As a young man, Al was a skilled artist, a potter. He had a wife and two fine sons. One night, his oldest son   36  a severe stomachache and died suddenly. To make matters worse, his wife left him a short time later,   37  him alone with his six-year- old younger son. The hurt and pain of the two situations were _ 38 _ Al could handle, and he _ 39  to alcohol. Al began to lose everything he possessed---his home, his land, his art objects, everything.   40  he died alone in a San Francisco motel room.
When I heard of Al’s death, I reacted with the same disdain（蔑視）the world shows for one who ends his life with nothing   41 _ left. “What a complete failure!” I thought. “What a totally   42__  life!”
As time went by, I began to re-evaluate my earlier _ 43  judgment. You see, I knew Al’s now adult son, Ernie. He is one of the kindest, most   44  most loving men I have ever known. I watched Ernie with his children and saw the free   45  of the love between them. I knew that kindness and caring had to come   46  somewhere.
I hadn’t heard Ernie talk much about his father. It is so hard to   47  an alcoholic. One day I get up my   48  to ask him. “I’m really puzzled by something,” I said. “I know your father was basically the only one to   49  you.   50  on earth did he do that you became such a special person?
Ernie sat _ 51 _ and thought for a few moments. Then he said, “From my  _52   memories as a child until I left home at 18, Al came into my room every night, gave me a __53  and said, “I love you, son.”
Tears came to my eyes as I realized what a fool I had been to   54  Al as a failure. He had not left any material possession behind,   55  he left behind one of the finest, most giving men I have ever known.

【小題9】

A．handsome B．rich C．caring D．ordinary

【小題20】

A．so B．and C．but D．or

Jerry is a popular manager of a restaurant. It was his attitude  21  made the waiters follow him. He was a natural motivator (鼓舞人心的人). If a(n)  22  was having a bad day, Jerry was always there, telling him/her how to look on the  23  side of the situation.
This attitude really made me  24, so one day I asked him, “I don’t get it! No one can be a positive person  25. How can you manage it?”
“Every time something bad happens, I can choose to  26  it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining and I can 27  the positive side of life. Why don’t we just do that later?” Jerry said.
Jerry told me an unusual story out of his experience. One day he left the back door of his restaurant  28  and was robbed by three men. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from  29 , slipped off the combination (開啟號碼的號碼組合). The robbers got angry and  30 him.
31 , Jerry was found quickly and taken to the hospital. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of care, Jerry  32  with fragments (碎片) of the bullets (子彈) still in his body.
I saw Jerry about six months after the  33 . I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place. “Did you lose consciousness? Weren’t you  34 ?” I asked.
“No,” Jerry said, “35  when I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared.”
“A nurse asked if I was allergic (過敏的) to anything. ‘Yes’ I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped  36  as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, ‘37 !’”
“Over the laughter, I told them, ‘Please  38  on me as if I am alive, not dead.’”
Jerry survived  39  the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. Attitude, after all, is  40 .

The Girl with the Cut - out Face
When I was a child, I often looked through a family album. I remember asking my mother why there was a   36  cut out of a photo of a little girl. But it was   37  that my mother did not want to talk about it.
  38  I looked at the album I saw that cut - out face and   39  about it. I figured there was something   40  . When I was grown up and had almost   41  about the photo, my mother must have realized I should know her   42  . She sat me down one day and said, “That cat - up photo is   43  your Aunt Anna. She has schizophrenia（精神分裂癥）.”
But why did my mother never   44  this before? I still didn’t understand. “Because people are… were…  45  of having mental illness in the family” was the   46  . But I wanted to meet Aunt Anna, and I   47 .
My mother and I traveled to the house   48   Anna lived with an Italian family. Anna looked like a question mark on legs,   49  she had lovely, clear eyes and a gentle manner. I could see the   50  to my mother. “So nice to meet you,” she said to me. “Do you have a trunk （象鼻；行李箱）？”
Did she think that I was an elephant? No, she wanted to run   51  and hide in the trunk of my car. The family that   52  her said that she always wanted to   53 .
The last time I saw Anna she was placed in a smaller old - age facility in Brooklyn.
  54  Aunt Anna, I’m not the least bit ashamed of you. I’m   55  about you now for many to see, with your sweet young face showing under a pretty bow.
And you finally found that escape you were seeking.

Kate, run a bit faster, ____ you can catch up with all of your classmates

1. A.
   so
2. B.
   and
3. C.
   but
4. D.
   or

---Excuse me! How can I get to the nearest post office?

---Walk along this road for a few minutes, ________ you’ll make it．

1. A.
   so
2. B.
   and
3. C.
   but
4. D.
   or