DTwo things changed my life: my mother and a white plastic bike basket. I have thought long and hard about it and it’s true. I would be a different person if my mom hadn’t turned a silly bicycle accessory into a life lesson I carry with me today.My mother and father were united in their way of raising children, but it mostly fell to my mother to actually carry it out. Looking back, I honestly don’t know how she did it. Managing the family budget must have been a very hard task., but she made it look effortless. If we complained about not having what another kid did, we’d hear something like, “I don’t care what so –and –so got for his birthday, you are not getting a TV in your room a car for your birthday a lsvish sweet 16 party.” We had to earn our allowance by doing chores around the house. I can stil l remember how long it took to polish the legs of our coffee table.My brothers can no doubt remember hours spent cleaning the house .Like the two little girls growing up at the White House,we made our own beds (no one left the house unitil that was done)and picked up after ourselves.We had to keep track of our belongings ,and if something was lost ,it was not replaced. It was summer and ,one day ,my mother drove me to the bike shop to get a tire fixed---and there it was in the window, White, shiny, plastic and decorated with flowers ,the basket winked at me and I knew ----I knew---I had to have it. “It’s beautiful,” my mother said when I pointed it out to her,”What a neat basket.”I tried to hold off at first ,I played it cool for a short while.But then Iguess I couldn’t atand it any longer:“Mon, please can I please ,please get it? I ‘ll do extra chores for as long as you say, I’ll do anything ,but I need that basket,I love that basket.Please ,Mom .Please?”I was desperate.“You know,” she said ,gently rubbing my back while we both stared at what I believes was the coolest thing ever,”If you save up you could buy this yourself.”“By the time I make enough it’ll bu gone!”“Maybe Roger here could hold it for you,” she smiled at Roger ,the bike guy.“He can’t hold it for that long ,Mom .Someone else will buy it .Please,Mom,Please?”“There might be another way,”she said.And so our paying plan unfolded.My mother bought the beautiful basket and put it safely in some hiding place I could’t find.Each week I eagerly counted my growing saving increased by extra work here and there (washing the car ,helping my mother make dinner, delivering or collevting things on my bike that already looked naked without the basket in front).And then ,weeks later ,I counted ,re-counted and jumped for joy. Oh ,happy day ! I made it! I finally had the exact amount we’d agreed upon….Days later the unthinkable happened. A neighborhood girl I’d played with millions of times appeared with the exact same basket fixted to her shiny ,new bike that already had all the bells and whistles. I rode hard and fast home to tell my mother about this disaster.This horrible turn of events.And then came the lesson . I’ve taken with me through my life:”Honey, Your basket is extra-special,” Mom said, gently wiping away my hot tears.”Your basket is special because you paid for it yourself.” What can we learn from the first two paragraphs?()
A. The children enjoyed doing housework
B. The author came from s well-off family
C. The mother raised her children in an unusual way
D. The children were fond of the US president’s daughters
阅读下面短文,掌握其大意,然后从21—40各题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出最佳选项,并在答题纸上将该选项标号涂黑。During the war,my husband was stationed at an army camp in a desert in California.I went to live there in order to be 21 him. I hated the place .I had never 22 been so unhappy . My husband was ordered out on a long-term duty,and I was left in a tiny shack(棚屋) alone. The heat was 23 -almost 125 0F even in the shade of a cactus(仙人掌)。 24 a soul to talk to . The wind blew non-stop ,and all the food I ate ,and the evry air I breathed,were 25 with sand , sand , sand !I was so sorry for myself that I wrote to my parents. I told them I was 26 and coming back home.I said I couldn’t stand it one minute longer. I 27 be in prison! My father answered my 28 with just two lines-two lines that will always sing in my 29 - two lines that completely changed my life :Two men looked out from prison barsOne saw the mud ,the other saw the starsI read those two lines 30 I was ashamed of myself. I made up my mind I would find out what was good in my present 31 ; I would look for the starsI made friends with the natives,and their 32 amazed me. They gave me presents of their favorite artworks which they had 33 to sell to toueists . I studied the delightful forms of the cactus .I watched for the desert sunsets,and 34 for seashells that had been left there millions of years ago when the desert had been an ocean 35What brought about this 36 change in me ? The desert hadn’t changed , 37 I had .I had changed my 38 And by doing so ,I changed an unhappy experience into the most amazing 39 of my life . I was excited by this new world that I had dicovered I had looked out of my self-creatded prison and 40 the stars 25()
A. covered
B. filled
C. buried
D. charhed