完形填空

　　All kinds of people come in to have their shoes shined．Most of them are friendly．But this man was different．

　　“How much do you make a week, boy?” he asked me．I felt he was 　　1　　 at me．

　　He kept taking a sharp 　　2　　 around every now and then．All the time I kept 　　3　　 where I’d seen his face．Suddenly I knew I’d seen his 　　4　　 in the post office many times．He was a big robber：　　5　　 by the police in three states!

　　“You know,”he was saying,“it’s imagination people lack．You’ll never get 　　6　　 as a shoeshine boy．”

　　I kept brushing away at his shoes as 　　7　　 as I could．The sooner I finished the better．He said,“When I was sixteen, I had 　　8　　 ＄2500 of my own．”

　　That reminded me of something．Was it ＄2500 or ＄5000 or ＄25 000?I wasn’t 　　9　　．I knew a big reward was 　　10　　 for him．What could I do about it?　　11　　 him with a can of shoe polish?A man has 　　12　　 could grind(碾碎)me into the floor．If only someone would come in!

　　He kept talking away,“Along with 　　13　　, it takes courage．The courage to take a chance．Start something on a shoestring．”

　　Suddenly I saw Officer Dailey 　　14　　 across the street．Then, real fast, I began tightening the man’s shoestrings．

　　The policeman was at the window when I cried out,“Officer Dailey, 　　15　　!This man’s a robber．”

　　“　　16　　,” the man shouted angrily．He started to jump off the stand．It didn’t go the 　　17　　 he planned．He fell flat on his face and knocked himself out cold．

　　“That was pretty 　　18　　 of you,” the officer said．“You’ll get a reward of ＄7500 for him．”

　　“Well, it really wasn’t my 　　19　　,” I said．“It was his．He told me if you had courage and imagination you could start something 　　20　　 on a shoestring．”

阅读理解

　　In 1997,a group of twenty British women made history．Working in five teams with four women in each team, they walked to the North Pole．Apart from one experienced female guild,the other women were all ordinary people who had never done anything like this in their lives before．They managed to survive in an environment which had defeated several very experienced men during the same time period．

　　The women set off as soon as they were ready．Once on the ice,each woman had to ski along while dragging a sledge(雪橇)weighting over 50 kilos．This would not have been too bad on a smooth surface,but for long distances,the Arctic ice is pushed up into huge piles two or three metres high,and the sledges had to be pulled up one side and carefully let down the other so that they didn’t become damaged．The temperature was always below the freezing point and sometimes strong winds made walking while pulling so much weight almost impossible．It was also very difficult for them to put up their tents when they stopped each night．

　　In such conditions,the women were making good progress if they covered fourteen or fifteen kilometers a day．But there was another problem．Part of the journey was across a frozen sea with moving water underneath the ice and at some points the team would drift back more than five kilometers during the night．That meant after walking in these very severe conditions for ten hours one day,they had to spend part of the next day covering the same ground again．Furthermore,each day it took three hours from waking up to setting off and another three hours every evening to set up the camp and prepare the evening meal．

　　So,how did they manage to succeed?They realized that they were part of a team．If any one of them didn’t pull her sledge or get her job done,she would endanger the success of the whole expedition．Any form of selfishness could result in the efforts of everyone else being completely wasted,so personal feelings had to be put to one side．At the end of their journey,the women agreed that it was mental effort far more than physical fitness that got them to the North Pole．