Recently I gave my adult students homework. It was “go to someone you love and tell them you love them.” It has to be someone you have never said those words to before or at least haven’t shared those words with for a long time.
It sounds like very tough homework since most of the men were over 35 and were raised in the generation of men that were taught expressing emotions is not “macho (阳刚之气).” Showing feelings or crying was just not done. So this was very threatening homework for some.
At the beginning of our next class, I asked if someone wanted to share what happened when they told someone they loved them. I fully expected one of the women to volunteer, as was usually the case, but on this evening one of the men raised his hand, quite moved and a bit shaken.
As he unfolded out of his chair (all 1.85 meters of him), he began by saying, “Dennis, I was quite angry with you last week when you gave us this homework. Who were you to tell me to do something that personal?”
“But as I began driving home my conscience (良心)started telling me that I knew exactly who I needed to say ‘I love you’ to.”
“Five years ago, my father and I had a severe disagreement and really never settled it since then. We avoided seeing each other unless we absolutely had to at Christmas or other family gatherings. But even then, we hardly spoke to each other.”
“So last Tuesday by the time I got home I had convinced myself. I was going to tell my father I loved him. It’s strange, but just making that decision seemed to lift a heavy load off my chest.”
【小题1】 The homework is threatening for some students because_________.

 Mark Twain was asked one day if he could remember the first money he got. He thought for a long time before answering and then said, "Yes, it was at school.  I can remember   1  about it. Schoolboys in those days never   2  teachers and never took care of thing of the school. They often damaged their desks.  There was a(n)   __3  in our school that anybody who damaged his desk with a pencil or knife would be beaten before the   4  school or have to pay five dollars."
"One day, I damaged my desk in some   5 . I had to tell my father I had broken the rule, and had to pay five dollars or be beaten before the whole school. My father said it   __6  be too bad to have our face lost in front of the whole school. He   7  to give five dollars to hand over to the teacher. But before giving me the money he took me upstairs and give me a beating."
"But as I had had one beating and wasn't afraid of it any   8  , I decided I would take   __9 beating at school and   10  the dollars. So that was what I did. That was the first money I ever got."

Time is very important in our lives. It organizes our everyday moments. However, time never had any importance in my life until I received a watch from my father.
I received this gift on a cloudy day. I had to go to the airport at 9:00 a.m. to meet my uncle and take him to my father’s house. However, I was late because I was staying with my friends. Later on that day, around 11:00 a.m., I remembered my uncle, but I was very late for him. He had left the airport and taken a taxi to my father’s house.
I got to my father’s house at 2:00 p.m. and felt ashamed of myself at that moment. After I said “hello” to my angry father and tired uncle, my father asked me to sit next to him and gave me this watch. Then he said, “Essa, did you have fun with your friends today?”
“Yes, Dad, and I’m sorry about not meeting my uncle at the airport.”
“I hope today you learned something important, and this watch will be a reminder (提醒物) for you.” He told me to take this watch and use it as an organizer of my life.
I learned a very important lesson from my father: To respect time and never be late to do something. This watch is important to me, not because of its price, but because of the lesson that I learned from it.
49. The writer’s uncle came to visit them ______.
A. by car B. by air  C. by boat      D. by taxi
50. Why did Essa’s father get angry when Essa got to his house?
A. Essa often spent a lot of time with friends.
B. Essa cared little about other people.
C. Essa wasted too much time.  
D. Essa forgot an important thing.
51. Why did the father give Essa a watch?
A. To punish Essa.  B. To comfort Essa.
C. To teach Essa.           D. To praise Essa.
52. What did Essa think of the watch?
A. It was a priceless gift.       B. It was an useless gift.
C. It was a common gift.       D. It was a strange gift.

“Hey, Dad, are you going to come to my award ceremony tonight?” I   36   asked my father.

“I have to work late tonight. I doubt I’ll be able to   37   it on time. I am just too busy right now,” he replied.

    My mind could not   38   the idea that he would be too busy working late. He was also too busy to   39   my horse show and the 15th birthday party. He always used the same   40  . Why had I even bothered to ask?   41  , there was always a slight hope that tonight would be   42  .

    As my mother and I arrived at school, two friends   43   me. “Jill, meet my dad. Dad, this is my friend Jill.” I shook the hand of a tall man. Camera flashes lit up the room, and claps filled the   44   as students accepted their awards. My name was finally called,   45   three others. I followed my classmates to the   46  . When I reached out my hand to shake the   47  , a big smile lit up her face. The blinding flash from my mother’s camera   48   my eyes and I knew my dad wasn’t there. I walked back to my seat   49  .

    Back at home, seeing my dad’s car in the garage, I told myself he would not be   50  . But the strong smell of alcohol hit me as soon as I  51   inside, and I could feel my tears   52  . I followed the sound of his drunken words and saw him   53   on the couch.

      54   did father lie to me? I threw my award on the floor, walked to my bedroom, and shut the door. Tears rolled down my face. I wondered if I would ever be more   55   than his whiskey bottle.

A. confidently            B. eagerly              C. proudly             D. casually

A. reach                     B. keep                 C. take                  D. make

A. create                   B. support             C. appreciate          D. accept

A. watch                    B. avoid                C. attend               D. speed

A. excuse                   B. problem            C. promise             D. trick

A. Besides                  B. Thus                 C. Otherwise          D. However

A. active                    B. formal                     C. different            D. serious

A. recognized             B. greeted              C. encouraged        D. showed

A. air                        B. audience            C. school               D. playground

A. up to                     B. other than          C. out of               D. along with

A. stage                     B. position             C. office                D. exit

A. Jill’s                            B. teacher’s           C. mother’s           D. father’s

A. fixed                     B. touched             C. hurt                  D. inserted

A. successfully           B. disappointedly   C. delightedly        D. hopefully

A. drunk                    B. woken               C. forgiven            D. hidden

A. stepped                  B. noticed              C. examined          D. glanced

A. getting off             B. taking down      C. building up        D. turning around

A. leaning                  B. lying                 C. moving             D. crying

A. How                            B. Where               C. Why                 D. Whether

A. perfect                  B. comfortable              C. fortunate           D. important

“How did you do it, Dad ? How have you   21   not to take a drink for almost 20 years? ”It took me almost 20 years to have the  22  to even ask my father this very  23 question.

When Dad first 24  drinking, the whole family was on pins and needles  25  he got into a situation that, in the past, would have started him drinking again.For a few years we were  26  to bring it up for fear that the drinking would begin again.

“I had this little  27  that I would recite to myself  28  four to five times a day ” was Dad’s  29 to my 18-year-old unasked question.“The  30  were an instant relief and constant reminder to me that things were never so  31  that I could not handle them,”Dad said.And then he  32  the poem with me.The poem’s simple, yet profound (深奥的) words  33  became part of my daily routine as well.

About a month after this talk with my father,I  34  a gift in the mail from a friend of mine. It was a book of affirmations (断言) with one affirmation listed for each  35  of the year.

I 36  opened the book to the page of my birthday to see what words of wisdom this book had in store for me. 37  of disbelief and appreciation rolled down my face.There,on my birthday ,was the  38  poem that had helped my  39 for all these years! It is called The Sereniry Prayer.

God,give me the Serenity（平静）to accept the things I cannot change,the Courage to  40  the things I can,and the Wisdom to know the difference.