I moved into a new house in July. Since then I have met a few of my neighbors who are very nice people. For Christmas, I thought I would do something nice for each of the neighbors I know. There were nine neighbors whom I knew by name or spoke with often when I was out in my yard. I knew which houses they lived in.
I decided to add one more to my list. This lady I decided to add lives down the street from me. I meet her every morning walking to work as I drive down the street. She always smiles to me. But I had no idea who she was and which house she lived in.
I planned to make small fruit baskets and leave them on my neighbor's front porches (门廊) on Christmas Eve. I signed the cards: “Happy Holidays from 5104 Northumberland Road.”
I saved the last for the friendly lady. I finally decided on a house where I met her each morning and guessed that it was hers.
My neighbors really appreciated the baskets and would tell me as they saw me in the yard or they would call, and a couple even came by to thank me.
This morning I found a small note in the mailbox. It was addressed simply: Resident, 5104 Northumberland Road.
The Thank You card really caught me by surprise. I opened it and read the message, “Thank you for the lovely fruit basket you left on our porch. It was very thoughtful. Richard Kelly passed away last week. He talked a lot about how nice it was that someone remembered him in his time of illness. He really appreciated it.”
I had no idea who Richard Kelly was and that he had been seriously ill. I had left that nice lady’s basket on his porch by mistake. I wanted to say sorry, but that would be wrong. I believe that Mr. Kelly was meant to have that basket because he was dying. I hate that the nice lady did not get to receive a fruit basket on Christmas, but I believe if she knew what had happened, she would be happy. I feel pleased to have helped Richard Kelly's last days be more cheerful.
【小题1】How many Christmas gifts did the author intend to send?

第三节完形填空（共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分）
　    When I was 6 years old, my parents got me a used __21____ for Christmas.
A year or so later, I badly wanted a Sting-Ray, a tricked-out bike that was __22__in the 1960s. So my father took my old bike, slapped a new coat of paint on it, and _23____ it with a banana seat, monkey handlebars and a sissy bar（保护杠）. ___24___didn't matter to me that some friends had new Sting-Rays straight from the Schwinn factory. Or even that my dad put the sissy bar on backward, _25____ exposed me to some teasing（嘲笑） before we _26____ it. I loved that bike.
　　So it was for my __27___. We weren't poor. But we always had modest Christmases. And I _28____ to do the same when I got married 27 years ago.
　　My wife, Clarissa, had different _29____. She, too, had some __30___Christmases growing up. She vividly remembers when she was 14 or 15 years old and her father lost his __31__in the construction industry. She overheard her __32___ talking about how _33___ they were.
　　So when her parents asked her what she wanted that year, she said, 'Nothing.' When her mother insisted she had to get ___34__, Clarissa asked for socks. 'I felt very good about myself afterward,' she recalls.
　　But as her family's finances _35_____, Christmas went back to being a __36__ bigger production. By the time I arrived on the scene, the __37__ family -- more than 20 people -- would gather at her grandmother's house in Mexicali, Mexico, on Christmas Eve. Around 10 p.m., Santa (my future brother-in-law in a costume) showed up with an enormous bag of _38____ and stepped into a roomful of children crying with __39____
　　'It was all about the children,' says Clarissa, who thought the experience was _40___ .And she has spent hundreds of dollars on presents every year to duplicate(重温 )it.
21．A．car             B．bike          C．book           D．coat
22．A．popular        B．common       C．ordinary        D．regular
23．A．add         B．equipped      C．placed         D．supplied
24．A．That           B．This          C．It           D．What
25．A．so            B．thus          C．Which         D．it
26．A．bought         B．placed         C．fixed          D．changed
27．A．childhood      B．life           C．children        D．youth
28．A．imagined      B．expected       C．suggested      D．supposed
29．A．ideas          B．life           C．childhood      D．Christmas
30．A．unforgettable   B．modest         C．happy         D．wonderful
31．A．life          B．job            C．interest        D．present
32．A．friends        B．mother        C．father         D．parents
33．A．broke         B．rich           C．wealthy        D．well-off
34．A．nothing        B．something     C．everything       D．anything
35．A．improved     B．caught         C．reduced       D．decreased
36．A．very          B．more          C．less           D．much
37．A．all         B．big            C．small         D．entire
38．A．bikes         B．food          C．presents        D．books
39．A．surprise       B．joy           C．fear           D．satisfaction
40．A．wasteful       B．valueless      C．priceless    D．useful

A friend of mine named Paul received an expensive car from his brother as a Christmas present．On Christmas Eve when Paul came out of his office，a street urchin was walking around the shining car．“Is this your car，Paul？”he asked．

Paul answered，“Yes，my brother gave it to me for Christmas.” The boy was surprised．“You mean your brother gave it to you and it didn't cost you anything？Boy，I wish…” He hesitated．

Of course Paul knew what he was going to wish for．He was going to wish he had a brother like that. But what the boy said surprised Paul greatly.

“I wish,” the boy went on，“that I could be a brother like that.” Paul looked at the boy in surprise, then he said again, “Would you like to take a ride in my car？”

“Oh yes，I'd love that．”

After a short ride，the boy turned and with his eyes shining，said，“Paul，would you mind driving in front of my house？”

Paul smiled a little．He thought he knew what the boy wanted．He wanted to show his neighbors that he could ride home in a big car. But Paul was wrong again. “Will you stop where those two steps are？” the boy asked．

He ran up to the steps. Then in a short while Paul heard him coming back, but he was not coming fast. He was carrying his little crippled brother. He sat him down on the step and pointed to the car.

“There he is, Buddy, just like I told you upstairs. His brother gave it to him for Christmas and it didn't cost him a cent. And some day I'm going to give you one just like it…then you can see for yourself all the nice things in the Christmas windows that I've been trying to tell you about.”

Paul got out and lifted the boy to the front seat of his car. The shining-eyed older brother climbed in beside him and the three of them began an unforgettable holiday ride.

注：urchin 顽童    hesitate 犹豫       crippled 残疾    cent 美分

The street urchin was very surprised when ________．

   A．Paul received an expensive car

   B．Paul told him about the car

   C．he saw the shining car

   D．he was walking around the car

From the story we can see the urchin ________．

   A．wished to give his brother a car

   B．wanted Paul’s brother to give him a car

   C．wished he could have a brother like Paul's

   D．wished Paul could be a brother like that

The urchin asked Paul to stop his car in front of his house ________．

   A．to show his neighbors the big car

   B．to show he had a rich friend

   C．to let his brother ride in the car

   D．to tell his brother about his wish

We can infer（推断）from the story that ________．

   A．Paul couldn't understand the urchin

   B．the urchin had a deep love for his brother

   C．the urchin wished to have a rich brother

   D．the urchin's wish came true in the end

When my grandfather died, my 83-year-old grandmother, once so full of life, slowly began to fade. No longer able to manage a home of her own, she moved in with my mother, where she was visited often by other members of her large, loving family. Although she still had her good days, it was often hard to arouse her interest.
But one chilly December afternoon three years ago, my daughter Meagan, then eight, and I were visiting her, when she noticed that Meagan was carrying her favorite doll.“I, too, had a special doll when I was a little girl,” she told a wide-eyed Meagan. “I got it one Christmas when I was about your age. I lived in an old farmhouse in Maine, with Mom, Dad and my four sisters, and the very first gift I opened that Christmas was the most beautiful doll you’d ever want to see.”
“She had an exquisite(优美的，高雅的), hand-painted face, and her long brown hair was pulled back with a big pink bow. Her eyes were blue, and they opened and closed. I remember she had a body of kidskin, and her arms and legs bent at the joints.”
GG’s voice dropped low, taking on an almost respectful tone. “My doll was dressed in a pretty pink gown, decorated with fine lace. … Getting such a fine doll was like a miracle for a little farm girl like me — my parents must have had to sacrifice so much to afford it But how happy I was that morning!”
GG’s eyes filled and her voice shook with emotion as she recalled that Christmas of long ago. “I played with my doll all morning long. And then it happened. My mother called us to the dining room for Christmas dinner and I laid my new doll down gently on the hall table. But as I went to join the family at the table, I heard a loud crash.”
“I hardly had to turn around — I knew it was my precious doll. And it was. Her lace skirt had hung down from the table just enough for my baby sister to reach up and pull on it. When I ran in, there lay my beautiful doll on the floor, her face smashed into a dozen pieces. She was gone forever.”
A few years later, GG’s baby sister was also gone, she told Meagan, a victim of pneumonia(肺炎). Now the tears in her eyes spilled over — tears, I knew, not only for a lost doll and a lost sister, but for a lost time.
Subdued(沉默的) for the rest of the visit, Meagan was no sooner in the car going home than she exclaimed, “Mom, I have a great idea! Let’s get GG a new doll for Christmas. Then she won’t cry when she thinks about it.”
My heart filled with pride as I listened to my sympathetic little daughter. But where would we find a doll to match GG’s fond memories?
Where there’s a will, as they say, there’s a way. When I told my best friends, Liz and Chris, about my problem, Liz put me in touch with a local doll-make. From a doll supply house I ordered a long brown hair and a kidskin body to copy the outfit GG had so lovingly described. Liz volunteered to put the doll together, and Chris helped me make the doll’s outfit. Meagan wrote the story of the lost doll by giving examples.
Finally our creation was finished. To our eyes it was perfect. But there was no way it could be exactly like the doll GG had loved so much and lost. Would she think it looked anything like it?
On Christmas Eve, Meagan and I carried our happily packed gift to GG, where she sat surrounded by children, parents, aunts, uncles and cousins. “It’s for you,” Meagan said, “but first you have to read the story that goes with it.”
GG no sooner got through the first page than her voice cracked and she was unable to go on, but Meagan took over where she left off. Then it was time to open her present.
I’ll never forget the look on GG’s face as she lifted the doll and held it to her chest. Once again her tears fell, but this time they were tears of joy. Holding the doll in her frail arms, she repeated over and over again, “She’s exactly like my old doll, exactly like her.” 
And perhaps she wasn't saying that just to be kind. Perhaps however impossible it seemed, we had managed to produce a close copy of the doll she remembered. But as I watched my eight-year-old daughter and her great-grandmother examining the doll together, I thought of a likelier explanation. What GG really recognized, perhaps, was the love that inspired the gift. And love, wherever it comes from, always looks the same.
【小题1】GG moved in with her daughter because ______.

We held a party on Christmas Eve at a hall _______ with colourful balloons and flowers.

   A. to decorate       B. decorating           C. decorated        D. being decorated