Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, “Mum, you must come and see the daffodils （水仙花）before they are over.” I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Lake Arrowhead. “I will go next Tuesday,” I promised, a little unwillingly, on her third call.
The next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and so I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn’s house and hugged and greeted my grandchildren, I said, “Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible （看不見的）in the cloud and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see!”
My daughter smiled calmly and said, “We drive in this weather all the time, Mum. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience.”
After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand-lettered sign that read “Daffodil Garden”.
We got out of the car and each took a child’s hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, we turned a corner of the path, and I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most beautiful sight! There were five acres of flowers! “But who has done this?” I asked Carolyn. “It’s just one woman,” Carolyn answered. “That’s her home,” Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house that looked small and modest in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house. On the patio （庭院）, we saw a poster. “Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking” was the headline.
The first answer was a simple one. “50,000 bulbs （鱗莖）,” it read. The second answer was, “One at a time, by one woman.” The third answer was, “Began in 1958.”
I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than fifty years before, had begun -- one bulb at a time -- to bring the beauty and joy to the mountain top.
【小題1】The author didn’t go to see the daffodils at first because _________.

第二節(jié)：完形填空（共20小題；每小題1.5分，共30分）

閱讀下面短文，掌握其大意，然后從36---55各題后的 A B C D四個選項(xiàng)中選出可以填入空白處的最佳選項(xiàng)。

A gift left to her

Early in the morning, I was taken in a nylon bag into a truck. I felt horrible as well as ___36___What would she do with me? She was almost mad after the___37__of her husband.

A few minutes later, I heard the truck___38__its engine and move fast. I kept making sounds to show my protest, but failed to make any___39___ Finally she put me down in a __40__place. Maybe she didn’t want me to die from lack of air; she untied the bag.

I ___41___ out and looked up, only to see many strange faces and fingers pointing at me.

It turned out that my owner meant to___42___ me. I saw my owner on the truck, which was going farther and farther. So I cast my head ___43__the direction of the truck. The days we spent together was like a movie playing in front of my eyes as I ran after the truck. I saw my male owner, who suffered liver cancer; look at me with his sad eyes. I saw myself___44__my owner everywhere; I saw him lie in his dying bed, she all___45__.

I ran as fast as I could. And the___46___I saw her wave to me, my eyes became wet. I wouldn’t blame her for treating me like this for she was such a (n) ___47___ lady. She seemed even somewhat ___48___ at his leaving her alone, trying many ways to ___49___the pains of losing him. She ___50___ his pictures and clothes, and she redecorated the whole house. Now I was the only ___51___ thing to remind her of him. ___52___ later, I am pretty sure that she would realize how mad she was to do this…

The truck finally stopped when I was almost ___53___. She ran up to me and hugged me ___54___. I heard her ___55___: “I know you are a present he left to me.”

36. A. puzzled           B. excited          C. delighted             D. frightened

37. A. separation           B. absence       C. departure           D. death

38. A. run                        B. begin            C. start                    D. operate

39. A. sense                  B. trouble                 C. effort                      D. difference

40. A. usual                  B. strange              C. familiar               D. dark

41. A. walked        B. rushed           C. ran                      D. struggled

42. A. harm               B. desert            C. punish                      D. sell

43. A. into                    B. at                        C. in                            D. to

44. A. follow            B. bring            C. guide                        D. support

45. A. with tears            B. in tears                 C. out of breath        D. in silence

46. A. time                  B. direction       C. way                    D. moment

47. A. cruel                  B. unfriendly     C. unfavorable          D. unfortunate

48. A. calm                   B. depressed      C. angry                       D. sad

49. A. kill                        B. remove             C. bear                    D. prevent

50. A. kept                   B. burned                 C. sold                    D. hit

51. A. moving           B. walking         C. existing               D. blessing

52. A. But                    B. And                  C. Thus                   D. Then

53. A. worn out             B. knocked out    C. left out               D. made out

54. A. tightly            B. patiently        C. sadly               D. desperately

55. A. shout                  B. speak            C. whisper            D. talk

If your father never says to you “I love you” when you are a child, it   36  to be more and more difficult for him to say the words as he grows   37 ．

I do not   38  hearing the words from my father when I was growing up．  39 , I could not recall(回憶) when I had   40  said those words to him either．

One day, I decided to   41  the ice and make the first   42 ．So in our next phone conversation I gathered all my   43  and let out the words in a low voice, “Dad… I love you!”

There was a   44  at the other end and he awkwardly   45 , “Well, same back at ya!”

I was unexpectedly   46  and my voice was raised, “Dad, I know you love me, and I know when you are ready, you will say what you want to say．”

Fifteen minutes later my mother called and   47  asked, “Paul, is everything okay?”

A few weeks later, Dad   48  our phone conversation with the words, “Paul, I love you．” I was so moved that tears were rolling down my cheeks as I finally “  49 ” the love．As I sat there in tears I realized that this   50  moment had taken our father-and-son relationship to a new   51 ．Shortly afterwards, my father narrowly   52  death following heart surgery（外科手術(shù)）．Many times   53 , I have   54  if I had not taken the first step and Dad not   55  the surgery, I would have never “heard” the love．

A woman came out of her house and saw three old men sitting in her front yard. She said, "I don’t think I know you, but you must be hungry. Please come in and have something to eat." 
"Is the man of the house home?” they asked. "No", she replied, "He’s out." "Then we cannot come in", they replied.
In the evening when her husband came home, she told him what had happened. "Go to tell them I am home and invite them in!" The woman went out and invited the men in. "We do not go into a house together," they replied. "Why is that?" she asked. 
One of the old men explained that their names were Wealth(財富), Success and Love. Then he added, "Now go in and discuss with your husband which one of us you want in your home." 
The woman went in and told her husband what was said. Her husband was overjoyed and he suggested inviting Wealth to fill their home with wealth. And his wife wanted to invite Success; but their daughter-in-law suggested they should invite Love so that their home would be filled with love. At last the husband said to his wife. "Go out and invite Love to be our guest."
The woman went out and asked the three old men, "Which one of you is Love? Please come in and be our guest." 
Love got up and started walking toward the house. 
The other two also got up and followed him. Surprised, the lady asked Wealth and Success: "I only invited Love, Why are you coming in?" 
The old men replied together: "If you had invited Wealth or Success, the other two of us would have stayed out, but since you invited Love, wherever He goes, we go with him. Wherever there is Love, there is also Wealth and Success!" 
【小題1】The best title for this passage would be __________.

Dear Lily,
I got your letter and pleased to hear about your job interview at a grocery store. I know you want to get a job at the TV station, and you’ve been looking for several week now and haven’t found something. The job at the grocery store doesn’t sound badly. If I am you, I’d take it. If you worked there for some time, you could earn some money. Its your decision, of course, but I advise you to take it. Let me to know what you decided to do. By the way, after you get the job you can think about get a bike later.