Growing up, I wanted to be just like my mom. She was kind. People always seemed to feel comfortable in her presence. For years, she was a volunteer in our community. I loved going to the local nursing home with her where she taught a ceramic class.
On one summer day, Mama told me to get changed and meet her at the car.
I had planned to spend the day at the lake with friends. Why did she have to ruin everything? I imagined the cool lake water. Irritated, I climbed into the car and slammed the door shut. We sat in silence. I was too upset to make conversation.
“Tasha, would you like to know where we are going?” Mama asked calmly.
“No,” I said.
“We are going to volunteer at a children’s shelter today. I have been there before and I think it would benefit you,” she explained.
When we reached the shelter, Mama rang the doorbell. Moments later, we were greeted by a woman. She led us to the front room where all of the children were playing. I noticed a baby whose body was scarred with iron marks. I was told it was because she wouldn’t stop crying. The majority of the children had noticeable physical scars. Others hid their emotional wounds.
As I took in my surroundings, I felt a gentle tug on my shirt. I looked down to see a little girl looking up at me. “Hi. You want to play dolls with me?” she asked. I looked over at Mama for reinforcement. She smiled and nodded. I turned back and said, “Sure.” Her tiny hand reached up and held mine, as if to comfort me.
My mom taught me a valuable lesson that summer. I returned to the shelter with her several times. During those visits, some of the children shared their troubled pasts with me and I learned to be grateful for what I had. Today as I strive to instill (逐漸灌輸) these values in my own child, I reflect back to that experience. It was a time that I will never forget.
【小題1】The author admired her mom for ________.

第二部分完形填空（共20小題，每小題1.5分，滿分30分）。
閱讀下列短文，從短文后所給各題的A，B，C，D四個(gè)選項(xiàng)中，選出可以填入空白處的最佳選項(xiàng)。
I grew up in a community called Estepona. I was 16 when one morning, Dad told me I could drive him into a  36  village called Mijas, on condition that I took the car in to be  37  nearby garage. I readily accepted. I drove Dad into Mijas, and  38  to pick him up at 4 pm, then dropped off the car at the  39 . With several hours to spare, l went to a theater.  40 , when the last movie finished, it was six. 1 was two hours late!
I knew Dad would be angry if he  41  I’d been watching movies. So I decided not to tell him the truth. When I  42  there I apologized for being late, and told him I’d  43  as quickly as I could, but that the car had needed a major repairs. I’ll never forget the  44  he gave me. “I’m disappointed you  45  you have to lie to me, Jason.” Dad looked at me again. “When you didn’t  _46 , I called the garage to ask if there were any  47 , and they told me you hadn’t yet picked up the car.” I felt  48  as I weakly told him the real reason. A  49  passed through Dad as he listened attentively. “I’m angry with  50 . I realize I’ve failed as a father. I’m going to walk home now and think seriously about  51  I’ve gone wrong all these years.” “But Dad, it’s 18 miles!” My protests and apologies were  52 . Dad walked home that day. I drove behind him,  53  him all the way, but he walked silently.
Seeing Dad in so much  54  and emotional pain was my most painful experience. However, it was  55  the most successful lesson. I have never lied since.
36. A. lonely           B. small         C. distant              D. familiar
37. A. kept         B. washed           C. watched             D. serviced
38. A. agreed       B. pimped           C. determined          D. promised
39. A. village      B. community         C. garage        D. theater
40. A. However             B. Then                    C. Therefore          D. Still
41. A. realized       B. found out          C. thought                    D. figured out
42. A. went         B ran                  C. walked              D. hurried
43. A. started               B left            C. arrived              D. come
44. A. word          B. face             C. look           D. appearance
45. A. find                    B. decide           C. believe         D feel
46. A. turn up        B. drive out      C. go away              D come out
47. A. questions    B. problems            C. mistakes                   D. faults
48. A. ashamed            B. frightened      C. nervous                    D. surprised
49. A. nervousness      B. sadness       C. silence          D. thought
50. A. you            B. myself        C. me                D. yourself
51. A. where                B. how                C. why                D. when
52. A. meaningless    B. useless         C. helpless         D. worthless
53. A. asking         B. persuading     C. begging          D. following
54. A. physical                 B. practical       C. personal         D. natural
55. A. indeed            B. always        C. also             D. almost

My six-year-old granddaughter, Caitlyn, and I stopped at a Tim Horton’s shop for a blueberry cake. As we were going out of the door, a young teenage boy was coming in.
This young man had no hair on sides of his head with a set of blue spiked（豎起的）hair on top of it. One of his nostrils(鼻孔) was pierced （扎、穿）, and a ring ran through the hole and a chain went across his face and was attached to a ring he was wearing in his ear. He held a skateboard under one arm and a basketball under the other.
Caitlyn, who was walking ahead of me, stopped at once when she saw the teenager, I thought he’d scared her and she’d frozen on the spot.
I was wrong.
My granddaughter backed up against the door and opened it as wide as it would go. Now I was face to face with the young man. I stepped aside and let him pass. His response was a polite “Thank you very much”.
On our way to the car, I praised Caitlyn for her manners in holding open the door for the young man. She didn’t seem to be troubled by his appearance, but I wanted to make sure. If a grandmother’s talk about freedom of self-expression and allowing people their differences was in order, I wanted to be ready.
As it turned out, the person who needed the talk was me.
The only thing Caitlyn noticed about the teenager was the fact that his arms were full. “He would have a hard time to open the door. ”
I saw the partially shaved head, the set of spiked hair, the piercing and the chain. She saw a person carrying something under each arm and heading toward a closed door.
In the future, I hope to get down on her level and raise my sights.
【小題1】What did the author think of the young man?

Children are very, very observant and have excellent memories.

Around Christmas last year, we were heading to Grandma’s house. The drive was an hour long, so we had plenty of time to chat. We were waiting to get onto the freeway when my daughter Hayley noticed a homeless man, no sign in hand. “Mom, is that man homeless?” I told her I believed he was.

We got onto the freeway and drove away. But the chatting had stopped. Hayley was quiet all the way there. We spent a few hours at Grandma’s then packed up to head home. As we drove back, Hayley rustled(沙沙作響地移動(dòng)) around in her seat, trying to reach something on the floor of the car. I asked her to sit still, worried her seatbelt would slip from the booster seat. She mumbled(咕噥)something and sat back.

“Mom, will the homeless man still be outside tonight?” I told her I was not sure, maybe. It was a freezing night, and I started to think of the man now too, and how cold he must be.

All of a sudden, as we got onto the freeway exit, Haley shrieked (尖叫): “There he is! There he is!” and started rolling down her window. “Mom, I found these gloves and scarf back here. Can I give them to him? Can I?” she asked.

I pulled over to the edge of the road, and beckoned(招手示意) the man to come over. Haley smiled at him and handed him her gift. I looked in the front passenger seat, loaded with leftovers from Grandma’s house, and handed those out to him as well.

The man thanked us, he clutched (抓緊) my hand in his and I could feel the bitter cold of them. We wished him a safe night and continued on our journey to our warm home.

“Haley, that was very sweet of you!” I told her. “Well, they were your gloves and scarf, Mom, but his hands looked colder, and he has to keep looking for his house!”

We had talked about homelessness before , and I could hear myself telling her: “Someone who has lost their home.” She had taken my words literally and thought the man’s home was like a lost puppy.

On the ride home, and as I carried my sleeping angel into the house that night, my heart filled with gratitude.

1.The underlined word “observant” in Paragraph I means “      ”.

A．fond of serving others                    B．quick at noticing things

C．good at memorizing                      D．easy to be pleased

2.The girl thought “a homeless person” was a person who       .

A．had no home to go to

B．had lost his or her puppy

C．was in need of gloves and scarves

D．couldn’t find his or her home

3.The mother felt thankful because        .

A．she felt lucky to have such a warm-hearted daughter

B．she was pleased that she had a great family

C．she felt happy to have given the leftovers to the man

D．they had arrived home safely despite the cold

4.The article is mainly structured around        .

A．a(chǎn)nalysis           B．comparison        C．time order         D．cause and result

A young woman was driving through the lonely countryside. It was dark and raining. Suddenly she saw an old woman by the side of the road, holding her hand out as if she wanted a lift.

   “I can’t leave her out in this weather,” the woman said to herself, so she stopped the car and opened the door.

   “Do you want a lift?” she asked. The old woman nodded and climbed into the car. After a while, she said to the old woman, “Have you been waiting for a long time?” The old woman shook her head. “Strange,” thought the young woman. She tried again. “Bad weather for the time of year,” she said. The old woman nodded. No matter what the young woman said, the hitchhiker(搭車者) gave no answer except for a nod of the head or a shrug(聳肩).

   Then the young woman noticed the hitchhiker’s hands, which were large and hairy. Suddenly she realized that the hitchhiker was actually a man! She stopped the car. “ I can’t see out of the rear screen,” she said, “Would you mind clearing it for me?”

   The hitchhiker nodded and opened the door. As soon as the hitchhiker was out of the car, the terrified young woman raced off.

   When she got to the next village she pulled up. She noticed that the hitchhiker had left his handbag behind. She picked it up and opened it. She gave a gasp. Inside the bag was a gun.

The woman stopped the car because _______.

   A. the old woman asked her to        B. she recognized the old woman

   C. she knew what the woman wanted   D. she wanted to helped the old woman

What made the woman feel strange about the old woman?

   A. That she kept nodding her head          B. That she was unable to speak

   C. That she gave no answer to her questions  D. That she had large and hairy hands

The young woman asked the hitchhiker to clear the rear screen because _______.

   A. this is the way she thought of to get rid of him   B. the hitchhiker frightened her

   C. the hitchhiker was very helpful   D. she couldn’t see out of the rear screen

The hitchhiker left the bag with a gun in it behind because_______.

A. he wanted to give her a warning  

B. he had not expected the woman would leave him behind in the rain

C. it was his present for her  

D. he wanted to kill her with the gun