With a hat by his feet，a blind boy sat on the steps of a building. He held up a sign which said，" I ' m blind, please help. "
Only a few people put    1   in the hat. A man was walking by. He    2   some coins into the hat. He then turned the sign    3  . wrote some words, put the sign back and left.
Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people   4   to give money to the blind boy.　　That afternoon the man came to see    5  things were. The boy recognized his footsteps (脚步声) and asked, "Were you the one who    6  my sign this morning? What did you write?"
The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a   7 way. "What he had written was," Today is a beautiful day,   8  I cannot see it. "
Both the   9  told people that the boy was blind. But the first sign simply 　10　people to help by throwing some money into the   11  . The second one, however, told people that they were able to enjoy the  12  of the day, but the boy couldn't    13   he was blind.
There are at least two lessons we can learn   14  this story. First, be thankful for what
you have. Someone else has less. Help them if you can.  15  , be creative. Think differently.
　There is always a better way !

完形填空（共12分，每小题1分）
阅读下面的短文，掌握其大意，然后从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选择最佳选项
　　I had my first job at the age of thirteen, when a friend of my mother’s who owned a book shop hired（雇佣） me for six hours a week to help her in the shop. I was very 　1　 　to earn my own pocket money and my parents 　2　 　interfered（干涉）with how I spent it, even when I was spending it foolishly. They believed that by earning money, spending it, and learning from the 　3　 , I would become more mature（成熟的） and responsible about how to handle work, relationships with others, and money.
　　Like many American parents, my parents also let me and my brothers do things over which they 　4 　　a great deal. When I was sixteen, for example, after I finished high school and before I entered university, I wanted to spend the summer months traveling around Europe. My mother was against the idea of my traveling alone at such a young age, but my father felt that it would be a great 　5　 　for me. In the end, my father won the argument（争论） on the 　6　 　that I limited（限定）my traveling to France, my mother’s home, where I had many uncles, aunts and cousins spread out through the country who could 　7　 　shelter（住处）and help if I needed them.
　　Three years later, my younger brother decided to 　8　 　a year off after his first year in university and travel through the United States and the Caribbean. Again my mother was very worried and not eager to see my brother leave school, but my father encouraged him and my brother had a(n) 　9　 　year working his way on trains and ships to 　10 　　passage to different ports and cities, and discovering many fascinating places and people.
　　These kinds of experiences are probably rare（稀少的）for children in many countries but in the US they are fairly common. Most parents start 　11　 　their children at a young age to do small things by themselves. By the time they have finished high school, many American kids have already had part-time jobs, traveled around the US or other countries on their own, have selected the university they plan to attend and maybe even 　12　 　on their future career, and so on.

Once there lived an old man in a town. He always forgot a lot of things. So his wife always had to say to him，“Don’t forget this.”
One day he went on a long way alone. Before he left home，his wife said，“Now you have all these things. You need them on your way. Take care of your things on the way.” He went to the station. He bought a ticket and got on the train with it.
About an hour later，the conductor began to see the tickets. He came to the old man and said，“Will you please show me your ticket?” The old man looked for his ticket in all his pockets but he could not find it. He was very worried.“I can’t find my ticket. I really bought a ticket before I got on the train ”said the old man.
“I think you are right. I believe you bought a ticket. All right，you don’t have to buy another ticket ”said the conductor kindly. But the old man still(仍然) looked worried and said sadly，“You don’t know why I’m worried. If I don’t find my ticket，I can’t remember my station. Where am I going? ”
【小题1】The old man bought a ticket _______.