The   16   picked up the thermos and poured some hot water into the tea-cup and placed it on the small table in front of his  17   , who were a father and daughter, and put the lid on the cup with a clink．Apparently  18  of something, he hurried into the inner room, leaving the  19  on the table．His two guests heard a chest of drawers opening and a rustling （飒飒响声）．

       They  20  sitting in the living-room, the 10-year-old daughter, looking at the flowers outside the window．The father was just about to take his cup when the  21  came, right there in the living-room．Something was hopelessly broken．

       It was the thermos, which had fallen to the floor．The girl looked  22  her shoulder at once, startled （吓一跳）,  23  ．It was  24   neither of them had touched it, not even a little bit．

       The sound caused the host to rush back from the inner room．He looked at the  25  floor and blurted out, “It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter!”

       The father started to say something．Then he muttered, “Sorry, I  26  it and it fell．”

       “ It doesn’t matter,” the host said．

       Later, when they left the house, the daughter said, “ Daddy, I saw your  27  in the windowpane （窗玻璃）．You were sitting perfectly  28  ．Why did you say…．”

The father  29  , “What then would you  30  as the cause of its fall?”

       “ It fell by itself．The floor is uneven （不平）．It wasn’t steady when Mr．Li put it there．”

       “It won’t  31  , girl．It sounds more  32   when I say I knocked it down．There are things people accept less the more you  33   them．The truer your story is, the less true it sounds．”

The daughter was  34  in silence for a while．Then she said, “ Can you  35   it only this way?”

       “Only this way,” the father said．

16．A．owner         B．host             C．guest            D．master

17．A．friends         B．neighbours         C．children           D．guests

18．A．knowing       B．remembering             C．hearing           D．thinking

19．A．thermos       B．cup               C．lid              D．tea

20．A．enjoyed       B．remained         C．imagined         D．hated

21．A．stranger        B．host             C．crash            D．noise

22．A．around         B．at               C．behind           D．over

23．A．staring        B．watching         C．shouting           D．crying

24．A．helpless       B．exciting          C．strange           D．terrible

25．A．broken        B．steaming         C．dirty             D．flooded

26．A．touched       B．used              C．hit              D．moved

27．A．face           B．shadow          C．reflection                D．action

28．A．calm          B．still             C．silent            D．straight

29．A．shouted        B．whispered        C．laughed           D．repeated

30．A．tell                 B．make            C．accept           D．give

31．A．do             B．suit               C．go              D．fit

32．A．comfortable    B．friendly          C．acceptable        D．agreeable

33．A．defend        B．support          C．discuss            D．argue

34．A．kept          B．shut             C．worried            D．lost

35．A．do             B．explain            C．make              D．manage