One of the worst feelings you have as a professional athlete is the feeling after losing a game to a team that you should have beaten. That happened last night against the lowly Boston Celtics (波士顿凯尔特人队). They had only won 13 games the whole year and were really struggling. We had just come off a very good win against the Orlando Magic on the road and were feeling good about ourselves.

The day did not start out good for us when we learned that T-Mac was going to miss the game with the flu. When you lose your best players (Yao, T-Mac), everyone must play a little harder and do a little bit more on the floor. We put Bonzi Wells into the lineup (he was the only one to have a good game for us), in place of T-Mac.

It was a nasty game. We are usually one of the best three point shooting teams in the NBA and we only made 1 of 22 three point shots! I have never seen that happen. Never! Rarer Alston, Luther Head, and I combined to shoot 5 of 33 from the field. Ouch! You aren’t going to win too many games like that. Even as poorly as we shot the ball, we still had a chance to win the game in the fourth quarter but failed to make the winning plays that you must make to leave the floor victorious.

In the locker-room after the game, everybody felt terrible. When we play a bad game, we feel that we let our teammates down. There is a bad feeling in the pit of your stomach when you leave the gym and you just want to go home and not talk to anyone. It is a terrible feeling, but it is a feeling that makes you want to try harder and do better the next time.

I’ll talk to you guys later,

Shane

P.S. One of my Chinese friends has alerted me that there is some controversy about this blog. I can assure you that I write 100% of my blogs and no one writes them for me. The pictures that I post are my pictures and these are my words. Thanks for reading my stones. I hope you have been enjoying them!

51. What is the passage mainly about?

       A. To blame the team for losing the game.

       B. To tell the readers about the feeling after losing the game.

       C. To explain why they played poorly in the game.

       D. To blame Yao Ming and T-Mac for being absent from the game.

52. What can you learn from the text?

       A. The Boston Celtics is one of the top teams in the NBA.

       B. The Boston Celtics had a big win over the writer’s team.

       C. Every one of them played poorly with no energy.

       D. Bonzi Wells started in the game with T-Mac out.

53. How do you think the writer might describe his performance that night?

       A. Tough.           B. Relaxing.          C. Terrible.           D. Efficient.

54. The text most probably comes from the writer’s        .

       A. blog                 B. telephone message C. note                  D. interview

This is a story of a man who works in a big factory. He was a little bit strange, I think. A little bit short. A little bit dirty. He always wore an old red hat and he always carried a rubbish bag. He usually spent his break time and his lunchtime by walking around in that old big factory to collect the unused tins scattered around the place.

I have been following him for years and years, does not matter it is hot or cold. I followed him whenever he walks to his old pick-up car in a very cold weather when the snow fell down onto the earth.

I saw him there, with a lot of rubbish bags, which were full of tins. He threw them into the back of his car then he got into the car. After that, I got into my car as well and we were raced until we reached the exit door of this wide, empty parking area.

Today, I was fixing one of the broken machines in the factory when this “tin man” came with his bag. As usual, he picked up the tins. My manager was standing there to watch me. He was worried about the delay caused by the machine that could affect the production in the factory.

When I finished my job, I heard my manager asked the “tin man” about what he was going to do with those tins that he had collected. I never even thought about this kind of question, because I always had an assumption that this “tin man” would destroy those tins in the recycled place.

Unexpectedly, this “tin man” answered, “I will give these tins to my neighbor; he had epilepsy（癫痫）and he can not work. ”

I was so shocked to hear that, so I asked him, “You mean you collect all those tins just to help your neighbor?”

“I know this does not help much”, he said. “But I give everything to him, because he can not work. He has a lot of weaknesses. ”

Right in that factory, I found myself slapped in front of Jesus. This “tin man” who only wore a T-shirt and an old red hat and carried a rubbish bag, which were full of tins, has made an evident (显然) of Christ.

It was the most beautiful moment in my life, which had made me humble (谦恭的) every day in my lifetime.

“Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

1. The author never asked the “tin man” what he would do with the tins because _________.

A. the tin man was a little bit strange, short and dirty

B. the author knew what he would do with the tins

C. the author had been following him for years and years

D. the author considered him an ordinary tin collector

2. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A. The author raced his car with the tin man for the parking place.

B. The tin man collected abandoned tins to help his sick neighbor.

C. The tin man’s neighbor depended completely on him for life.

D. The manager was worried that the tin man would delay the production.

3. What does the underlined sentence in the passage mean?

A. The author was slapped in front of Jesus so he felt humble every day in his lifetime.

B. The author felt humble because he had never found a man who made an evident of Christ.

C. It was a moment when the author felt regretful because he had rejected the tin man.

D. It was a beautiful moment when the author realized he should be humble to others in his lifetime.

4. Which of the following sayings best suits the lesson of the story?

A. Never judge a book by its cover. 　

B. A candle lights others and consumes itself.

C. A fall into a pit, a gain in your wit.

D. Every man is the architect of his own fortune.

The day was Thankful Thursday, our “ regular day” of service. It’s a __36__tradition that my two little girls and I began years ago. On this __37__ Thursday, we had no idea exactly what we were going to do.
__38__ along a busy road, we prayed for guidance in search of __39__our weekly Act of Kindness. My girls were__40__, and started shouting “ McDonald’s” . Suddenly I realized that almost every crossing I__41__ was occupied by a beggar, and then it hit me! All these beggars must be hungry. Perfect! We were going to buy__42__for them.
It was a great way to__43__. The Act of Kindness was anonymous(匿名的)，and we loved what we saw in the back view mirror: a__44__and delighted person holding up his lunch bag and just looking at us__45__we drove off.
We had come to the end of our “ route” where there was a small woman standing there, asking for__46__. We handed her our final lunch bag, and then made a U-turn to head back in the opposite direction for home. Unfortunately, the light stopped us. I was __47__and didn’t know quite how to behave.
“No one has ever done anything like this for me before,” the woman said with__48__. I replied, “Well, I’m glad that we were the first one.”__49__ uneasy , and wanting to move the conversation along, I asked, “So, when do you think you’ll eat your lunch?”
“Oh honey, I’m not going to__50__this lunch.” I was confused , and she continued , “I have a little girl of my own at home and she just __51__ McDonald’s , but I can never buy it for her because I just don’t have the __52__ . You know what… tonight she is going to have McDonald’s !”
So many times I had__53__whether our Acts of Kindness were too small or insignificant to really__54__any difference . Yet in that moment, I recognized the__55__of Mother Teresa’s words, “We cannot do great things---only small things with great love.”

I grew up poor – living with six brothers, my father and a wonderful mother．We had   26  money and few worldly goods, but plenty of love and attention．I was   27   and energetic．I understood that no matter how poor a person was, they could   28   afford a dream．
My dream was to be a   29 ．When I was sixteen, I could crush a baseball, throw a ninety – mile – per – hour fastball．I was also   30  : my high – school coach was Ollie Jarvis, who   31  me the difference between having a dream and showing strong belief．One particular   32  with him changed my life forever．
It was a summer and a friend recommended me for a summer 33 ．This meant a chance for my first income – cash for a new bike and new clothes, and the   34  of savings for a house for my mother．The opportunity was attracting, and I wanted to   35   at it．
Then I realized I would have to   36   summer baseball to handle the work schedule, and that meant I would have to tell Coach Jarvis I wouldn’t be playing．I was   37   about this．
When I told Coach Jarvis, he was as  38  as I expected him to be．“You have your whole life to work,” he said．“Your   39  days are limited．You can’t afford to waste them．”
I stood before him with my head   40  , trying to think of how to explain to him why my dream of buying my mom a house and having money in my pocket was worth  41   his disappointment in me．
“How much are you going to make at this job?” he demanded．
“$ 3．25 an hour,” I replied．
“Well, is $ 3．25 an hour the price of a   42  ?” he asked．
That   43  laid bare for me the difference between wanting something right now and having a goal．I devoted myself to   44   that summer, and within the year I was offered a $ 20,000 contract．I signed with the Denver Broncos in 1984 for $ 1．7 million, and bought my mother the   45  of my dreams．

Forty-three years seems like a long time to remember the name of a person．I have forgotten the name of an old lady who was a（n）  36  on my paper route when I was a twelve-year-old boy．Yet it seems like just yesterday that she taught me a lesson in   37 ．One afternoon, a friend and I were  38  rocks onto the roof of the old lady’s house  39  her backyard．The object of our play was to observe how the rocks changed to missiles as they   40  to the roof’s edge and shot out into the   41 ．
I found myself a perfectly smooth rock and sent it for a ride．The stone was too smooth, however, so it   42  from my hand as I let it go and headed   43  for a small window on the old lady’s back wall．
I was too scared about getting   44  that first night to be concerned about the old lady with the broken window．However, a few days later,   45  I was sure that I hadn’t been discovered, I started to feel   46  for her misfortune．
I made up my mind that I would   47  my paper delivery money, and in three weeks I had the seven dollars that I   48  would cover the cost of her window．I put the money in an envelope with a（n）  49  explaining that I was sorry for breaking her window and hoped that the seven dollars would cover the   50  for repairing it．
I waited until it was dark, then put the envelope through the letter slot in her door．
The next day, I   51  the old lady her paper and was able to   52  the warm smile that I was   53  her．She thanked me for the paper and said, “Here, I have something for you．” It was a bag of cookies．I thanked her and ate the cookies as I   54  my route．
After several cookies, I   55  an envelope．When I opened the envelope, I was shocked．Inside was the seven dollars and a short note that said, “I’m proud of you．”