She was dancing. My lame grandmother was dancing. I stood in the living room doorway, looking at her beautiful movements, absolutely shocked. She was the pet of the dancing world. And then she’d had her accident and it was all over. I had read that in an old newspaper article.

‘‘So… Your leg? I mean, how did your leg heal (恢复健全)?”

“To tell you the truth — my legs have been well all my life,” she sighed.

“But I don’t understand!” I said, “Your dancing career (事业)… You pretended all these years?”

‘‘Very much so, and for a very good reason.”

She thought for a while and then continued. “We were talking about engagement (订婚) when your grandfather had to go to war. I was so afraid of losing him that the only way I could stay normal was to dance. I put all my energy and time into practicing and I became very good. Critics praised me, the public loved me, but all I could feel was the ache in my heart, not knowing whether the love of my life would ever return. Then one day a letter came. There were only three sentences: ‘I have lost my leg. I am no longer a whole man and now give you back your freedom. It is best you forget about me.’’’

“I made my decision there and then. I traveled away from the city. When I returned I had bought myself a stick. I told everyone I had been in a car crash and that my leg would never completely heal again. My dancing days were over. No one doubted the story — I had learned to limp (一瘸一拐地走) convincingly before I returned home. And I made sure the first person to hear of my accident was a reporter I knew well. Then I traveled to the hospital. They had pushed your grandfather outside in his wheelchair. I took a deep breath, leaned on my stick and limped to him.”

“I showed him newspaper articles of my accident. ‘There is a whole life waiting for us out there! But I am not going to carry you. You are going to walk yourself.’”

“I limped a few steps toward him and showed him what I’d taken out of my pocket. ‘Now show me you are still a man.’ I said. He bent to take his stick from the ground and struggled out of that wheelchair. He managed it on his own and walked to me and never sat in a wheelchair again in his life.”

“What did you show him?” I had to know. Grandma looked at me and smiled. “Two engagement rings, of course. I had bought them the day after he left for the war and I was not going to waste them on any other man.”

1.What does the underlined word “it” in the first paragraph refer to?

2.Which is the correct order of the following events according to the passage?

a. Grandfather lost his leg in the war.

b. Grandmother bought two engagement rings.

c. Grandfather was inspired to stand up on his own.

d. Grandmother pretended she was lame.

e. Grandmother became an excellent dancer.

f. Grandfather had to go to war.

3.Which of the following words can best describe grandmother?

4.What’s the main idea of the passage?

She was dancing. My lame grandmother was dancing. I stood in the living room doorway, looking at her beautiful movements, absolutely shocked. She was the pet of the dancing world. And then she’d had her accident and it was all over. I had read that in an old newspaper article.
‘‘So… Your leg? I mean, how did your leg heal (恢复健全)?”
“To tell you the truth — my legs have been well all my life,” she sighed.
“But I don’t understand!” I said, “Your dancing career (事业)… You pretended all these years?”
‘‘Very much so, and for a very good reason.”
She thought for a while and then continued. “We were talking about engagement (订婚) when your grandfather had to go to war. I was so afraid of losing him that the only way I could stay normal was to dance. I put all my energy and time into practicing and I became very good. Critics praised me, the public loved me, but all I could feel was the ache in my heart, not knowing whether the love of my life would ever return. Then one day a letter came. There were only three sentences: ‘I have lost my leg. I am no longer a whole man and now give you back your freedom. It is best you forget about me.’’’
“I made my decision there and then. I traveled away from the city. When I returned I had bought myself a stick. I told everyone I had been in a car crash and that my leg would never completely heal again. My dancing days were over. No one doubted the story — I had learned to limp (一瘸一拐地走) convincingly before I returned home. And I made sure the first person to hear of my accident was a reporter I knew well. Then I traveled to the hospital. They had pushed your grandfather outside in his wheelchair. I took a deep breath, leaned on my stick and limped to him.”
“I showed him newspaper articles of my accident. ‘There is a whole life waiting for us out there! But I am not going to carry you. You are going to walk yourself.’”
“I limped a few steps toward him and showed him what I’d taken out of my pocket. ‘Now show me you are still a man.’ I said. He bent to take his stick from the ground and struggled out of that wheelchair. He managed it on his own and walked to me and never sat in a wheelchair again in his life.”
“What did you show him?” I had to know. Grandma looked at me and smiled. “Two engagement rings, of course. I had bought them the day after he left for the war and I was not going to waste them on any other man.”
【小题1】What does the underlined word “it” in the first paragraph refer to?

About ten years ago, I was on a plane going west, and a young woman boarded and sat across the aisle (过道) from me. I ___41____ her for two reasons. She was very attractive, and she was holding a teddy bear about half her ____42____. I teased her by asking if she had a ___43___ for the bear. She laughed and said no.
About halfway through the flight she ___44____ over and told me she was going to Tucson to enter rehab (进行康复治疗). She ___45___ to share her life story with me. She had been working as a dancer in a nightclub. That ___46____ had led her down a dark ____47____ to drugs and alcohol. As I listened to her story. I was ____48____ at all she had gone through. I listened to all she shared and told her I was sure she was going to ____49___ it. At the end of the flight, she ___50____ me for listening to her.
A few years later, I got a ___51____ in the mail saying, “Wow, it’s been years since we met on that plane. It is ___52____ how you touched my life.” She went on to tell me that she had ____53____ to stay away from drugs, and had been working for a radio station. She felt she had achieved things she could not have ____54___ that day on the plane. We agreed to set up a time to get ___55___.
When I saw her, she was ____56____ the attractive young woman I remembered. She told me that that little ___57___ we had had turned her life around. She had boarded the plane ___58___ anything would work in her life, and my affirmation (肯定) of her as a person and of her ___59___ had given her the last bit of ___60___ she needed to work through her problems.
The young woman taught me it’s never too late to make a new start in life.

根据下列各句句意及所给单词的首字母或汉语提示，用正确形式的单词填空。
【小题1】I can see many beautiful Christmas __________ (装饰) on the streets.
【小题2】She was always __________ (乐观的), even when things were at their worse.
【小题3】A cinema is a public place of __________ (消遣).
【小题4】He prefers going on with his work to __________ (退休).
【小题5】He is to be __________ (祝贺) for his success.
【小题6】It is reported that an aircraft c__________ near the city but luckily no one was killed.
【小题7】Little Tom wrote “Granny, Heaven” on the e__________, and then gave it to his father to post.
【小题8】A few of the students failed in the examination, you i__________.
【小题9】I don’t know if we can help – that d__________.
【小题10】The doctor had to cut off his left leg and fix an a__________ leg for him.

A long time ago there lived a farmer in a village. One day, while   36  in the fields, the farmer’s son   37  and broke his leg. The villagers went to the __ 38 __ and said，“My goodness, what great misfortune! Your son has broken his leg; now he can’t   39  you in the fields.”One day later, government troop (军队) went to the village   40  young men to join the __ 41 _. They had to leave the boy ___42  because his leg was broken. Again, the villagers came and said，“My goodness, what great __ 43 __!”  The farmer replied, “It is neither fortune __ 44 __ misfortune.”
Then one day the farmer’s    45   horse jumped the fence and ran away. The villagers came and said，“What great misfortune that your horse has run away.” Two or three days later, the horse __ 46 __ with a dozen wild horses ___47   it. The villagers came and said，“What great misfortune that your horse came back with twelve_ 48 __.”
The farmer was __49 __ enough to know that nothing was either fortune or misfortune. Everything that happens has a ___50 __ and meaning beyond   51   appearances of the events. So many times, we are __ 52  by the feelings we have about the events in our lives. Remember: “Nothing is long or short, hot or cold, good or bad.” There is no   53   in thinking of something as good or bad, because we __ 54  know what will happen next. The best thing we can do is__ 55  it.