第二节：完形填空（共20小题；每小题1分，满分20分）
阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从21 – 40 各题所给的四个选项（A, B, C, 和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题纸上将该选项标号涂黑。
It was so cold that I couldn’t feel my legs. There was going to be a racing contest that night so I was 21 my horse, Skippy, up. I was simply running laps(跑道的圈) around the ring. The  22  cold air had been blowing past me, freezing my limbs, but every second I  23  it. You could hear the faint  24  of the people up at the clubhouse eating their dinner. My parents were also there, not knowing that my little sister had slowly wandered her way down to the ring. It was  25  because there was no moon or stars. Nobody else was in the ring at the time. I was really enjoying the 26  and I was able to  27  what Skippy was doing. As I took my last lap it  28 . Everything rapidly slowed down as I saw my little sister step  29   the ring. I saw true fear on her face because she knew she wouldn’t be  30  to move out of the way fast enough. She knew that she was going to get hit.
She tried to  31  but nothing came out of her fear-dried throat. When my horse got to her, he was still in a full out run.  32 , miraculously(奇迹般地), he slid so hard on his back feet that he  33 . It really made the  34  seem absolutely unreal. I thought that maybe I was  35 . I had  36  in my mind that I wasn’t seeing what was happening. I knew I had hit my sister. There was no way I could have  37  her. My horse was rising straight up and while he was in the air I couldn’t breathe. It’s like I forgot  38 . As all of this happened I watched my sister’s face transform (变形) through many different  39 : terror, confusion, curiosity, and then a sort of relief. Then she was laughing.
As I held my sister into my arms, Skippy stood right behind me knowing that I actually owed him my life  40  he saved my sister’s.
21.A. picking                B. warming                  C. catching                   D. setting
22.A. bitterly                B. hardly                      C. gently                      D. perfectly
23.A. challenged                  B. witnessed                 C. enjoyed                    D. hated
24.A. ceremony                   B. tradition                   C. victory                            D. laughter
25.A. windy                        B. bright                      C. dark                         D. cloudy
26.A. quiet                          B. quality                            C. impression                D. significance
27.A. rely on                   B. focus on                   C. insist on                   D. put on
28.A. let out                 B. held on                    C. participated in               D. took place
29.A. close to               B. out of                      C. into                         D. towards
30.A. able                 B. frightened          C. content                     D. proud
31.A. evaluate               B. worry                      C. scream                            D. escape
32.A. Accidentally         B. Normally                 C. Generally                 D. Somehow
33.A. sped up               B. rose up                        C. broke down                     D. wore out
34.A. moment               B. contest                            C. comment                  D. technique
35.A. advancing                   B. breathing                  C. concluding               D. dreaming
36.A. that                            B. none                        C. neither                            D. it
37.A. hit                      B. recognized                C. missed                            D. acknowledged
38.A. how                           B. what                        C. when                       D. why
39.A. actions                B. emotions                  C. attitudes                   D. thoughts
40.A. if                               B. because                    C. as if                         D. so that