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.

    Vandna loved sports and did well in her lessons at her high school in California. When a headache disturbed the 15-year-old girl's walk to class, she 1 it.

    “It was 2.” she thought, “Just a headache—harmless”

But when walking to her next class, she was 3 and collapsed to the floor. 4 she could hear other talking, she couldn't speak. She was 5 to the hospital in an ambulance. Tests indicated Vandna had a stroke affecting the right side of her brain, thus affecting the 6 side of her body.

    What was worse, the stroke caused her brain to began to swell, and she needed operation to 7 the pressure the swelling was putting 8 her brain. The doctors 9part of her skull（头骨）to make room for the swelling. 10 the swelling went down（消退）, her skull was placed back again.

    While the doctors predicted that she would never live a normal life, Vandna 11 improved. She was in a rehab center（康复中心）for about 3 months and began to realize how 12 her daily life might be. She had to wear a brace（支架）on her left leg to support her 13. Her left arm 14 lightly, and she often became tired. Though 15 on a campus wasn't easy, she finished high school and 16 a degree in speech therapy at University of Redlands.

    After the stroke, Vandna became 17 with the American Heart Association. She shared her 18 at public events and urged others to stay 19. She said if you 20 a tough time, remember tough times don't last, but tough people do.

    When I first entered university, my aunt, who is an English professor, gave me a new English dictionary. I was 1 to see that it was an English-English dictionary, also known as a monolingual (只用一种语言的) dictionary. 2 it was a dictionary intended for non-native learners, none of my classmates had one 3, to be honest, I found it extremely 4 to use at first. I would look up words in the dictionary and5 not fully understand the meanings. I was used to the 6 bilingual dictionaries, in which the words are 7 both in English and Chinese. I really wondered why my aunt gave me such 8 to make things so difficult for me. Now, after studying English at university for three years, I 9 that monolingual dictionaries are 10in learning a foreign language.

    As I found out, there is, 11, often no perfect equivalence (对应) between two 12 in two languages. My aunt even goes so far as to 13 that a Chinese “equivalent” can never give you the 14 meaning of a word in English! 15 she insisted that I read the definition (释义) of a word in a monolingual dictionary when I wanted to get a better 16 of its meaning. 17, I have come to see what she meant.

    Using a monolingual dictionary for learners has helped me in another important way. This dictionary uses a(n) 18 number of words, around 2,000, in its definitions. When I read these definitions, I am19 exposed to the basic words and learn how they are used to explain objects and ideas. 20 this, I can express myself more easily in English.

    One day I visited an art museum while waiting for my husband to finish a business meeting. I was expecting a quiet1of the splendid artwork.

    A young2viewing the paintings ahead of me3nonstop between themselves. I watched them a moment and decided the lady was doing all the talking. I admired the man's4for putting up with her5stream of words. Disturbed by their noise, I moved6.

    I met them several times as I moved7the various rooms of art. Each time I heard her continuous flow of words, I moved away8.

    I was standing at the counter of the museum gift shop making a purchase9the couple approached the10. Before they left, the man11into his pocket and pulled out a white object. He12it into a long stick and then13his way into the coatroom to get his wife's jacket.

    "He's a14man." The clerk at the counter said. "Most of us would give up if we were blinded at such a young age. During his recovery, he made a promise his life wouldn't change. So, as before, he and his wife come in15there is a new art show."

    "But what does he get out of the art". I asked "He can't see."

    "Can't see You're16He sees a lot, more than you and I do," the clerk said, "His wife17each painting so he can see it in his head."

    I learned something about patience,18and love that day. I saw the patience of a young wife describing paintings to a person without19and the courage of a husband who would not20blindness to change his life. And I saw the love shared by two people as I watched this couple walk away, their arms intertwined.

    It was 11 a.m. on October 8, 2018, when I set out on the 12-mile bike ride home from work along the Connecticut shoreline. The sun was brilliant 1 the blue sky, and the leaves were starting to change colors. It was a(n) 2 time for me.

    I love my job as a program manager at Peace Jam. My husband Sean, a mail carrier, was 3 with his work, so I'd made plans with a friend for a long ride later that afternoon.4 I settled into the right-hand lane of a busy avenue, a truck turned in my direction from a side street. He slowed at the corner. But for some reason, he suddenly 5 speed. There is nothing I could do but scream.6, the huge truck knocked me down onto my left side. I felt my leg cracking, but I still 7 my head just enough to see something sticking out from my leg. The skin had been 8 right off most of the lower half of my body. There wasn't any 9 flesh to see. People came rushing from all 10 and aided me. The doctors arrived and rolled my body onto a backboard. I was sent 11 to the emergency room, where, for the next eight hours, I kept dying. During this period, I was in and out of surgery several times. Sometimes I was unconscious, but other times I existed in a 12 that has no easy comparison. What 13 me out of my fear was remembering a speech by Nobel Prize Jody Williams. "Emotion without action is irrelevant".

    I thought of all the people who had saved my life. The strangers who ran to my side after the truck hit me; the 14 who brought me back from death more than once; the staff at Gaylord who were 15 to help me walk again and relearn basic tasks. And then there were the strangers who had donated their life-giving blood. Suddenly I felt a need to do something to 16 them. I may not have been able to walk yet, but I 17 organize a cycling tour to raise money for disabled athletes. I 18 raising more than ＄10.000. Then, I turned inward, concentrating on my own recovery.

    My injury also made me 19 just how lucky I am. In the darkest moments of being 20 in the coma（昏迷）their voice constantly comforts me. To this day, I am gratitude in motion with each step.

    Pamela Malhotra and her husband Anil K. Malhotra have spent the last 25 years buying abandoned agricultural land and reforesting it. They want to 1 the land to a bio-diverse rainforest for elephants, birds and other 2

    Now the couple 3 300 acres of land in Brahmagiri, India. They've spotted more than 300 kinds of birds as well as many 4 and threatened(受到威胁的)animal species. But, this was not the 5 in 1991 when Anil and Pamela came to this part of the country. "When I came here, it was a 6. The owner wanted to sell because he couldn't grow coffee 7 anything else here," says Anil who worked in the real estate(房地产)and restaurant business in the US before moving to India. "For me and Pamela, this was what we were 8 all our life."

    The couple had a love for 9 from their childhood. When the Malhotras came to India, the pollution 10 them. "That was when we decided to 11 something to reclaim (开垦) the forests in India," says Anil. "We were not looking for money. Early on, we 12 that shortage of fresh water will be a 13 for India and the rest of the world. Acquisition, protection and reclamation of forested lands and wildlife habitat, where vital water sources have their origin, is the only way to 14 ourselves," explains Anil.

    They sold property (财产) they owned in America, bought the first 55 acres and began to grow a 15. Soon, they bought the land nearby as well. "Many of the 16 considered their holdings 'wasteland' as very little grew on it and were 17 to get money," says Anil.

    Stopping poaching (偷猎) was a 18 and often the locals did not understand what this couple was doing, so it required a lot of talking to create 19. They worked with the forest department to set up camera traps and keep poachers away. "There are times I have 20 with poachers. I was even in great danger once, "says Pamela. "I hope what we are doing now will make a difference to animals."