The Broken Lantern

    On a wild July night, the storm was getting worse and worse. Kate Shelley, who lived between Honey Creek(小溪) and Des Moines River, was1looking out of the window, wondering2it would wash away the bridges over them, when suddenly came the loud3of breaking wood, then followed by a great splash(飞溅的水花). She realized the bridge over the creek was4. At that time, the midnight train was almost due. If no one told the engineer to5the train, it would fall into the creek with a hundred or more6. The situation was so urgent that Kate7to go to Moingon Railway Station to get help. Immediately she8out into the storm with her father's railway lantern.

    Moingon lay on the far side of Des Moines River. The only way to get there was to cross a long wooden railroad bridge. Even in the daytime, it was9to walk on it because there was no foot walk or railing(栏杆) except only rails and ties. The ties were 10enough apart for the girl to fall through.

    Kate stopped when she came to the 11  She had never seen the river rising so high that she was 12  Her father had been killed in a train accident by that river and her brother had drowned there. But she soon managed to 13thinking more of the past happenings for she knew that train had to be stopped14it was too late. She started to step on that dangerous bridge, knowing she might fall into the rush water at any moment. What's worse, she broke her lantern while making her way, exposing herself to the 15  She had to climb on her hands and knees…It seemed like a long time. At last she 16the other side. She stopped just long enough to catch her breath. Then she ran 17to the railway station. When she finally got there, she was out of 18  wet all over, her hat blown away, her hands and knees still bleeding and her eyes looking 19. She told the station man what had happened to the Honey Creek Bridge before her fainting. Finally, the passengers were saved. The girl's heroic deed was rewarded. For her 20act, Kate enjoyed a right of getting on or off the train at her door when she wanted.

    My first full time job after high school was selling vacation packages via telephone for a well-known company. One day, the dialer 1me to a man who answered the phone and2a bit out of breath. I started with my normal pitch（推销), and3to hear the normal, "I don't want any," and be hung up on.

    Instead he spoke in a low, weak voice and told me how he wished he could take a4like the one I was offering, but couldn't5he was dying of emphysema (肺气肿). He 6how he was on oxygen, and it took almost all his7just to get to the phone to answer the call. I8 and my heart fell into my stomach. He asked me if I smoked, which I did, and then begged me to stop. He told me smoking is 9was killing him, and how horrible it was. He told me to 10every day with my loved ones, and tell them all the time how much I love them. At this 11, I was in tears, and couldn't control myself, and he could tell.

    After a few moments, I decided to write down his name and 12, and just send him a card telling him that I13his advice and that I would pray for him and his family. Shortly after, I received a nice letter back from Frank, along with a picture of him and his wife. We continued to write back and forth over the next few months or so, and became very 14of each other. He was old enough to be my grandfather, and in many ways, I felt 15he were.

    It was about a year later I received a letter from his wife, and when I started to read it, my eyes were filled with tears. She told me how Frank's 16with the disease had finally come to an end, and he 17shortly before Christmas .She wanted to thank me for the letters I had written to Frank, and then explained how Frank touched many lives over the years. At his 18  to show just that, they read the 1st letter I had written to Frank to show how he 19a 19-year- old person he had20even met.

    I will never forget how much that meant to me.

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从各题所给的四个选项中，选出最佳选项。

    He was known everywhere as a great artist. People1 from miles around to admire his beautiful2 His name was Pygmalion，and he lived long，long3 in Athens，Greece.

    Pygmalion4 his art for many years. His desire 5excellence made him spend months6a single work of art. He would not stop7he felt it was perfect.8the years passed，his work became9 Pygmalion painted flowers which looked 10natural that people tried to11them. He painted fruits which looked so12that people wanted to eat them. Everyone13 looked at the pictures he had painted was14by their beauty.

    As the years passed it15only his pictures that made him famous，Pygmalion16 made perfect pieces of sculpture.He could take a plain piece of wood17stone and make it beautiful. He could make a rough stone as18as glass. He worked long and hard to make his statues as real as possible. Often visitors who came to see his work began talking to someone. They were surprised when that person didn't19They were even more surprised20they realized they were talking to a statue. It always gave Pygmalion pleasure when people were surprised this way.

    Every day on the way to work I drive down a street lined with pine trees. One tree in particular1 my attention. It must have suffered some 2Part of its trunk grew nearly parallel to the ground, and then in an effort to 3its own course of life. The trunk took a 90-degree turn 4 to stand tall and stretch toward the sun.

    This tree became a5for me. Each day as I drove by, I saw this bent but determined tree and I would be 6. It was a reminder to me that 7I may not have had the best start in life, I could change8 in the parts of my life at any time.

    I was planning to stop one day to get a perfect 9of my kindred-spirit (志趣相同) tree. But that week I was10. After that busy week, I still didn't take any action. Every time I drove by the tree I would11 myself, “Tomorrow, I'll stop tomorrow to take one.” Then one day, as I 12by “my” tree, I glanced over, and much to my13 I found a sawed-off stump (树桩) where that symbolic tree had stood. Gone. I had14my plan until “tomorrow” and tomorrow proved to be too15.

    A picture of a tree is not of great 16. But my lesson rang through clearly17I found out one of my colleagues had been18 with stage-four cancer. He may no longer have many19.

    What have you been putting off? What would you do today if you knew you would 20 have the opportunity to do it again? Why not do those things that you have been putting off until tomorrow?

    South Korean artist Young-Sung Kim has a very special talent, he can paint photographs. That may sound like kind of exaggeration (夸张).

    Most of Kim's paintings describe small1 interacting with man-made objects. The artist admits that he has been greatly 2 by insects and reptiles (爬行动物) since he was a young boy, keeping them in his room and 3 them. From that days on, he 4 to become a painter.

    “It wasn't 5 to paint their structure and color well. It was much harder than I had expected. I promised myself I would train myself at art school 6I could paint them perfectly,” the 7told Yonhap News Agency.

    8 his parents didn't approve of his decision to focus his studies on art9 that he would not be able to land a good job. In high-school, their 10 only made Kim rebel (叛逆) even more. After two years of this, his family finally 11 and allowed him to follow his dream.

    In the end, Kim 12his parents that they made the13 decision. Not only does he get to earn a living doing what he14most, but he became one of the world's most highly-regarded15painters, earning between $10,000 and $130,000 per artwork.

    Youn-Sung Kim paints for more than 12 hours a day16on weekends. Despite the17 realism of his paintings, Young-Sung Kim never completely 18with his work. He 19 his artworks on a 100-pomt scale, and none of his dozens of paintings have ever scored above 90 points. Kim hopes to 20 himself and get as close to that 100-point mark as possible.

    October 12^th, 2008. It was a cold, rainy day, and I had no desire to drive up for two hours along the winding mountain road to my daughter Carolyn's house. But she had 1 that I come see something at the top of the mountain.

    "I'll stay for lunch, but I'm 2 back home straight after that," I announced when I arrived.

    "But I need you to drive me to the garage to 3 my car," Carolyn said. "Could we 4 do that?"

    "How far is it?" I asked.

    "About three minutes," she said. "I'll drive—I'm5 it."

    After ten minutes on the mountain road, I looked at her 6. "I thought you said three minutes."

    She laughed. "This is a detour(绕道)."

    Turning down a narrow path, we parked the car and got out. To my 7, the views before my eyes were 8 words.

    From the 9 of the mountain, several acres(英亩) across hills and valleys, were rivers of daffodils(水仙花). Plenty of 10—from the palest ivory(象牙白) to the deepest lemon and then to the most vivid pink—shone like a carpet before us. It looked 11 the sun had tipped(翻倒) over and spilled(洒落) gold down the mountainside.

    A series of questions 12 my mind. Who 13such beauty? When? How?

    As we approached(接近) the house that 14 in the center of the land, we saw a sign that15: "Answers to the Questions; I Know You Are 16."

    The first answer was: "One Woman—Two Hands, Two Feet, and Very Little Brain." The second was: "One at a Time." The third: "17 in 1958."

    The 18 of it would not let me go. "Imagine," I said, "if I'd had a 19 and worked at it, just a little bit every day, what might I have 20?"

    Carolyn looked at me, smiling. "Start tomorrow," she said. "Better yet, start today."