"Just sign here, sir," the deliveryman said as he handed Oscar Reyna a package.
The package consisted of a long, narrow box 21 wrapped in brown paper. 22 the box, Oscar saw an umbrella inside — a very old one with a beautifully carved wooden handle. 23 he had not seen it in more than 20 years, he recognized it 24 .
Oscar was 16 when he first saw the 25 umbrella. He had gone to a concert with his grandparents. As they were leaving, h noticed an umbrella on an empty seat, impressed by its 26 , Oscar felt a strong desire to find its 27 .
Oscar 28 the manager to look in the record of advance ticket sales. Just as he thought, a name matched the seat 29 Oscar had found the umbrella. The name was Mrs. Katie O'Brien.
Oscar talked his grandparents into going by Mrs. O'Brien's 30 on their way home. He rang the bell, the door opened, and an elderly woman appeared. "May I   31  you?" she asked.
"I'd like to return it if it's yours," Oscar said, 32 the umbrella as if presenting a 33 that had long been wished for.
"Why, yes! It's mine," replied Mrs. O'Brien with a 34 smile and shining eyes. "It was given to me by my father years ago. Thank you so much for returning it. May I offer you a reward for your __35_ ?"
"No, ma'am," he said, "My grandmother says that a good deed is its own reward. "
"Well, that's 36 what my father used to say. What is your name, young man?"
Years later Oscar was staring at the finely carved handle of the umbrella as he remembered Mrs. O'Brien. It was in perfect condition, considering how 37 it was. Why had it arrived here today?
As if 38 , a note fell from the paper. It reads: Mrs. O'Brien wanted to 39 this umbrella as a present for a kind, 40. gesture long ago.

“ Just sign here, sir,” the deliveryman said as he handed Oscar Reyna a packet.

The package consisted of a long, narrow box   36  wrapped in brown paper.   37  the box, Oscar saw an umbrella inside—a very old one with a beautifully carved wooden handle.   38  he had not seen it in more than 20 years, he recognized it   39 .

Oscar was 16 when he first saw the   40  umbrella. He had gone to a concert with his grandparents. As they were leaving, he noticed an umbrella on an empty seat. Impressed by its   41  Oscar felt a strong desire to find its   42 .

Oscar   43  the manager to look in the record of advance ticket sales. Just as he thought, a man matched the seat   44  Oscar had found the umbrella. The name was Mrs. Katie O’Brien.

Oscar talked his grandparents into going by Mrs. O’Brien   45  on their way home. He rang the bell, the door opened, and an elderly woman appeared. “May I   46  you?” she asked.

“I’d like to return it if it’s yours,” Oscar said,   47  the umbrella as if presenting a   48  that had long been wished for.

“ Why, yes ! It’s mine,” replied Mrs. O’Brien with a   49  smile and shining eyes. “It was given to me by my father years ago. Thank you so much for returning it. May I offer you a reward for your   50 ?

“No, ma’ma, ”he said , “My grandmother says that a good deed is its own reward.”

“Well, that’s   51  what my father used to say. What is your name, young man?”

Years later Oscar was staring at the finely carved handle of the umbrella as he remembered Mrs. O’ Brien. It was in perfect condition, considering how   52  it was. Why had it arrived here today?

As if   53  , a note fell from the paper. It read：Mrs. O’Brien wanted you to   54  this umbrella as a present for a kind,   55  gesture long ago.

1.                A．strictly         B．carefully        C．roughly   D．casually

2.                A．Opening        B．Seizing         C．Observing D．Searching

3.                A．After          B．When          C．Since D．Although

4.                A．clearly         B．fully           C．immediately   D．suddenly

5.                A．average        B．unusual         C．plain D．typical

6.                A．beauty         B．shape          C．origin    D．history

7.                A．designer        B．seller          C．user D．owner

8.                A．convinced      B．forced          C．encouraged   D．advised

9.                A．until           B．before         C．which    D．where

10.               A．family          B．theatre         C．house D．neighborhood

11.               A．invite          B．help           C．bother    D．know

12.               A．putting up      B．turning out      C．picking up D．holding out

13.               A．chance         B．fact            C．gift   D．result

14.               A．wide           B．confident       C．proud D．shy

15.               A．patience        B．kindness        C．courage   D．determination

16.               A．obviously       B．naturally        C．exactly    D．probably

17.               A．old            B．rare           C．precious   D．nice

18.               A．in contrast      B．in return        C．in exchange    D．in answer

19.               A．possess        B．accept         C．carry D．value

20.               A．attractive       B．significant       C．unselfish  D．sympathetic

Sarah came running in．"Look what I found．" Over the top of the paper I was reading came a crispy long object that caused me to jump．It was a snake skin that had been shed by one of our many garden snakes．

"Isn't it beautiful?" said my wide-eyed seven-year-old．

I stared at the organic wrapper and thought to myself that it really wasn't that beautiful, but I have learned never to appear uninterested with children．They see only good quality and excellence in the world until educated otherwise．

"Why does it do this?" Sarah asked．

"Snakes shed their skin because they need to renew themselves," I explained．"Why do they need to renew themselves?" Sarah asked．

I suddenly remembered an article on this page many years ago where the writer was expressing her concept of renewal．She used layers of paper over a wall to describe how we hide our original selves, and said that by peeling away those layers one by one, we see the original beneath．"We often need to shed our skins and those coatings that we cover ourselves with," I said to my now absorbed daughter．" We outgrow some things and find other ones unwanted or unnecessary．Tills snake no longer needs this skin．It is probably too crinkly （起皱的） for him, and he probably doesn't think he looks as smart in it as he once did．"

Sarah was getting the point．As we talked, I knew that she began to understand, although slightly, that renewal is part of progress; that we need to take a good look at ourselves, our rooms, schoolwork and creativity, and see what we need to keep and what we need to cast off．I was careful to point out that this is a natural consequence of their growth．

" I see, Dad," said Sarah and jumped off my lap and ran off．

I hoped she would remember this．That often, in order to find our real selves underneath the layers of community and culture with which we cover ourselves year after year, we need to start examining these layers．We need to gently peel some away, as we recognize them to be worthless or unnecessary; or at best, store the ones thrown away as mementoes （念想） of our promotion to a better vitality or spirit．

57．At the first sight of the snake skin, the author was ______．

      A．scared         B．puzzled       C．uninterested         D．excited

58．Sarah learned from her father that renewal is ______．

      A．to recover the layers inside        B．to review what has been done

      C．a natural part of getting mature D．the process of finding the unwanted

59．It can be inferred from the passage that the author ______．

      A．dislikes the snake skin at all        B．shows concern for nature and culture

      C．can grasp the chance to educate children

      D．often encourages his daughter to raise questions

60．The author mainly tells the reader that ______．

      A．snakes cast off the layers to look smarter

      B．we should renew ourselves to get improved

      C．snakes shed their skins to renew themselves

      D．we should explore our original nature underneath

"Hey, Dad," one of my kids asked the other day, "what was your favourite fast food when you were growing up?"

"We didn't have fast food when I was growing up," I informed him．"All the food was slow．" "Where did you eat?" "It was a place called 'at home'．" I explained．"Grandma cooked every day and when Grandpa got home from work, we sat down together at the dining table, and if I didn't like what she put on my plate I was allowed to sit there until I liked it．"

Some parents never owned their own houses, set foot on a golf course, travelled out of the country or had a credit card．

My parents have never driven me to soccer practice．This was mostly because we never had heard of soccer．I had a bicycle that weighed probably 50 pounds, and only had one speed．We didn't have a television in our house until I was 11．I was 13 when I tasted my first pizza; it was called "pizza pie"．When I bit into it, I burned the roof of my mouth and the cheese slid off, swung down, plastered（粘贴）itself against my chin and burned that, too．It's still the best pizza I ever had．

I delivered newspapers, six days a week ．The paper cost 7 cents, of which I got to keep 2 cents．I had to get up at 4:00 a．m．every morning．On Saturday, I had to collect the 42 cents from my customers．My favourite customers were the ones who gave me 50 cents and told me to keep the change．

If you grew up in a generation before there was fast food, you may want to share some of these memories with your children or grandchildren．

Growing up isn't what it used to be, is it?

1.By saying "All the food was slow", the writer implies that ____．

A．when he was growing up, he never ate fast food

B．he didn't like fast food when he was growing up

C．his grandma made food slowly

D．he had to wait for a long time for the fast food

2.When the writer didn't like the food his grandma cooked when he was growing up, _______．

A．his grandma would make something he liked

B．his grandma would buy him fast food

C．he would sit there waiting for his favourite pizza pie

D．he had to eat it or go without

3.The writer's purpose of writing this passage is to _____.

A．tell his children there was no fast food in the past

B．tell us that life has been changing

C．tell us how hard it is to deliver newspapers

D．made us understand the meaning of life