2018年高考英语提分专练：第6题 完形填空

阅读下面的短文，从短文后各题所给的A、B、C和D四个选项中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

    While high school does not generally encourage students to explore new aspects of life,college sets the stage for that exploration. I myself went through this 1 process and found something that has changed my 2 at college for the better:I discovered ASL-American Sign Language(美式手语).

    I never felt an urge to 3 any sign language before.My entire family is hearing,and so are all my friends.The 4 language were enough in all my interactions(交往).Little did I know that I would discover my 5for ASL.

    The 6 began during my first week at college. I watched as the ASL Club 7 their translation of a song. Both the hand movements and the very 8 of communicating without speaking 9me. What I saw was completely unlike anything I had experienced in the 10 .This newness just left me 11 more.

    After that, feeling the need to 12further, I decided to drop in on one of ASL club`s meetings. I only learned how to13 the alphabet that day. Yet instead of being discouraged by my 14progress,I was excited. I then made it a point to 15those meetings and learn all I could.

    The following term, I  16an ASL class. The professor was deaf and any talking was  17 . I soon realized that the silence was not unpleasant. 18 , if there had been any talking, it would have 19us to learn less. Now, I appreciate the silence and the 20way of communication it opens.

    In 1973, I was teaching elementary school. Each day, 27 kids1“The Thinking Laboratory.”That was the 2 students voted for after deciding that “Room 104” was too3.

    Freddy was an average4, but not an average person . He had the rare balance of fun and compassion（同情）. He would5  the loudest over fun and be the saddest over anyone's6.

    Before the school year7, I gave the kids a special 8, T-shirts with the words “Verbs Are Your9 “ on them. I had advised the kids that while verbs（动词）may seem dull , most of the10 things they do throughout their lives will be verbs.

    Through the years, I'd run into former students who would provide 11 on old classmates. I learned that Freddy did several jobs after his 12 from high school and remained the same 13person I met forty years before. Once, while working overnight at a store, he let a homeless man 14in his truck. Another time, he15a friend money to buy a house .

    Just last year, I was16 a workshop when someone knocked at the classroom door. A woman17 the interruption and handed me an envelope. I stopped teaching and 18 it up. Inside were the “Verbs” shirt and a 19 from Freddy's mother. “Freddy passed away on Thanksgiving. He wanted you to have this.”

    I told the story  to the class. As sad as it was, I couldn't help smiling . Although Freddy was taken from us, we all20something from  Freddy.

    A Toronto man is offering a free round-the-world air to the right woman. But   1 apply. You must be named Elizabeth Gallahgher and have a Candian   2 .

    Jordan Axani, 28, said he and his then girlfriend, Elizabeth Gallagher, booked heavily discounted round-the-world air tickets in May, but their   3   ended and he did not want her ticket to   4    . The ticket had a strict no-transfer（不可转让）  5  , but since passport information was not required when    6  , any Canadian Elizabeth Gallagher can 7   it.

    “I just want to see the ticket go to good use and for someone to  8   a lot of joy,” said Axani. He posted his   9  on a social networking website, and received thousands of e-mails, including thirty from actual Elizabeth Gallagbers with the  10 passports, “More  11  , there are hundreds of Canadians who are interested in   12  their name to Elizabeth Gallagher,” Axani said. “It was absolutely out of   13  , thousands of e-mails, people around the world 14 their stories of travel.”

    Axani wrote in his post that he is not  15  anything in return and that the woman who uses the  16 ticket can choose to either travel with him or 17  the ticket and travel on her own.

    The  18  is scheduled to start on December 21 in New York City and continue on to Milan, Prague, Paris, Bangkok and New Delhi before 19  in Toronto on January 8. He said the  20  woman will be announced on the website and the trip will be shared online.

    I remember the first day when I saw Sally playing basketball. I watched in wonder as she struggled her way through the crowd of boys on the playground. She seemed so1but she managed to shoot jump shots just over their heads and into the net. The boys always tried to stop her2nobody could.

    I began to notice Sally at other times, basketball in hand, playing3She practiced dribbling and4over and over.

    One day I asked Sally why she5so much. Without a moment of hesitation she said, "I want to go to college. The only way I can go is to get a6 I'm going to play college basketball and I want to be the best one. I believe that if I am7enough, I will get one. My father has told me that if the dream is big enough, the facts don't8"

    I9her through those junior high years and into high school. Every week, she led her team to10 One day in her senior year, I saw her sitting on the grass, her head11in her arms. Slowly and quietly, I12and sat down beside her. "What's wrong?" I asked. "Oh, nothing, "came a soft reply , “I am just too short." The13told her that at 165cm she would probably never play for a top team-still less she would be14a scholarship-so she should stop dreaming about college.

    I felt she was extremely15I asked her if she had talked to her dad about it yet. She told me that her father said those coaches were16. They didn't understand the17of a dream.

    The next year, Sally was seen by a college basketball coach after a big game. She was18offered a scholarship and19to the college team. She was going to get the college education that she had20and worked toward for all those years.

    It's true: if the dream is big enough, the facts don' t count.

    My parents passed away ten years ago and I miss them terribly. But I know they are with me every day in what they taught me and in the 1 they gave me. Every morning my father's message to me was: Remember that 2 you walk out of this door, you carry responsibility, the good name of this family, the hopes and dreams of your mom and dad. My mother often urged me to3 the high standards she set for me.

    When I was in high school, I played in a rock band with friends in my class. We were devoted and practiced constantly. We moved past the guys - in - a - garage stage and 4 to be pretty good, doing getting - paid gigs (演奏会) most weekends, which made me 5 At that time, though part of me was 6 up in that band, another part of me was the oldest son in the Clark family,7 of my origin and a dedicated student busy applying to colleges. Without even telling my parents, I applied to Harvard. I didn't think I had much chance of getting in,8I wanted to try. So I was riding around being Mr Cool Rock Musician half of the time, and the other half I was focused on family and 9 goals. I was running on parallel 10

    When the group won a city wide Battle of the Bands, things heated up. My band mates had stars in their eyes - we might be able to make it big. However, I began to feel 11 I realized I was on quite different tracks: I 12 was becoming two people,13 identities back and forth depending on who I was with. I had to make an option. As I considered my 14 my parents' words were right there, helping me to see that my dreams weren't about signing a record deal, letting my hair grow, and living in a tour bus. So I 15 out. My bandmasters were 16. They thought I was crazy to withdraw 17the peak of real success. But however successful that band got, I knew it wasn't in line with my 18 with my feeling of what I was 19 to do, with who I was - it simply wasn't me.

    In that instant and in many others throughout my life, my parent's advice has helped me recenter and 20 I could remember who I was - the hopes and dreams I carried.

    It began years ago, after Mom had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. As her symptom 1, I often had a hard time figuring out what was real and what wasn't in her2. One day I was helping her find some pants that fitted, and she was 3 them on and looking in the mirror. Suddenly she turned and said,4 to her reflection in the mirror, “Well, I like her. She is always really nice to me.”

    It caught me so off guard. There we were doing 5 things, and suddenly she was talking about her reflection as if it were another person. How should I 6? I looked closely, as if there was going to be someone else in that mirror, saying, “Great. I am so glad she's 7to you.”

    Though still in 8 I knew there was no point bringing someone with Alzheimer's back to 9It wasn't, until later that I could 10 that the lady in the mirror was real to Mom.

    Another time I walked in, finding Mom 11 I was going to leave when Mom woke up. “Hi Mom, it's me, Molly, your daughter.” Since Mom may or may not 12 me when we meet, I always identify myself to her.

    That day she remembered me. She 13 my arm slightly and said, “Hi, honey. Come here, I want you to meet someone 14 she leaves.” And so I was reintroduced to the lady in the mirror. I 15 her as if someone were really there, and that was 16for Mom.

    I am glad she loves her17 because she sees herself as a kind being. This is yet another18 my mother has taught me: We should love ourselves and others with the kind of 19 my mom has for her lady in the mirror, even though she doesn't know she is seeing herself, my beautiful, loving, and 20 Mom.

    A lot happened to me while I lived on Thirteenth Street. I 1 school at Miss Marie Purkins' School for Little Folks kindergarten which I loved until I broke my leg one day 2  rope. And it wasn't3  a moving rope. One of the rope ends in the playground was tied to a tree, the other end to a swing set. The kids would  4  on one side and take turns running and jumping over it. All the other kids5 the rope.

    But I had no6I was a little short and fat anyway, and I was so slow that I was once the only kid at an Easter egg hunt who didn't get a7egg, not because I couldn't find them but because I couldn't get to them 8enough. On the day I tried to jump rope but I was wearing cowboy boots to school. Like a fool I didn't9the boots to jump. My heel 10  on the rope, so I turned, fell and hurt my leg. I lay in11on the ground for several minutes while Daddy12over from his company to get me.

    I had broken my leg above the knee, and13I was growing so fast, the doctor was 14to put me in a cast up to my hip.  15  he made a hole through my ankle, pushed a stainless steel bar through it. And then he 16 it to a stainless steel horseshoe, and 17 my leg up in the air over my hospital bed. For two months, I had been lying on my 18 feeling both foolish, waiting to return to my19 . I missed my playmates so much.

    After I got out of the hospital, my folks bought me a bicycle,20I never lost my fear of riding without the training wheels. No wonder people say, "Once bitten, twice shy."

    I have to admit that I have changed a lot. I had introduced myself to others by saying, “Hi, I am J's mother” or “A's mom” rather than my own name. Another mother 1  asked me, “And do you have a(n)2?”

    My friend 3 me a few days before. I kept on talking for five minutes about my4. When I 5, she asked, “So, is there anything going on with  6 ?”

    At first, I didn't understand 7 she was asking me that. Hadn't I just told her what was going on with me? But then I realized that8 I said had actually been about myself. It was all about my kids. I love being a mom. The kids were my world.9 , it was my kids' world, and I just lived in it and  10it didn't fall apart.

    The phone call with my friend made me  11 that I needed to start thinking about who else I am  12  being a mother. I realized that to be a good 13, I also had to be my own person—not just someone who only14to take care of other people.

    I joined a club and started doing some volunteer work. I took a writing class online. I am now a regular 15 to several magazines and write a monthly blog. I don't make a lot of money by writing, but I feel more 16 as a person. I am  17 and growing, and that makes me more 18and a better mother.

    Now when I19  myself, I say, “Hi, my name is Randi,” and it feels 20  to be me.

    Setting of fireworks during festivals is said to have a history of about 2000 years. It does add to festive atmosphere. But let's stop and 1 the price we pay for just a few minutes of 2  

    First, the amount of money we spend on fireworks is 3 .The excitement is gone  4  . Let's face it, what we really are doing is burning 5  . Those tax dollars would be 6  to much better use.

    Second, there is the matter of7  .Fireworks contain chemicals that are harmful to people and animals. Over the years, these chemicals will8 the air we breathe and the water we drink.

    Third, let's consider the rubbish left behind after a fireworks 9 . What a 10! One would probably 11 those who set off the fireworks would have the politeness to12the trash afterwards.13  they don't. The mess 14  the kind of attitude people have toward our15 .

    Fourth, fireworks are16 . Some fireworks can damage your17  , especially the fireworks used meanwhile that give off a big BANG. Losing your hearing is too high a price to pay.18 all the safety warning, we still see injuries and deaths as a result of fireworks. Approximately 10,000 Americans are injured every year by fireworks.

    In my view, all consumer fireworks should be19 . Public fireworks displays should be kept to a minimum and should be paid for through volunteer funding, not tax dollar. Finally, those people in charge of fireworks displays should be20 for cleaning up the mess they make.

    I was on my way home from work, cutting through the park. On that day, the sun seemed to 1 faster than usual, and all of a sudden I found myself walking 2 I was less than half a mile from my apartment,3the path would lead me over a bridge, across train tracks, and 4 an unlit underpass (地下通道).

Then 5 I heard him — a stranger running alongside me. My mouth went 6. My legs felt like water. But I didn't7my pace. Instead, I stopped, turned, and8 him. He came out of the bushes and said he'd been watching me for a long time.9he walked beside me, I moved a little closer to the edge of the10When we reached the bridge, a train raced past, and he seized the moment,11 himself suddenly at me as his hands12my throat. The self-defense skills I had learned years before kicked in, and I dug my 13into his eye, hard. But he14grew bolder (大胆), pulling at my clothes. So I put all my 15into that thumb, and finally he16.

I was shaking with 17but I looked him straight in the eye and began to back away. I 18to run the hell out of there, but then I 19 another self-defense lesson: Never20 because then you're prey (猎物). So I walked away —alone — through the dark underpass as I dialed 911 with trembling fingers.