B. once                        C. seldom                    D. often

32. A. actually              B. hardly                      C. nearly                      D. formerly

33. A. job                     B. family                      C. idea                        D. offer

34. A. face                   B. view                        C. look                        D. sight

35. A. over                   B. along                       C. towards                   D. through

36. A. unhappily           B. lovingly                   C. pitifully                    D. gratefully

37. A. pick                   B. turn                         C. role                         D. step

38. A. had to cry          B. ought to cry                   C. should have cried     D. could have cried

39. A. more                 B. the ones                   C. few                         D. the rest

40. A. courage              B. devotion                  C. kindness                  D. trust