As Christmas is coming, there are presents to be bought, cards to be sent, and rooms to be cleaned. Parents are ___1___ with difficult jobs of hiding presents from curious young children. If the gifts are large, this is sometimes a real ___2___. On Christmas Eve, young children find the excitement almost unbearable. They are torn between the wish to go to bed early so that Father Christmas will bring their presents quickly and the wish to ___3___ up late so that they will not ___4___ the fun. The wish for gifts usually proves stronger. But though children go to bed early, they often lie ___5___ for a long time, hoping to get a short ___6___ at Father Christmas.
Last Christmas, my wife and I ___7___ hid a few large presents in the storeroom. I ___8___ the moment when my son, Jimmy, would ___9___ me where that new bike had come from, but ___10___ he did not see it.
On Christmas Eve, ___11___ took the children hours to go to sleep. It must have been nearly ___12___ when my wife and I went quietly into their room and began ___13___ stockings. Then I pushed in the ___14___ I bought for Jimmy and left it beside the Christmas tree. We knew we would not get much sleep that night, for the children were ___15___ to get up early. At about five o’clock the next morning, we were ___16___ by loud sounds coming from the children’s room — they were shouting excitedly! ___17___ I had time to get out of bed, young Jimmy came riding into the room on his new bike, and his sister, Mary, followed close behind pushing her new baby carriage. ___18___ the baby arrived. He moved ___19___ the hands and knees into the room dragging a large balloon behind him. Suddenly it burst. That woke us up ___20___. The day had really begun with a band(巨响) !
1. A. faced B. met C. filled D. pleased
2. A. question B. matter C. problem D. business
3. A. get B. stay C. stand D. wake
4. A. lose B. break C. miss D. leave
5. A. awake B. wake C. asleep D. sleep
6. A. look B. stare C. glare D. watch
7. A. hopefully B. busily C. gladly D. successfully
8. A. liked B. feared C. surprised D. hated
9. A. answer B. tell C. ask D. search
10. A. sadly B. unluckily C. possibly D. fortunately
11. A. it B. they C. I D. we
12. A. morning B. midnight C. evening D. daybreak
13. A. filling B. sewing C. mending D. preparing
14. A. present B. stocking C. bike D. tree
15. A. going B. sure C. glad D. excited
16. A. troubled B. frightened C. woken D. shocked
17. A. Before B. After C. Until D. Since
18. A. Even B. And C. Soon D. Then
19. A. with B. on C. over D. by
20. A. all B. nearly C. happily D. completely
