My wife and I had just finished the 150-mile trip home from our daughter’s college. It was the   1   time in our lives that she would be gone for any length of   2  . We wondered how other people had   3 it.

Later in bed, I   4   the time I started college. My father had driven me, too. My mother had to stay behind to   5   the cows from getting into the crops. I, the fourth in a line of brothers, was the first to   6   college.

The truck was slow and I was glad. I didn’t want to get to   7   too soon. I shook hands with my father in the truck and he didn’t say a word. But I knew he was going to make a little  8  . He finally said, “I never went to college and  9   of your brothers went to college. I can’t say you don’t do this or that, because everything is different and I don’t know what is going to   10  , but I think things will work out. When you get a job, be sure to be honest and   11 .”

I knew that soon I would be   12   in the big town and I would be missing the life of the family.

Then my father brought out the Bible that he had   13   so often. I knew that he would miss it but I must take it. He just said, “This can help you   14   you will let it.”

When I   15   school I took the Bible back to my father. But he said he wanted me to keep it.

Now, too late, I remember. It would have been so   16   to give it to my daughter when she got out of the car. But I didn’t. I could give her   17  . My father could give me  18  a Bible. But I don’t really believe now that I gave her half as   19   as my father gave me. So the next morning I did up the book and sent it to her. I wrote a   20  . “This can help you,” I said, “when you will let it”.

1．A．first                      B．last                     C．very                    D．happiest

1,3,5

2．A．trip                       B．time                    C．place                   D．journey

3．A．understood            B．stood                  C．knew                  D．tried

4．A．remembered          B．called                  C．thought               D．went through

5．A．let                        B．raise                    C．keep                   D．feed

6．A．take part in            B．go away to          C．begin with           D．continue with

7．A．my daughter’s college                            B．my home

      C．the city                                                D．the farm

8．A．speech                  B．sound                  C．promise               D．progress

9．A．some                    B．one                     C．none                   D．all

10．A．happen                B．end                     C．take                    D．start

11．A．think out              B．keep watch          C．take care             D．work hard

12．A．happy                 B．alone                   C．rich                    D．lost

13．A．bought                B．read                    C．loved                  D．given

14．A．if                        B．unless                 C．since                   D．though

15．A．finished               B．returned              C．covered               D．began

16．A．popular               B．strange                C．ready                  D．nice

17．A．something           B．everything           C．anything              D．nothing

18．A．only                    B．really                   C．surely                 D．nearly

19．A．much                  B．many                  C．far                      D．little

20．A．composition         B．information          C．word                  D．note

　　People the world over tell tales of sirens and mermaids． In Germany strange, beautiful women-- only part human -- are said to sit on rocks in the Rhine River, singing sweet songs． Any man who listens to them will go out of his mind． In Italian legends, mermaids come ashore, marry men, and bear them children． But in time, these mermaid wives desert their husbands and take their children away to the depth of the ocean． The Chinese say the mermaids pass their time weaving． When they weep, their tears turn into pearls．

　　Despite all stories, no one has ever captured one of these strange beings -- alive or dead． A man once claimed to have found a mermaid． The creature he displayed did indeed look half human, half fish． But closer inspection showed that it was nothing but the head and shoulders of a dried monkey and the tail of a fish -- sewn together by the cunning faker!

1．The strange beings mentioned in the article are said to be able to live_______．

A． in oceans B． in rivers C． on land　　 D．Any of the above

2．Some tales suggest that mermaids and sirens have_________．

A．no interest in men B．harmful effects on men

C．a great fear of men D．no power over men

3．Mermaids seem to have no effect on people in the stories told by the_______．

A． Germans B． Danes C． Italians D． Chinese

4．One of the mermaid tales may have started as an attempt to explain________．

A．where pearls come from B．why children love water

C．how storms begin　　 D．why mermaids weep

5．The writer suggests that he would believe in mermaids if he_______．

A．read more stories about them　　 B．saw a picture of one

C．met a fisherman who had seen one D．None of the above

6．A man once claimed to have found__________．

A．a husband deserted by a mermaid B．a monkey swimming in the ocean

C．a dead mermaid's body　　 D． the child of a mermaid

7．The creature the man displayed was probably_________．

A． huge B． ugly C． smooth D． yellow

8．Close inspection showed that the creature was really_______．

A．a being with a human head B．parts of two creatures

C．a monkey with a fish's head D．a large sea lion