阅读下面短文，根据所读内容在文后第53至第57小题的空格里填上适当的单词或短语，并将答案转写到答题卷上。每空不超过3个单词。 One day, in spring, four lawyers were riding their horses along a country road. There had been a storm, and the ground was very soft. Water was dripping(滴) from the trees, and the grass was wet. As they were passing through a grove(树丛) of small trees, they heard a great fluttering(拍翅) over their heads and a weak chirping(唧唧声) in the grass. “What is the matter here?” asked the first lawyer, whose name was Speed. “Oh, it’s only some birds!” said the second lawyer, whose name was Hardin. “The storm has blown two of the little ones out of the nest. They are too young to fly, and the mother bird must be very worried about them.” “What a pity! They’ll die down there in the grass,” said the third lawyer. “Oh, well! They’re noting but birds,” said Hardin. “Why should we bother?” Then they rode on, talking and laughing as before. In a few minutes they forgot about the birds. However, the fourth lawyer, whose name was Abraham Lincoln, stopped. He got down from his horse and very gently put the little ones in his big warm hands. They did not seem frightened, but chirped softly, as if they knew they were safe. Then he looked up to find the nest from which they had fallen. It was much higher than he could reach from the ground, so Lincoln climbed up the tree. He put the birds softly one by one into their warm little home. Soon the other three lawyers stopped at a spring(泉) to give their horses water. “Where’s Lincoln?” asked one. All were surprised to find that Lincoln was not with them. In a few minutes Lincoln joined them. His shoes were covered with mud. “Hello, Abraham!” said Hardin. “Where have you been?” “I stopped a minute to give those birds to their mother,” he answered. Then all three of them laughed heartily Then all three of them laughed heartily. They thought it so foolish that a strong man should take so much trouble just for some worthless little birds. “Gentlemen,” said Lincoln, “I would not sleep well tonight if I had left those helpless little birds on their own in the wet grass.” Abraham Lincoln afterwards became very famous as a lawyer and statesman. He was then elected president. Next to Washington, he is regarded as one of the greatest American presidents.
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