◇ 山東省壽光一中 楊艾春
A
I started to love running at a young age. I love to 1 my father and my sister around the backyard. I couldn’t 2 until I got older so I could run in the Olympics and win lots of 3 .
One day my mother saw a（n） 4 for a race in a newspaper. “Would you be 5 in entering this race?” she asked me.
“Yes, of course,” I answered.
I spent the next few days practicing for my big race. My sister 6 a table in the backyard so she could supply me with water and 7 me.
Just before the race began, my dad 8 in my ear, “Don’t use up all your energy at the beginning of the race. You need to have energy 9 you can speed up at the end.”
Following dad’s advice, I didn’t ran as 10 as I could. Then the other runners started passing me, which made me 11 . I began to feel tired, and started slowing down and 12 harder.
“Come on, Kelly! You can do it! Keep running!”
Out of the corner of my 13 I saw Dad running beside me around the outside of the track.
“I can’t do it!” I 14 to say.
“Yes, you can. Don’t give up, keep running,” he called back.
I took a deep breath and tried to speed forward. Dad continued running beside me, shouting 15 words.
I came fifth, but I felt like a（n） 16 . I’d done my best, and I hadn’t 17 .
I felt thankful that my dad had 18 left my side. He always 19 me when I feel like giving up. He runs alongside me 20 my life.
1. A. trouble B. show C. race D. win
2. A. help B. stop C. wait D. complain
3. A. money B. gifts C. prizes D. medals
4. A. story B. report
C. advertisement D. introduction
5. A. interested B. frightened
C. excited D. surprised
6. A. asked for B. set up
C. wiped out D. thought of
7. A. time B. cheer C. watch D. guide
8. A. replied B. blamed
C. whispered D. shouted
9. A. until B. because
C. so D. if
10. A. fast B. proudly
C. patiently D. early
11. A. curious B. angry C. mad D. nervous
12. A. running B. breathing
C. thinking D. struggling
13. A. track B. competitors
C. audience D. eye
14. A. continued B. decided
C. managed D. remembered
15. A. encouraging B. touching
C. boring D. disappointing
16. A. hero B. winner C. owner D. loser
17. A. broken down B. fallen behind
C. run away D. given up
18. A. hardly B. never C. always D. often
19. A. comforts B. encourages
C. criticizes D. punishes
20. A. through B. for C. about D. with

B
When my first wartime Christmas came, I was in basic training in New Jersey and not sure if I could make it home for the holidays. Only on the afternoon of December 23 was the list men who would have three-day passed 1 . I was one of the 2 soldiers.
It was Christmas Eve. When I 3 , a light snow had fallen. Mother opened the front door. I could see 4 her, into the living room where the tree had always 5 , there were lights, all colors, 6 against the green of a pine.
“Where did it come from?” I 7 .
“I asked the gate boy to 8 it,” my mother said, “ I wouldn’t have had one just for myself, but when called him, such a 9 ! He just brought it in this afternoon…”
The pine 10 to the proper height almost to 11 , and the Tree Top Crystal（水晶）Star was in its place. A few green branches reached about a little 12 at the side, I thought, and there was a bit of bare trunk 13 in the middle. But the tree filled the room with 14 light and the whole house with the 15 smell of Christmas. “It’s not like the one you used to find,” my mother went on. “Yours were 16 in good shape. I suppose the gate boy didn’t know 17 to look. But he could not be 18 .”
“Don’t worry,” I told her, “It’s perfect.” It wasn’t ,of course, but at the moment I real-ized 19 for the first time: all Christmas 20 are perfect.
1. A. posted B. designed
C. punished D. comforted
2. A. brave B. active C. proud D. luckily
3. A. complained B. arrived
C. cheered D. regretted
4. A. to B. with C. beyond D. around
5. A. stood B. grown C. lain D. waved
6. A. smiling B. fighting
C. learning D. shining
7. A. objected B. asked C. shouted D. laughed
8. A. buy B. cut C. find D. order
9. A. tree B. boy C. rush D. place
10. A. reached B. led C. got D. connected
11. A. wall B. window C. ceiling D. floor
12. A. perfectly B. attractively
C. disorderly D. successfully
13. A. rotting B. showing C. linking D. breaking
14. A. strong B. funny C. warm D. special
15. A. pleasant B. obvious C. suitable D. endless
16. A. often B. hardly C. never D. always
17. A. how B. when C. where D. whether
18. A. nervous B. patient C. weak D. critical
19. A. nothing B. something
C. everything D. anything
20. A. trees B. gifts
C. greetings D. lights