愛不能“以后再說”

After years of marriage， my wife wanted me to take another person out to dinner. The other person that my wife wanted me to visit was my_____1_____ ， but the_____ 2_____ of my work and my three children had made it_____3_____to visit her only occasionally.

That night I called to_____4_____her to go out for dinner. During the dinner， we had a_____ 5_____conversation nothing extraordinary but catching up on _____ 6 _____events of each other’s life. As we returned to her house that night， she said， “I’ll go out with you again， but_____ 7_____ you let me invite you.”

I _____8_____.

“How was your dinner_____9_____ ?” asked my wife when I got home.

“Very nice， much more than I could have_____10_____，” I answered.

A few days later， she died of a_____11 _____heart attack. It happened so_____ 12_____that I didn’t have a chance to do anything for her.

Some time later， I_____13_____an envelope with a copy of a restaurant receipt from the same place with an attached note which _____ 14_____:

“I paid this bill_____ 15 _____. I wasn’t sure that I could be there; but， nevertheless， I paid for two plates—one for you and the other for your wife. You will_____16_____ know what that night meant for me. I love you， son.”

At that moment， I understood the_____ 17_____of saying in time: “I love YOU.”

_____18_____in life is more important than your family. Give them the time they_____ 19_____ ， because these things cannot be_____20_____ till some “other” time.

1. A. manager B. aunt C. niece D. mother

2. A. difficulties B. tasks C. demands D. pressures

3. A. possible B. impossible C. easy D. difficult

4. A. persuade B. invite C. advise D. ask

5. A. casual B. pleasant C. formal D. deep

6. A. former B. later C. recent D. main

7. A. only if B. even if C. if only D. as if

8. A. worried B. doubted C. refused D. agreed

9. A. party B. date C. appointmentD. end

10. A. predicted B. dreamed C. planned D. imagined

11. A. massive B. weak C. large D. shocking

12. A. quickly B. surprisingly C. suddenly D. unfortunately

13. A. received B. heard C. read D. saw

14. A. informed B. went C. reminded D. said

15. A. in need B. in advance C. in turn D. in total

16. A. soon B. hardly C. never D. surely

17. A. necessity B. emergency C. possibility D. importance

18. A. Something B. Nothing C. Anything D. Nobody

19. A. afford B. treasure C. deserve D. spare

20. A. put off B. turned off C. given off D. shown off

解析

1. D。根據下文信息可知。

2. C。demands(of)“(尤指困難、使人勞累、令人煩惱的)要求”;difficulties表示“困難”;tasks常指“艱巨的任務、工作”;pressures表示“(擠壓時或氣體、液體的)壓力、催促、強迫”。

3. A。根據本句中的“only occasionally”及本句話可知，由于工作的羈絆以及撫養孩子，我只可能偶爾去看望母親;其他選項均不符合語境。

4. B。根據下文語境可知。

5. B。由下文“Very nice，much more than...”可作出正確判斷，應選pleasant(令人愉快的)。casual表示“漫不經心的、馬虎的、隨便的”;formal意為“正規的、莊重的、正式的”;deep表示“深的、厚的、強烈的”。

6. C。根據上文“我偶爾去看望母親”可以推理出，我們談論的是彼此生活中“最近”發生的事情。former意為“以前的”;later表示“后來的”;main表示“主要的”。

7. A。only if表示“唯一的條件”，其中only只起強調作用，并不改變 if的詞義。例:—Will you come?—Only if you promise not to invite Mary.“你來嗎?”“只要你答應不邀請瑪麗。”if only則是從屬關聯詞，主要用在虛擬語氣中，用以表達愿望或非真實的條件。例:If only she could have lived a little longer. even if表示“即使”;as if表示“好像”。

8. D。根據下文語境可知。

9. B。appointment:a formal arrangement to meet sb. at a particular time，especially for a reason connected with their work.由此不難看出，appointment側重指與工作相關的約見或會晤;date:an arrangement to meet sb. at a particular time or a meeting that you have arranged with a boyfriend or girlfriend or with sb. who might become a boyfriend or girlfriend. 此句中date指與母親的約見共進晚餐的時間。

10. D。根據語境可知。predict表示“預言、預告、預報”。

11. A。massive表示“巨大的、非常嚴重的”，此處指心臟病嚴重發作。其他選項均不符合語境。

12. C。根據“...I didn’t have a chance to do anything for her.”可知事發突然。

13. A。

14. D。say可用于表示“(文字材料)寫道、說”。例:The papers say exports are down. inform表示“通知”;remind意為“提醒、使想起”;go可用于表示“(詩或歌中詞、調)唱，說或(故事)發生情況如何”。例: How does that song go? The story goes that she’s been married twice.

15. B。in advance“預先，事先”;in need“家境困難，窮困”;in need of “需要”;in turn“輪流”;in total“加起來”。

16. C。句意為:你永遠也不會明白那晚對我何其重要。

17. D。語境為:那一刻，我懂得了及時說出“我愛你”的重要性。necessity表示“必要(性)，必需品”;emergency意為“緊急情況、緊急的(定語)”;possibility表示“可能性，可能的情況”。

18. B。參照文章梗概。

19. C。deserve表示“值得、應得、應受”。例:The report deserves careful consideration. afford表示“買得起，(有時間、經濟條件)做某事”;treasure(vt.)意為“珍視、珍愛、珍藏”;spare表示“抽出，勻出，留出時間、錢、房間等”。

20. A。put off表示“推遲”;turn off意為“關上(收音機、電燈等)，使反感”;give off表示“散發出”;show off意為“炫耀，給別人看”。

編輯/梁宇清