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.

    Charlotte Whitehead was born in England in 1843, and moved to Montreal, Canada at the age five with her family. While 1 her ill elder sister throughout the years, Charlotte discovered she had a(an) 2 in medicine. At 18 she married and 3a family. Several years later, Charlotte said she wanted to be a4. Her husband supported her decision.

    5, Canadian medical schools did not 6 women students at the time. Therefore, Charlotte went to the United States to study 7 at the Women's Medical College in Philadelphia. It took her five years to 8 her medical degree.

    Upon graduation, Charlotte 9to Montreal and set up a private 10. Three years later, she moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba, and there she was once again a 11 doctor. Many of her patients were from the nearby timber and railway camps. Charlotte 12 herself operating on damaged limbs and setting 13 bones, in addition to delivering all the babies in the area.

    But Charlotte had been practicing without a license. She had 14 a doctor's license in both Montreal and Winnipeg, but was 15.The Manitoba College of Physicians and Surgeons, an all-male board, wanted her to 16her studies at a Canadian medical college! Charlotte refused to 17 her patients to spend time studying what she already knew. So in 1887, she appealed to the Manitoba Legislature to 18 a license to her but they, too, rejected. Charlotte 19 to practice without a license until 1912. She died four years later at the age of 73.

    In 1993, 77 years after her 20 , a medical license was issued to Charlotte. This decision was made by the Manitoba Legislature to honor "this courageous and pioneering woman."

    "Where is the bus?" I asked myself. I was going to be late and the manager wasn't going to be 1 ." Thank God. Here it is." The bus  2 round the corner and I got on. Ten minutes later I was walking into the 3 where I work. Twenty-five past nine. I hope the manager doesn't notice. But no 4luck.

    "Smith!" shouted the manager. "Late again. What's your 5 this time?"" I'm afraid the bus was late, Mr. Brown." "6 up earlier tomorrow! Anyway, get to business at the counter. We'll be opening in a few minutes."

    My first customer was a pretty girl 7 a red dress. Behind her was a young man of about 25. He seemed very 8 , and 9 few seconds he looked towards the main entrance. The girl asked about opening a bank account. I gave her the necessary 10 and she walked out. 11 , I noticed a tall man by the door, carrying something 12 with brown paper. Turning to my next customer, I was terrified to see a gun 13 out of his coat. The next moment a loud noise 14 my ears. Everything went black. I was falling.... After 15 seemed a very a long time, I opened my eyes and found myself in bed! 16 shaking from the memory of this terrible dream, I got dressed and ran out of the house. As 17, the bus wasn't on time, and I arrived at 9:25.

    "Smith!" the manager cried out in a voice like thunder. " Later again! Go and start work at once!" To my 18 , the first customer was a girl 19 a red dress and behind her stood a man carrying something wrapped in brown paper. The dream!  20 that the surprise of my life!

A Game of Light and Shade

    It was a sunny day. I had gone up and down the tower when, outside the door at the foot, a blind man came toward me. In a moment, he disappeared up the stairs. I looked at the sign that said "To the Tower", and decided to1him.

    I caught up with him in the ticket office. There I was2to see the attendant (工作人员) selling him a ticket as if he were any other visitor. Then, with the ticket in one hand and3the wall with the fingers of the other, the blind man reached the stairs4to the hallway.

    "That man is blind. What would a blind man climb up the tower for?" I said to the attendant, expecting him to show some5, but he didn't answer.

"Not the6certainly," I said. "Perhaps he wants to7."

    I bought a ticket and8up the stairs. The man hadn't gone as far as I9. A third of the way up the tower, I heard his10. I slowed down and followed him at a little11. He stopped from time to time. When he got to the balcony (阳台), I was a dozen steps12. As I reached it, I saw him at the corner of the tower.

    At last, after ten minutes, I13him. "Excuse me," I said as politely as I could, "but I am curious to know14you came up."

    He smiled. "Coming up the stairs, you will notice how not just light but sun 15into the tower through the narrow windows here and there, so that you can feel the16—the cool stairs suddenly become quite warm—and how up here behind the wall there is17, but as soon as going opposite a window you can find the sun. There is no18so good as this for feeling the difference between light and shade. It is not the first time I've come up."

    The blind man seemed quite19, just like a child who was enjoying his favorite games. He told me the truth that blind men can also find the beauty in life20 they cannot enjoy the sights of the world.

    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.

In 2019, after retiring from her career as a social worker, Ane Freed-Kernis decided to build a home workshop and devote all of her free time to stone carving. "I might be covered head to toe in dust but I'm happy—it was something I needed more of in my life when I hit 60," she says.

This appeal has its origins in Freed-Kernis' childhood. Growing up on her father's farm in Denmark, she used to wander through the fields with her eyes fixed on the ground, looking for stones to add to her collection. "I've always been drawn to the shapes and textures（质地）of stones," she says.

After moving to England in 1977 and training as a social worker, Freed-Kernis soon became occupied with her busy career and the demands of raising her son. Stones were the last thing on her mind, until her father died in 2005. "He took a stone carving course in his retirement, and I always thought stone seemed so fun but never had the time to look into it myself," she says. "After he died, I became determined to learn in his honour."

Signing up for a week-long stone carving course at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Freed-Kernis began to learn how to turn a block of rock into well-designed shapes. "It was really scary at the start because you would spend hours just hammering（锤打）."

Now 65, Freed-Kernis has a thriving small business built largely through word of mouth. She creates 12 to 15 pieces a year that can take anywhere from a few days to three weeks to complete, while her prices range from £200 to £3, 000. "I'm making smaller ones," she says. "I don't have to depend on the money much, so I want to keep prices in the range that people can afford, mainly just covering costs and labour（劳动力）."