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.

    Many people think that babysitting is one of the1jobs for young people. They imagine a teenager putting a few well-behaved children to bed and then continuing to watch television until the parents return home to hand over some money. Well, I can tell you how2that thought is.

    I now work all3on Wednesdays for a Ukrainian family with three young boys. In the early morning, I go there to 4the older two while their mother does her jobs or takes care of her six-month-old baby. However, I am also there to5their English by teaching them songs and games in my native language.

    Now, four months later, I get home at the end of the day6exhausted！Babysitting is not a job for the7or the weak. I expected8children who would behave well and listen to me all the time. 9,I don't think those kind of children exist at all. While my two boys are usually polite and calm, they are10children and also like to fight, scream and lose their temper for no real11. I often have no idea why they cry together.

Being a babysitter requires you to play a hundred different12throughout the day. I have to be a friend when I play with the boys, but their 13when I tell them to do something. When they hurt themselves, I have to be their14, and when they fight over15 things like sharing their crayons(彩笔)，I have to be a negotiator(调停者)。 When lunchtime rolls around, I am a(n) 16to prepare the meal and then a maid as I clean up after lunch. Finally, in English, if someone is very17, we say they have the "Patience of God". I think I embody(体现) this 18sometimes!

    Despite the19involved in my job, I usually do enjoy it. Working with children is so tiring that I always feel20after leaving them with their parents at the end of the day！

    On August 26,1999,New York City experienced a torrential downpour.The rain caused the streets to1and the subway system almost came to a stop.

    Unfortunately, this happened during the morning rush hour.Many people who were going to work were2to go home.Some battled to3a taxi or to get on a bus.Still others faced the4bravely,walking miles to get to work.

    I 5 to be one of the people on the way to work that morning.I went from subway line to subway line only to find that most6had stopped.After making my way7crowds of people,I finally found a subway line that was 8.Unfortunately,there were so many people waiting to9the subway that I could not even get down the stairs to the10.So I took the train going in the opposite direction,and then switch back to the downtown train.Finally,after what seemed like an forever,the train11my stop.Then I had to walk several blocks in the increasingly heavy rain. When I finally got to my office,I was12through,exhausted and13.

    My co-workers and I spent most of the day drying off.When it was 5:00 pm,I was ready to go home.I was about to turn off my computer14I received an email from Garth,my Director:

    I would like to thank all of you who made the effort and15reported to work.It is always reassuring（今人欣慰）,at times like these,when employees so clearly show their16to their jobs.Thank you.

    Garth's email was short, but I learned more from that17message than I ever did from a textbook.The email taught me that a few words of18can make a big difference.The rainstorm and the traffic19had made me tired and upset.But Garth's words immediately20me and put a smile back on my face.

    At a battle, we walked slowly through the wet grass, our eyes searching for the enemy. 1, machine gun fire broke the 2. We hit the ground,3from the shots by a low stone wall a few feet ahead.

    My radioman called the commander to  4as I ordered two soldiers to help me locate and knock out the 5. While I crouched( 屈 膝 ) on one knee to talk to my guys, I heard an explosion — and then I was on my6.

    ＂Jack! Jack! You've been  7!＂ the radioman shouted.

    Two rescuers tied me to a stretcher (担架). In an aid station, a doctor put a bandage (绷带) over my8 knee. Some time later came a nurse's shout, ＂Wake up, Jack! You've got to get on a9— you're flying to a hospital in England!＂

    I became  10 . All my possessions lay in a11pile of equipment. I could12everything after the war except the photo of my new bride, Ellen, which I13carried with me.

    ＂I'm not going until I14my wife's picture again, ＂ I said. ＂It's in the gas mask cover you15 from me.＂

    I knew the nurse could 16me go, but instead she said, ＂OK, I'll see if I can find it,＂ then17out to search through the piles. Finally she came running 18back. ＂I've  got it!＂ she shouted,  waving  the picture in her hand.

    How she found it I'll never 19, but I'm glad she did. That photograph comforted me through20 times. Now, 69 years later, it sits on my bedside table.

    My 9-year-old daughter and I were flying from Chicago to spend a week with my husband in Florida. We were 1 about the trip because we hadn't seen him for five months, and my daughter 2 her Dad terribly.

    As usual, the plane was totally 3. Because we did not get our boarding passes until we 4 at the gate, Kallie and I could not get seats together and were 5 by the aisle (过道). I asked two passengers in my row if they would switch places with Kallie and me, 6we could be together. They 7, saying they thought they should stay in their assigned seats. Meanwhile, a mother and her three children were in a 8 several rows ahead of us. There had been a mistake in their boarding passes, and 9 the whole family had been split up. The passengers in her row10 refused to move elsewhere. She was very 11 about the younger boy sitting with strangers. She was in tears, yet nobody 12 to help her. There were a troop of Boy Scouts(童子军) on 13. Suddenly the Scout leader stood up and said, "Ma'am, I think we can help you." He then14 five minutes rearranging his group so that enough space was 15 for the family. The boys followed his directions cheerfully and without 16, and the mother's relief was obvious.

    Seeing that, Kallie began to panic at the 17of not being next to me. I told her that there was nothing I could do. 18, the man sitting next to the Scoutmaster, 19to me and asked, "Would you and your daughter like our seats?" 20 to his and the Scoutmaster's. We traded seats and continued our trip, very much relieved to be together and watch the scenery from Kallie's window sea.

    After that, I have been calling my kids to join Boy Scouts because I believe it is the sharing and love that matters.

    How far would you go to make a good impression at a new job? A college student in Alabama walked 22 kilometers in the1to get to his new job.

    Walter Carr's2broke down the night before starting a new job at Bellhops, a furniture moving company. Several attempts as he made, Carr3 to find a ride. Knowing he couldn't afford to4it, he decided to walk and5how long it would take to walk to the job in Pelhain — 32 kilometers away. He left at midnight so that he could6it to the customer's house on time.

    Carr had reportedly walked about 22 kilometers before the local police7in to help the young man. After hearing his8, they took him to breakfast. Then, they gave him a9to the home of customer Jenny Lamey, whom he was 10to help move that morning, before the rest of the11arrived.

    "I asked Walter if he wanted to go12 and rest until everyone else arrived," said Lamey in a Facebook post, "He13 and said he could go ahead and get started." So, the family and Carr began 14 up the home, chatting along the way.

    He told Lamey that he and his mother15 from New Orleans to Birmingham after losing their 16 in Hurricane Katrina, an extremely destructive and deadly one that17 the Gulf Coast of the U.S. in 2005.

    "I just can't tell you how18 I was by Walter and his journey. He is modest, kind, cheerful, hardworking and19 ." Lamey shared her story of Walter on Facebook. It spread 20 , moving many others all over the world.