阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。

    It was Thanksgiving morning. In the crowded kitchen of my small house I was busy preparing the traditional Thanksgiving turkey 1the doorbell rang. I opened the front door and saw two small children in 2clothes and thin little sandals(凉鞋), staying together at the door on the top step.

    “Any old 3 ， lady?” asked one of them. I was4 . I wanted to say “no” until my eye 5their sandals, which were wet with heavy snow.

    “ 6and I'll make you a cup of hot cocoa.”They walked 7and sat down at the table. Their wet sandals left marks on the8 . I served them cocoa and bread with jam to fight9the freezing cold outside. 10 I went back to the kitchen and started again on my household budget for Thanksgiving Day.

    The silence in the front room struck me. I looked in. The girl held the empty cup in her hands, looking at it. The boy asked in a 11 voice，“Lady, are you 12?” “Am I rich? Pity. No!”

    I looked at my old sofa covers. The girl put her cup back in its saucer(托盘)13and said,  “Your cups match your saucers.” Her voice was flat with a need that no amount of food could supply. They left after that， 14their papers against the wind. They hadn't said “Thank you.” They didn't need to. They had 15me that I had so much to be grateful for. Plain blue China cups and saucers were 16worth five pence. But they matched.

    I tasted the potatoes and the meat soup. Potatoes and brown meat soup, a roof over our heads, my man with a good and steady job—these 17 ， too.

    I moved the chairs back from the fire and 18 the living room. The muddy(沾上泥的) 19 of small sandals were still wet on my floor. Let them remain for a while, I thought, just in case I should begin to 20how rich I am.

    French singer seeks Chinese musical dream

    “The first time I heard the Chinese song Girl in the Flower Room by Chinese rock star Cui Jian, I got the idea of covering it in French, and it 1 pretty good," French singer and songwriter Joyce Jonathan said. Known as the "Pop Queen of Chanson" in France, the 28-year-old singer 2 her first Chinese album Ca Ira on May 16 and toured China from May 19 to June 5 in cities 3Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.

    Born on Nov 3, 1989 in Levallois-Perret, France, Joyce Jonathan has always loved to record life through music. At the age of seven, she learned to play the piano and began 4 her first series of songs. "Music is about love and stories. People of different countries may have language barriers5they can all understand what I am trying to say in my songs, and it is the power of music," Jonathan said. In 2005, she posted her musical tracks on the site MySpace, a social networking website, and was able to 6fame on the internet.

    7 that fame, Jonathan began recording her first album Sur mes Gardes in May 2010. It was certified platinum ( 130,000 album sales ) in under a year. On Jan 23, 2011, she 8 the NRJ Music Award for Francophone Breakthrough of the Year,9 an important step in her musical career. "When I win more and more fans, I truly feel very happy. And I like to communicate with my fans and listen to their ideas 10 I can," she says.

    Although a French native, Jonathan grew up in a "Chinese-speaking" family. Her parents worked in China and could speak a little Chinese and one of her sisters has lived in Beijing so far. "When I was a little girl, I visited Beijing, a very 11memory in my childhood.12 and friendly, Chinese people led me into many interesting places," she 13 "The food dumpling and the old places like hutong are really14to me." Because of her interest in China, the singer began to learn Chinese, and in 2011, she15 four of her songs in Chinese for the first time. "The Chinese language is very beautiful with dynamic rhythms. But Chinese is not easy to learn and I will keep practicing."

    16several years of work, the Ca Ira album was made, which included 10 Chinese songs. Some of the songs were 17 from French versions, while others are completely new for Chinese fans.

    In the album, Joyce Jonathan cooperated with Chinese singer Cui Jian, known as the "Father of Rock" in China.

    In April 1989, Cui released the song Girl in the Flower Room in his album Rock and Roll on the New Long March and the song was widely sung by Chinese people in the 1990s. "The song was amazing, both in meaning and melody, and I decided to 18 it in French."

    The French 19 Tes Deserts, which mean "The Love Desert" in English, was produced in May this year and was a sensation(轰动) among many French people. "I could not believe such a romantic song could come from China," French Facebook user, Zombie Baby, said online. According to Jonathan, the song proves music is20and has no boundaries.

    A little girl took out the bottle. She 1 the coins carefully. The total number had to be exactly perfect. No chance for2.

    Carefully placing the 3in the bottle, she walked to a drugstore and waited patiently for the pharmacist's (药剂师) 4, but he was too busy.

    She 5her throat. Nothing. 6she put a coin on the counter heavily. That 7!

    “What do you want?” the pharmacist asked 8. “I'm talking to my brother from Chicago whom I haven't9for ages,” he shouted.

    “My brother,” Tess answered, “is really 10and I want to buy a miracle (奇迹).”

    “Pardon?” said the pharmacist.

    “Andrew has something bad growing inside his head. Dad says only a miracle can11 him. So how much does a miracle cost?”

    “We don't sell miracles. I'm sorry,” the pharmacist said.

    “I have money. 12 it isn't enough, I will get the rest.”

The pharmacist's brother asked the little girl, “What miracle does your brother need?”

    “I don't know,” Tess replied with tears. “Mum says he needs a(n)13. But Dad can't14 it, so I want to use my money.”

    “How much do you have?” he asked.

    “One dollar and eleven cents. And it's all the money I have.”

    “A dollar and eleven cents? That's the 15 price of a miracle for your little brother,” smiled the man from Chicago.

    He took her money in one hand and held her with 16, “Take me to where you 17. Let's see if I have the right miracle.”

    That man was doctor Carlton Armstrong.

    The operation was done with no18and soon Andrew recovered. Mum and Dad were happily 19 the miracle.

    “The operation,” Tess's mom smiled, “was a real miracle. How much did it cost?”

“One dollar and eleven cents and the 20 of a little child.”

    When my wife and I decided to open our bookstore in 2012, we were a little 1.

    The challenges facing small bookstores were—and remain— 2. Aside from the obvious 3 in online selling, the increase in the popularity of e-books has had a（n）4 effect on independent providers.

    The question is why a new, small-scale（小规模的）provider would 5 enter such a（n）6 market?

    From a personal view, our reasoning was sound: we wanted to 7 our love of great books and reading for pleasure with as many 8 people as possible.

    Having done our homework, one thing became 9. In order for us to succeed, we would have to offer something that none of our larger competitors already provided.

    And so we 10 the Willoughby Book Club. We set up our website in the summer of 2012—and we haven't looked back.

    The idea of 11 is simple. We offer a range of book subscription gift packages, 12 in three-, six- and 12-month options. Our customers 13 a package, tell us a little about the person they're buying it for, and we use this information to 14 the（接收者）a hand-picked, gift-wrapped（包装的）book once a month.

    We also recently decided to 15 one new book to Book Aid International for every gift subscription sold. These books are sent out to sub-Saharan Africa, 16 the educational work there.

    Within four months of starting out, we won the Young Bookseller of the Year award at the 2013 Bookseller awards.

    Our brief 17 from new booksellers to award receivers has been challenging and 18. The biggest thing we've learned is that, despite the 19 facing independent providers, there is a 20 for then in the UK market. It's just a question of finding it.

    A little boy invited his mother to attend his school's first teacher-parent meeting. To the little boy's 1 , she said she would go. This 2be the first time that his classmates and teacher3his mother and he felt 4of her appearance. Although she was a beautiful woman, there was a severe scar（疤痕）that 5 nearly the entire right side of her face. The boy never wanted to 6why or how she got the scar.

    At the meeting, the people were7 by the kindness and natural beauty of his mother 8the scar, but the little boy was still embarrassed（尴尬）and 9 himself from everyone. He, however,10 a conversation between his mother and his teacher.

    The teacher asked 11,“How did you get the scar on your face?”

The mother replied,“12 my son was a baby, he was in a room that caught fire. Everyone was13 afraid to go in because the fire was14 ，so I went in. As I was running toward his bed, I saw a piece of wood coming down and I placed myself over him trying to protect him. I was knocked 15 but fortunately, a fireman came in and saved both of us.” She 16 the burned side of her face. “This scar will be 17 , but to this day, I have never18what I did.”

    At this point, the little boy came out running toward his mother with tears in his eyes. He held her in his arms and felt a great19 of the sacrifice（牺牲）that his mother had made for him. He held her hand 20for the rest of the day.

The Sweetest Thing

    When I was ten, I was crazy about candy. Whenever in our small-town store with my mom, I would 1 my fingers through my favorite candy on the shelf.

    Once there, thinking about all things sweet, I noticed a man a few feet away pressing buttons on the ATM machine. Dressed in a suit, he seemed to be late for something, 2 waiting for his cash to appear. The machine made a noise, and he immediately 3 a pile of bills and headed out. Curiously, I walked over to the ATM, where I started pressing the buttons as if knowing the 4. Then I looked into the bottom of the machine. There I saw it: a beautiful, crisp $ 20 bill! 5 I wanted to believe my magic made the cash appear, I knew the man in the suit must have left it behind.

    I held the money in my hand, staring at the number "20" and feeling 6 than I ever had. I thought about slipping the money into my pocket. No one would know, but I just didn't feel it was 7. I knew it didn't belong to me. I had to find its owner and give it back! So I told my mom what had happened. "We'll look for him." she said kindly. We rushed out and found him stepping into his car in the parking lot! We 8 him and asked whether he had left money at the cash machine.

    "Let me 9" he said, pulling out his wallet and bills. "Twenty, forty, eighty...Oh! You're right," he said with surprise, "I'm 10 a $20 bill."

    "Here you go," I said, smiling with pride, as if I was a(n) 11 who had solved a mystery. "Thank you so much," he said, bending down and shaking my hand. My heart swelled. Before saying goodbye, he asked my mom for my name and 12. "I want to send your daughter a thank-you card," he said.

    On my way home, my 13 was racing. Twenty dollars. What could I have done with it? I bet I could have bought a puppy or every single candy bar in town! But now 14 of that would happen. Yet I knew I had done the right thing.

    A few weeks later, I got a box with a note. I ripped it open to find packages of candy. "Dear Felice, thank you very much for 15 my $20. You are a great girl, and I appreciate your 16. I hope you enjoy this candy. Best wishes, Tom." Tom included his business card. It 17 that he was vice-president for the candy company. The candy tasted sweet, each 18 reminding me that what I had done mattered. Although my honesty wouldn't always be 19 with candy, it would make a difference to someone. And that was the 20 part of all.