One cold winter night, a fox woke up from his sleep. Feeling very   41  , he looked out of his foxhole to see what the weather was like. It had stopped   42   but now everything outside was white and frozen, and very   43   indeed.

He reached the   44   and was happy to find that only   45   of the lake was frozen. So he sat at the edge of the frozen part and lapped up(畅饮)the water.

When he was ready to leave, he had a   46   . His lovely red tail was frozen and stuck to the ice! He could have   47   really hard and he would have been   48   . But he didn’t want to lose the beautiful white hairs at the   49   of his tail. He loved his tail very much.

“I’ll wait for a while,” thought the fox. “Maybe the ice will thaw(解冻)soon and then my tail will be free again.” he was not   50   at all. The men were still asleep and he was safe before   51  .

The fox sat on the ice   52  . Soon the sky started to get lighter. He looked at his tail but now the whole tail was   53   to the ice! The poor fox was frightened now.   54   it was dawn, the men would come to the lake and they liked to   55   foxes.

Some people were coming towards the lake! He was terrified but he couldn’t   56  . A wolf ran past at that time and the fox called out to him for   57  . The wolf looked at the fox’s tail. He knew how to   58   the poor fox. He went up to the fox and bit off his tail   59  .

The hesitating fox had lost his whole beautiful red tail just   60   he had not wanted to lose a few white hairs on the tip.

I’ve often puzzled over something that happened to me one winter when I was eight. Over the years I had been wondering if my   31   was nothing more than a kid’s imagination.

   There was a   32   near our house. In winter it was the greatest   33   place in the world. One   34   all I wanted to do was go skating. I had been waiting for weeks   35   the water was frozen solid. Mom had one rule: “Never ice-skate alone.” But I couldn’t   36   any longer that afternoon. So I   37   my skates under my coat and ran to the pond. Several people were skating near the shore, and some kids were playing hockey. I was not really  38  .

The hockey game had attracted   39   audience, so I skated in the other direction until their cheering   40  . But another noise came soon. The ice was cracking beneath me. Freezing water   41   my body, and I sank like a rock.  My feet   42   the bottom. Just when I thought I wouldn’t last another   43  , I felt a tap on my shoulder. “Don’t worry,” someone said. I swung my   44   around. I couldn’t see anybody. But I heard the voice again，“Push your feet into the bottom and you’ll shoot straight up to the surface.” I did as I was told and   45  . I crawled to the shore and lay down,   46  . The next thing I knew was people were   47   around me, covering me with coats.

When I awoke, I was home in my own bed. Mom sat next to me,   48   my hand. “I saw nobody there. It must be an angel that came to my  49  .” I said. Mom smiled, “I just thank God you’re safe.”

    For a long time I thought I would   50   a more realistic explanation if I just thought hard, but I never did.

1.A. attention      B. behavior                C. explanation       D. reason

2.A. river              B. pond                           C. lake                              D. dam

3.A. skating            B. fishing                           C. swimming                     D. skiing

4.A. afternoon      B. morning                    C. evening                     D. night

5.A. after              B. until                              C. as                          D. if

6.A. go            B. run                  C. sit                            D. wait

7.A. found            B. threw                        C. took                        D. hid

8.A. lonely             B. single                            C. alone                       D. afraid

9.A. noisy              B. happy                     C. small                         D. young

10.A. changed        B. disappeared                 C. increased       D. stopped

11.A. filled         B. controlled              C. covered          D. loaded

12.A. hit          B. dragged                 C. set                            D. tapped

13.A. day          B. hour                          C. minute                       D. second

14.A. head      B. hand                     C. arm                         D. leg

15.A. left                  B. succeeded           C. tried             D. survived

16.A. worried       B. surprised                   C. excited             D. exhausted

17.A. lying         B. standing                       C. laughing           D. crawling

18.A. raising            B. shaking                     C. holding                     D. washing

19.A. place                   B. mind                     C. defense                      D. rescue

20.A. take up         B. make up with      C. bring up                   D. come up with

I’ve often puzzled over something that happened to me one winter when I was eight. Over the years I had been wondering if my  31  was nothing more than a kid’s imagination.

   There was a  32  near our house. In winter it was the greatest  33  place in the world. One  34  all I wanted to do was go skating. I had been waiting for weeks  35  the water was frozen solid. Mom had one rule: “Never ice-skate alone.” But I couldn’t  36  any longer that afternoon. So I  37  my skates under my coat and ran to the pond. Several people were skating near the shore, and some kids were playing hockey．I was not really  38  ．

The hockey game had attracted   39  audience, so I skated in the other direction until their cheering  40  . But another noise came soon. The ice was cracking beneath me. Freezing water  41   my body, and I sank like a rock.  My feet  42   the bottom. Just when I thought I wouldn’t last another  43 , I felt a tap on my shoulder. “Don’t worry,” someone said. I swung my  44  around. I couldn’t see anybody. But I heard the voice again，“Push your feet into the bottom and you’ll shoot straight up to the surface.” I did as I was told and  45 . I crawled to the shore and lay down,  46  ．The next thing I knew was people were   47    around me, covering me with coats.   

When I awoke, I was home in my own bed. Mom sat next to me,   48  my hand. “I saw nobody there. It must be an angel that came to my  49  ．” I said. Mom smiled, “I just thank God you’re safe.”

    For a long time I thought I would  50  a more realistic explanation if I just thought hard, but I never did.

1.A. attention   B. behavior        C. explanation          D. reason

2.A. river      B. pond         C. lake                 D. dam

3.A. skating    B. fishing      C. swimming         D. skiing

4.A. afternoon B. morning      C. evening              D. night

5.A. after          B. until        C. as                   D. if

6. A. go        B. run          C. sit                  D. wait

7.A. found      B. threw            C. took                 D. hid

8.A. lonely     B. single       C. alone                D. afraid

9.A. noisy      B. happy        C. small                D. young

10. A. changed      B. disappeared      C. increased            D. stopped

11.A. filled        B. controlled       C. covered         D. loaded

12.A. hit       B. dragged      C. set              D. tapped

13.A. day       B. hour         C. minute               D. second

14.A. head      B. hand         C. arm                  D. leg

15.A. left          B．succeeded   C. tried           D. survived

16.A. worried       B. surprised        C. excited          D. exhausted

17.A. lying         B. standing     C. laughing        D. crawling

18.A. raising       B. shaking      C. holding          D. washing

19.A. place     B. mind         C. defense              D. rescue

20.A. take up   B. make up with     C. bring up             D. come up with