When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor named Doctor Gibbs. He didn’t look like any doctor I’d ever known. He never yelled at us for playing in his yard, but was always very   36   . When Doctor Gibbs wasn’t   37   lives, he was planting trees. His house was   38   on ten acres of land, and his life’s  39   was to turn this land into a forest. The good doctor had some  40   theories about planting trees. He believed in the principle: “No pain, no gain”. He never watered his new trees, a(n)  41   which is contrary to   42    wisdom.

Once I asked why and he told me that watering plants   43    them because it made them grow weaker. He said you have to make things tough for the trees so that only the strongest    44   . He talked about how watering trees made them develop   45  

roots and how, if they were not watered, trees would grow deep roots   46    moisture

(水分). So Doctor Gibbs would plant an oak(橡树) and, instead of watering it every morning, he’d beat it with a rolled-up newspaper. I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree’s   47   .

Doctor Gibbs died a couple of years after I left home. Every now and then, I walked by his house and looked at the trees that I’d watched him   48    some 25 years ago. They were tall and    49   .

I planted a couple of trees myself a few years ago. Two years of coddling(溺爱) these trees meant they grew up weak. Whenever a cold wind blew, their branches     50   .

Adversity (逆境) seemed to benefit Doctor Gibb’s trees in ways comfort and ease  51   

could.

Every night before I got to bed, I   52   my two sons. I stand over them and watch their little bodies. I often pray that their lives will be easy. But lately I’ve been thinking that it’s time to   53   my prayer. I know my children are going to    54   hardships. There’s always a cold wind blowing somewhere. What we need to do is to pray for deep roots so when the rains fall and the winds blow, we won’t be    55   .                       

36. A. cruel                     B. mean                     C. kind                       D. grateful

37. A. living                     B. saving             C. wasting           D. helping

38. A. depended               B. sat              C. located             D. existed

39. A. work                     B. goal                       C. value                  D. belief

40. A. interesting              B. complicated     C. funny                     D. abnormal

41. A. rule                       B. attitude            C. trend                  D. principle

42. A. current               B. conventional         C. original            D. reasonable

43. A. spoiled                B. restored                C. strengthened     D. discouraged

44. A. support               B. survive                 C. insist                      D. continue

45. A. shallow               B. strong           C. slim                        D. deep

46. A. in need of              B. in spite of               C. in view of               D. in search of

47. A. attention                B. interest            C. injury                      D. improvement

48. A. grow                     B. plant                      C. bring                      D. destroy

49. A. weak                     B. colorful           C. beautiful                  D. strong

50. A. waved                B. danced                 C. swung                D. trembled

51. A. never                     B. always            C. sometimes               D. almost

52. A. look through              B. care for               C. watch out               D. check on

53. A. improve                     B. correct                 C. stop                        D. change

54. A. experience             B. challenge                C. beat                        D. reach

55. A. put out           B. held up            C. taken over               D. torn apart