A. anything
B. something
C. nothing
D. everything

     While I was waiting to go into university, I saw in a newspaper a teaching job wanted at a school
about ten miles from where I   _1_  . Because I was in great need of   _2_   and wanted to do something
useful, I applied(申请).
     Three days later, a letter   _3_  . It asked me to see the   _4_   at Croydon. It proved to
be a(n)   _5_   journey -a train to Croydon station, a ten-minute bus ride and then a walk of   _6_   a
quarter of a mile. As a result I arrived there, feeling too hot to be nervous. Clearly, the principal   _7_  
opened the door. He was   _8_   and round."
     The school" he said, "has a group of twenty-four boys between seven and thirteen." I should have to
teach all the   _9_   except art, which he taught himself.
     I should have to divide the class into  _10_   groups and teach them at three different  _11_  , and I
was not   12_   at the thought of teaching maths -a subject which I didn't do very well in at school. It
was   13_   that I had to teach them on Saturday afternoon    14_  most of my friends would be    15_ 
themselves at
that time.
     Before I had time to ask about my salary(薪水), he got up to his feet. "Now," he said. "you'd better
meet my wife. She is the one who really runs this school.

     When I was seven years old, my family made me an ant farm. First, we put clean sand in a thin glass
box. Then we waited for the ants to arrive.
     After the ants were in the glass farm, they started to make tunnels. I was very surprised that each one
knew exactly what to do. Each had its own job.
On the fifth day a tragedy (悲剧) happened. I put my face so close to the glass farm that I knocked it
over. All the tunnels fell down. Although the ants remained alive after the earthquake, one by one they
began to die. I was scared as I watched them give up building their tunnels to carry bodies to a corner
of the farm.
My mother said that the ants were dying of sadness. They simply could not understand why their tunnels
were gone.
     Although much time has passed, I still think of that ant farm. Mom had hoped it would teach me about
the natural world, but it taught me much more.
Over the years, I came to realize the importance of teamwork. Working together, the ants were able to
make an amazing world for themselves. I also learned that they should be admired for their hard work.
     But there was an even larger lesson that I did not realize until recently: Adversity (逆境) is a natural
part of life, and must be accepted. Unlike the ants, we cannot give up when we are sad. We have to
realize that if a tunnel is gone, we must build another.
Giving up, I say, is not a good choice.

1. It was raining heavily when he ________ home.
2. Mary wonders if her uncle ________ his service as a guide when she visits Beijing.
3. —Amy, I called you yesterday evening, but nobody answered the phone.
    — Oh, I ________ a walk with my mother at that time.
4. —________ you ________ a letter to your mother recently?
    —Yes, I wrote one last Sunday.
5. We are told that sound ________ through air at a speed of about 340 metres per second.