三、完形填空（共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分）

    My parents were busy and usually asked little about school except“How was your day”, and “Have you finished your homework”. It wouldn’t have  36  ,but I was having a problem keeping my   37  up. I knew I needed help, but I wondered how to   38   asking for it.

My teachers had given me three weeks to improve   39   they would call my parents to the school for a parent-teacher conference. After thinking about the problem for some time, I  40   decided I had to tell them about my   41   myself. I came home from school and    42   waiting for my mom to get home to cook dinner, I decided to cook myself. I   43   everything well , so they had to do was walking in and sitting down.

As I had never cooked dinner before, you can imagine how   44   they were when they arrived home. I didn’t explain much then. I  45  told them that I thought we would never have enough time to have a talk 46  I cooked dinner.

That night we sat as a   47   and really talked. We talked about my grades as I  48  for not telling them sooner that I needed help. That night we came together as a   49   family.

My parents later   50   to hire a tutor to help me in the evening after school. The tutor  51  to be really helpful. My grades improved and to my great joy, I  52   pass the tenth grade. Something else came out of such a simple  53  . We learned to listen and understand. My family learned to   54  .

I made a   55   of cooking dinner at least once a week after that night. It gave my mom a break and our family a chance to hear what was going on in everyone’s life.

36. A. minded     B. mattered      C. remembered      D. considered

37. A. marks      B. attitude       C. beliefs           D. goals

38. A. set out      B. get down     C. go about         D. speak out

39. A. before      B. or           C. after            D. and

40.A. silently      B. sadly        C. angrily          D. finally

41. A. choice      B. decision      C. trouble          D. promise

42. A. instead of    B. other than    C. without          D. as well as

43. A. decorated    B. arranged     C. bought          D. cleaned

44. A. disappointed   B. frightened    C. shocked        D. satisfied

45. A. naturally     B. proudly      C. nervously       D. simply

46. A. if           B. even though    C. unless        D. as long as

47. A. group       B. family         C. circle         D. tradition

48. A. apologized    B. prepared       C. waited        D. admitted

49. A. big          B. successful      C. real          D. dependable

50. A. tried         B. managed       C. failed      D. led

51. A. happened     B. seemed        C. proved     D. sounded

52. A. would        B. must          C. had        D. did

53. A. situation      B. lesson         C. example    D. surprise

54. A. share        B. accept          C. express     D. communicate         

55. A. record        B. change         C. point       D. sign