Jennifer was sitting on the bench. After all she went through, it was just what she needed. ‘It’s getting   1 ,’ she thought. ‘I should go home.’

She wanted to know her   2  would react(反应) when she   3  home after the three days she was missing.

It was really dark when she finally reached her front door. It seemed different to her.   4    took care of the outside garden for   5  days. She was surprised as her father usually worked hard to keep everything   6  and tidy. She couldn’t understand what was going on.

She entered the   7 . First, she went into the kitchen   8  she saw a note written by her father.  9  said, ‘Dear Ellen, here is some coffee. I am searching out.’ Ellen was her mother, but where is she?

She went to her parents’ room. She found her there. Her   10  was lying on the bed, fast asleep. Her face looked so   11 , as if she wasn’t asleep for days. Jennifer wanted to wake her up   12  she looked too tired. So Jennifer just fell asleep beside her.

When Jennifer   13 , something was different: She wasn’t in her mother’s room and she wasn’t   14  the old clothes she ran away in. She was on her own bed.

It felt so good being back home. Suddenly she heard a voice ask, ‘Are you feeling better now, dear? You know you   15  us all very, very afraid.

1.                A．early           B．late            C．warm D．angry

2.                A．father          B．mother         C．parents   D．teachers

3.                A．got            B．left            C．wanted   D．missed

4.                A．Everybody      B．Somebody       C．Anybody  D．Nobody

5.                A．many          B．lots of          C．a few D．much

6.                A．clean          B．dirty           C．quiet D．busy

7.                A．school         B．room           C．house    D．library

8.                A．what           B．when          C．who D．and

9.                A．They           B．It              C．He  D．She

10.               A．mother         B．father          C．friend D．sister

11.               A．happy          B．tired           C．afraid D．relaxed(放松的)

12.               A．and           B．so             C．but   D．though

13.               A．got up         B．woke up        C．put up D．cleaned up

14.               A．putting on      B．dressing        C．wearing   D．taking

15.               A．had           B．let            C．made D．gave

Nowadays more and more Chinese teenagers find life more difficult without their parents. They don’t know how to do   1 . Because their parents do almost everything for them at home. This is a big problem.
Joy is 14 years old. One day her parents went away   2  business, so she had to stay at home alone. At first she thought she would be happy   3  her parents were not in. She could do everything   4  she liked. But it was six o’clock in the afternoon, she felt  5 . “Oh, it’s time to have supper. Where can I get my food?” she said to herself. Later she found some food in the fridge, but she   6  know how to cook. At that moment, she missed her   7  very much. At last she could only go to the supermarket and   8  some food to eat.
Many of teenagers are   9  as Joy. So I think they should learn some basic life skills, like cooking, tidying up their rooms or dressing themselves   10 . They shouldn’t depend too much on their parents.

I really love my job because I enjoy working with small children and like the challenges and awards from the job. I also think my work is important. I wasn’t an excellent student because I didn’t do much schoolwork. In my final term I started thinking what I might do and found I didn’t have much to offer.
I then found myself a job, looking after two little girls. It wasn’t too bad at first. But the problems began when I agreed to live in. I would be there if my boss had to go out for business in the evening. We agreed that if I had to work extra hours one week, she’d give me time off the next. But unluckily, it didn’t often work out. I was getting very tired. Because I had too many late nights and early mornings with the children.
One Sunday, I was in the park with the children, and met Megan who used to go to school with me. I told her about my situation. She suggested that I should do a course and get a qualification（资格证书）if I wanted to work with children. I didn’t think I would be accepted because I didn’t take many exams in school. She asked me to phone the local college and they were really helpful. My experience counted for a lot and I got on a part-time course. I had to leave my job with the family, and got work helping out at a kindergarten.
Now I’ve got a full-time job there. I shall always be thankful to Megan. I wish I had known earlier that I could have a success, even if I am not top of the class at school.
【小题1】What do you think of the writer when she was a student?