When I was in the seventh grade, I was a volunteer at a local hospital in my town.Most of the 1 I spent there was with Mr. Gillespie.He never had any visitors and nobody seemed to care about his 2.

    I spent many days there holding his hand and talking to him,3 anything that needed to be done.He became a close friend of mine,4 he responded with only an occasional squeeze(捏) of my 5. Mr. Gillespie was in a coma(昏迷).

    I left for a week to vacation with my parents, and when I came back, Mr. Gillespie was 6. I didn't have the7 to ask any of the nurses where he was, for fear that they might8 me he had died.

    Several 9 later, when I was a senior in high school, I was at the gas station when I noticed a familiar face.When I10 who it was, my eyes filled with tears.He was 11! I got up the nerve to ask him if his name was Mr. Gillespie. With an uncertain look 12 his face, he replied yes.I 13 how I knew him and that I had spent many days talking with him in the hospital.His eyes welled up with tears, and he gave me the warmest hug I had ever 14.

    He began to tell me that15 he lay there comatose(昏迷的), he could hear me talking to him and could 16 me holding his hand the whole time. Mr. Gillespie17 believed that it was my voice and 18 that had kept him alive.

    Although I haven't seen him since, he fills my heart with 19 every day.I know that I made a(n)20 between his life and his death.

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.

    Growing up in Georgia in the 1970s, I always felt that the bad old day of Southern prejudice (偏见) and ignorance had passed and that we were1a new South built upon hard-won racial equality, charity and the sense that no one was 2 than anyone else.

    I'm not so3anymore. Lately, I feel like our moral compass has been4, spinning to intolerance, greed and meanness.

    In times of 5, I put my faith in Elvis Presley, who6the South's better angles. He was a hard worker, and 7 he lived the high life, he never forgot that he had been born into 8. I don't think you'll 9hear an interview with the man when he didn't express 10for all that life had given him.

    And he was a self-made talent, perhaps the11entertainer of all time, born in a two-room shack(棚屋) in Tupelo, Mississippi. I've been there many times, reflecting on what it says about America .Greatness can be born12.

Elvis was famous for his generosity—13cars, expensive gifts and other handouts to anyone in need. That's how the Presleys14 the Great Depression(1929-1933). His father Vernon was a laborer who was often out of15, and the Presleys relied on the kindness of family and neighbors to get them 16 the hard time.

    Today's politicians please the crowds with messages that praise the rich and powerful and think of the poor as 17 their fate18, the crowds believe that their problems could be solved if only the poor people below them didn't 19 so much. To blame an immigrant (移民)for “ 20 ” a job, instead of the CEO who won't pay a living wage.

    Yet, I still believe, as Elvis once said, “Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it can't go in a way”.

    I grew up with two elder sisters. If I wasn't courteous(礼貌)to them, they'd fix me. So courtesy wasn't really 1 in my childhood home.

    My sisters 2 every chance to train me how to be a courteous3. They made me open doors for them or help them into their 4 at dinner.

    Years later I went away to college. The first time I walked into the library, I noticed a woman walking behind me and I 5 the door open for her.

    6 , she glared at me, asking loudly, “Do you think that because I'm a woman I'm not 7 enough to open a door for myself?” She slammed(摔)the door shut, leaving me astonished and 8. My face burned with 9. I decided 10 that there would be no more courtesy!

    As I stood there, another lady 11 the door, her arms 12 with textbooks. Instinctively(本能地)I  13  to open the door for her. 14 I realized what I had done. I prepared myself for shouts. However, I received a warm smile and a look of  15 .

    “Thanks!” she said brightly. “It's nice to see we still have a few gentlemen around here!”

    Of course, if I were REALLY a gentleman, I would have 16 to help with her books. Despite this, I appreciated the good 17 I got from performing all act of simple courtesy. To do otherwise would be to 18 my lifetime of training.

    Courtesy brings pleasant, refreshing light to our lives whether we are the giver, the 19 or just an interested observer. Courtesy doesn't 20 change our lives, but it can certainly transform the way we feel about life.

    My sister called the other day and told me how sad she was feeling about Mother's Day this year. 1, I was taken by surprise because May feels so far away. I felt instantly 2 because I hadn't thought about my mother in a while. And that's 3 when it occurred to me that our 4 doesn't always follow a calendar.

    After our mother died, I spent a good deal of time 5 her in front of her photo. It enabled me to 6 conversations with her that were 7 to me. I remember desiring to be picked up the phone on many occasions to 8 some good news or get her advice, only to be 9. Now, I simply talk to her in my head. Her photo has become a 10 of her spirit and I'm glad she's there.

    My sister, Ellen, said that this is a 11 difficult year for her and she is trying to 12 why. She sounded impatient with herself, 13 13 years should be enough time to "get past" being sad on Mother's Day.

    The truth is, that for me, every year is 14. At times, when the TV commercials. advertisements and local stores absolutely bomb us with fairy tales of flowers and chocolate and jewelry, I get angry: 15 these same reminders leave me feeling 16 for my wonderful mom, recalling (回忆) her generosity and serious style. She was always a trooper. And sometimes I don't 17 any of it at all.

    As Ellen and I talked, she seemed to come to a certain 18. She was going to be out of the country on business on Mother's Day, without her husband or any family around Without the presence of this 19, she worried about being 20. But she decided that it would be OK. Deep in our heart, Mum has always been with us.

I just returned from India. While driving home from the airport, I was amazed by how everything in American streets 1 those in Delhi, a city in northern India. "You can eat off the street here!" I said. My family looked at me 2 I had gotten off a spaceship rather than a plane.

During the two years I was away, my friends and family 3 sending texts to each other by phone. After I came back, my phone was no longer 4 as before, just lighting up with the "ding" sound of a text, and I felt very 5 . I chose to talk to my friends instead of texting them. I asked my friends for their 6 as I made an effort to7 with them and rebuild our friendships.

While I was on my 8 trips, most of my friends had moved on with their 9 . We felt disconnected from each other's experiences. Just as 10 would always be part of my life, I understood that raising a family would always be part of theirs. I told them sometimes I felt 11 because I had been away and wasn't there for their 12 events.

Expats（侨民）in Laos say that sometimes, if you stay abroad too long, you become a permanent 13 . never quite making it as a local, and never feeling 14 in your home country. I 15 . If you always travel with a heart beating for your beloved ones, no matter how long you have been abroad, you will find satisfaction at home.