When I was growing up. I had an old neighbor named Dr, Gibbs. He didn’t look like any doctor I’d ever known. He never  1  at us for playing in his yard. I remember him as someone nice and  2  .

       When Dr. Gibbs wasn’t saving  3  , he was planting trees. His house sat on ten acres（英亩）, and his life’s  4  was to make it a forest.

      But he  5  watered his new trees. Once I asked why. He said that watering plants would 6  them, and that  7  you water them, each following  8  of tree will grow weaker and weaker. So you have to make things  9  for them.

He’d planted an oak, and instead of watering it every morning, he’d  10   it with a rolled-up newspaper. I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to cause the tree’s  11  .

       Dr. Gibbs went away a couple of years ago. 12 , I walk by his house and look at the trees that I’d watched him plant some twenty-five years ago. They’re big and  13  now. Sufferings seemed to  14  them in ways ease and  15  never could ways.

Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. I often pray for them. Mostly I pray that their lives will be  16 . But lately I’ve been thinking that it’s time to  17  my prayer, because life is 18  , whether we want it to be or  not. Too many times we pray for ease. But that’s what we seldom  19  . What we need to do is pray for roots that reach deep into the earth, so when the rains fall and the winds blow, we won’t be  20  .

1．A．smiled                   B．shouted               C．looked                 D．kicked

2．A．cold                      B．lonely                  C．mild                    D．careful

3．A．money                  B．lives                    C．flowers               D．energy

4．A．goal                      B．way                    C．attitude                D．theory

5．A．regularly               B．sometimes           C．never                  D．always

6．A．remove                 B．benefit                 C．drown                 D．spoil

7．A．if                          B．unless                 C．although              D．since

8．A．kind                      B．group                  C．rank                    D．generation

9．A．rough                   B．free                     C．available              D．poisonous

10．A．protected             B．tied                     C．beat                    D．wrapped

11．A．thank                  B．defense               C．shade                  D．death

12．A．More or less        B．Now and then      C．Sooner or later     D．Here and there

13．A．thin                     B．dying                  C．ripe                     D．strong

14．A．benefit                B．harm                   C．affect                  D．change

15．A．cure                    B．danger                 C．comfort              D．difficulty

16．A．interesting           B．colorful               C．easy                    D．hopeful

17．A．strengthen           B．change                C．repeat                 D．realize

18．A．tough                  B．helpless               C．various                D．valuable

19．A．seek                    B．prove                  C．share                  D．meet

20．A．challenged   B．defeated           C．missed            D．forgotten