Dad taught me a lot about life, especially its hard times. I remembered one of his ___21___ one night when I was ready to ___22___ a political campaign I was losing, and wrote about it in my diary.
Tired, feeling the months of ___23___ in vain, I went up to my study to make some notes. I was looking for a pencil in the back of my desk drawer ___24___ I turned up one of Dad’s old business cards that he was proud of: Andrea Cuomo Italian-American Groceries --- Fine Imported Products. Then I thought about how he ___25___ with difficult situations. A lot of pictures ___26___ into my mind, but one scene came sharply into ___27___.
We had just moved to Holliswood, New York. We had our own house for the first time; it had some land around it, even trees. One, ___28___, was a great blue spruce (云杉) that must have been 40 feet tall.
Less than a week after we moved in, there was a terrible storm. We came home from the store that night to find the spruce pulled almost ___29___ from the ground and thrown onto the street. When my brother Frankie and I saw the spruce, our hearts ___30___. But not Dad’s.
The rain was falling. Then he ___31___ , “Ok, we’re going to push him up!” “ What are you talking about, Dad? The ___32___ are out of the ground!” “ Shut up, we’re going to push him up, he’s going to grow again.” We couldn’t say ___33___ to him. So we ___34___ him into the house and got what rope ___35___ was and tied it around the top of the tree that lay on the street, and then he stood up by the house, ___36___ 
me pulling on the rope, and Frankie in the street in the rain, ___37___ to push up the great blue spruce. In no ___38___ at all, we had him standing up straight again! Dad ___39___ the stakes (桩) in the ground, tied the rope from the trunk to the stakes, and said, “ Don’t worry. He’s going to grow again…”
I looked at the card and wanted to cry. I ___40 ___ wait to get back into the campaign.
小题1:.
.
A．ideas
B．lessons
C．talks
D．conversations小题2:.
A．bury
B．attempt
C．trap
D．quit小题3:.
A．struggle
B．operation
C．performance
D．application小题4:.
A．as
B．before
C．while
D．when小题5:.
.
A．did
B．occupied
C．settled
D．dealt小题6:.
A．appeared
B．bumped
C．leapt
D．burst小题7:.
A．spot
B．view
C．scene
D．site小题8:.
.
A．in relief
B．in need
C．in particular
D．in all小题9:.
A．absolutely
B．accidentally
C．totally
D．automatically小题10:.
A．suffered
B．carved
C．sank
D．infected小题11:.
A．announced
B．challenged
C．barked
D．distributed小题12:.
A．trunks
B．roots
C．branches
D．leaves小题13:.
A．anything
B．no
C．nothing
D．something小题14:.
.
A．accompanied
B．hiked
C．joined
D．followed小题15:.
A．it
B．that
C．there
D．this小题16:.
A．along
B．via
C．by
D．with小题17:.
A．to help
B．helped
C．helping
D．help小题18:.
.
A．problem
B．time
C．way
D．means小题19:.
A．drove
B．removed
C．delivered
D．dragged小题20:.
A．needn’t
B．wouldn’t
C．shouldn’t
D．couldn’t
