阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出最佳答案。   

                                                                                                      C

    I have tried to write a ghost story that won't make you unhappy with yourselves, with each other, with the seasons, or with me. I hope it haunts your houses pleasantly.

Charles Dickens

    One Christmas Eve, old Scrooge and Bob were working busily in his office. It was a cold, foggy day. The fog was so thick that the houses opposite were like ghosts. It was only three o'clock in the afternoon, but it was already quite dark.

    "Merry Christmas, Uncle! God bless you!" cried a happy voice. It was Scrooge's nephew.

    "Bah!" said Scrooge "Humbug(骗人的话)!"

    "Christmas is a humbug! Surely you don't mean that, Uncle." Said his nephew.

    "I do," said Scrooge. "Merry Christmas! What reason have you got to be merry? You're poor."

    "OK, then," replied the nephew cheerfully. "What reason have you got to be sad? You are rich. Don't be angry, Uncle!" said his nephew.

    "What else can I be?" answered the uncle, "I live in a world of fools! Merry Christmas! What's Christmas time to you? It's a time for paying bills without money, It's a time for finding yourself a year older, but not richer. Everyone who goes around saying "Merry Christmas" should have his tongue cut out. Yes, he should!"

    "Uncle! Please don't say that!" said the nephew. "I've always thought of Christmas time as a good time, a kind, and a charitable, happy time. And so, Uncle, Christmas has never put any gold or silver in my pocket, but I think it has done me good. And it will do me good. And I say, God bless it!"

    Bob, standing in the corner of the room, applauded(鼓掌).He realized his mistake very soon, and went quickly bake to his work, but Scrooge had heard him.

    "One more sound from you, Bob Cratchit," said Scrooge, "and you'll celebrate Christmas by losing your job!"

    "Don't be angry with him, Uncle. Come and have dinner with us tomorrow."

    "No." said Scrooge.

    "I'm sorry you don't want to celebrate Christmas. But I do. So a Merry Christmas, Uncle!"

     "Good afternoon!" said Scrooge.

     "And a Happy New Year!" said his nephew.

     "Good afternoon!" said Scrooge again.

    His nephew left the room. He stopped to wish Bob a Merry Christmas. And Bob replied, "A

    Merry Christmas to you, too."

    "Listen carefully to what I say,"  the time traveler said, "I shall tell you something that you will not agree."

    "Why will we not agree?" I asked.

    "Because the science and mathematics you know are not correct," he said. "You believe there are only three dimensions(三维空间)-length, breadth(宽) and thickness."

    "There is nothing to argue with that, "  the youngest member of our little group said.

    "Exactly!"  the time traveler answered, "But there is also a fourth dimension - time."

    "We all know about time, " another member of the group said. "Time passed."

    "I do not agree,"  the time traveler said, "Length, breadth and thickness do not pass. They stay in the same place in space.  We move about them. I can prove that time is the same. It does not pass. We move in time the same way that we move in breadth, length and thickness."

    None of us believed the time traveler, and we argued with him for many hours.

    "If we could travel back in time,"  the scientist said, "We could do things to change the future."

    "If we could travel forward in time," the doctor(博士) said, "we could do things that change our present."

    The time traveler smiled, "It is clear," he said, "that there is only one way I can show you that I am right. We must do an experiment. Please wait here."

    He left the room and soon returned, carrying what looked like a clock.

    "This is a model of a time machine. It took me two years to make it," the time traveler said. "I want all of you to understand that when I start the machine, it will immediately travel in time and disappear from the present."

    He turned to the youngest of all. "Give me your hand," he said.

    The young man put out his hand. The time traveler took it and placed it on the machine. Immediately, there was a sudden wind, and the little machine disappeared.

    I was certain this was not a trick, but the doctor was not so sure.

    "Are you asking us to believe," he said, "that the machine is now in a different time?"

    "Certainly! In my laboratory, a full-size machine is almost complete. As soon as it is complete, I shall send myself on a journey through time. Would you like to see my machine?"

    "Are you serious about this?" the doctor asked.

    "I have never been more serious about anything," the time traveler said, "Come."

    We followed him to his laboratory. There, we saw the actual machine, not quite complete, but large enough for a man to sit in.

C

    Today is Children's Day. There is a show in the zoo. Many children are in the zoo. Look at the animals. They are so cute. The birds are flying and singing in the sky. The tigers are running. The pandas are climbing trees. They are good climbers. The kangaroos are jumping. Look at the mother elephant and the baby elephant. The mother elephant is eating bananas and the baby elephant is drinking water with its trunk. Look，what are those? They are two lions. They are playing with a ball. And the monkeys are swinging.

C

    June lived in a small southern village (村庄). It was very hot there. She had a friend named Dec. Dec lived in a cold northern village. They often wrote to each other. June liked reading Dec's letters very much. He often talked about snow. She wished she could see it herself.

    One day, June wrote a letter to Dec and asked him to send her snowflakes(雪花). A few days later, she got a box from Dec. Dec said that he sent her many snowflakes in the box. June was excited. But after she opened the box, she found no snowflakes, only water. June cried. She cried for a long time until she slept.

    Then she had a dream. She dreamt that a snowflake talked with her. The snowflake told her that she only needed to make a wish to see snow. She then wished as hard as she could for snow. The next morning, June got up. She remembered her dream and her wish. She then ran out. The earth was covered with white snow. It snowed!

    This was the best gift for June! She really liked it.

    I teach economics in a university three times per week. Last Monday, at the beginning of class, I asked my students how their weekend had been. One young man said that his weekend had not been so good. He had his wisdom teeth removed. Then he went on to ask me why I always seemed to be so cheerful.

    His question reminded me of something I'd read somewhere before: Every morning when you get up, you have a choice about how you want to live that day. I said, "I choose to be cheerful."

    "Let me give you an example," I continued. "Besides teaching here, I also teach at a college in Henderson, 17 miles down the freeway from where I live. One day a few weeks ago I exited the freeway and turned onto College Drive. I only had to drive another quarter mile down the road to the college. But just then my car died. I tried to start it again, but the engine wouldn't work. So I put my flashes on, took my books, and walked down the road to the college. When I got there, I called AAA(汽车协会) and asked for a tow truck to meet at my car after class. The secretary there asked me what had happened. "This is my lucky day," I replied, smiling.

    "Your car breaks down and toady is your lucky day? What do you mean?"

    "My car could have broken down anywhere along the freeway. I didn't," I replied. "Instead, it broken down at the perfect place: off the freeway, within walking distance of here. I'm still able to teach my class, and I've been able to ask for the tow truck to meet me after class! If my car was meant to break down today, it couldn't have been arranged in a more convenient way."

    I ended my story. In spite of the early hour, no one in my class seemed to be asleep. Somehow, my story had touched them.