7、When my son unexpectedly volunteered for the US Navy, I was busy writing my novels and giving little thought to the men and women in the army.

    My son, John Smith, recently came home  1  from the Middle East. He slowly appeared from a broken car. John  2  all night from a base near Washington,  3  he had landed the day before. He did not want me to  4  him there. “I’ll need time to myself,” my son said  5  calling from Kuwait on the way home.

    I gave my wife a start. Mother  6  son. “I was so worried,” Genie said. She pulled him away to look up again and again to  7  he was really there.

    My wife gave me a great  8 : time alone with my boy. John was tired and stretched on his bed. I  9  down next to him. I just wanted to be certain that the nightmares I’d had about John being killed were  10 .

    I kept holding my son, the way I  11  when he was two and came into our bed after a  12 dream. I asked John if he’d rather sleep than talk, and he said there would be time for  13  late.

    With the  14  over, under and around me came incredible tiredness. I slept with his voice dying away. It was the first good  15  I’d had in months. I woke and John was asleep next to me. Sitting by his bed watching him breathe, I found myself praying and  16  for all the fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, husbands and wives of those who were not coming home. For the first time in my life, I was weeping for  17.

    Before my son went to war, I would never have shed tears for them. My son  18  me. He taught me that our men and women in uniform are not the “ 19 “. They are our sons, daughters, brothers and sisters. Sometimes shedding tears for strangers is a holy  20 . sometimes it’s all we can do.

1．A．angry                    B．excited                C．frightened            D．alive

2．A．would have driven        B．has been driving

     C．had driven                                           D．ought to drive

3．A．where                   B．that                     C．which                 D．when

4．A．meet                     B．take                    C．greet                   D．receive

5．A．once                     B．when                  C．now                    D．since

6．A．hit                        B．pushed                C．carried                D．embraced

7．A．make sure             B．look round           C．learn about          D．find out

8．A．surprise                B．help                    C．gift                      D．respect

9．A．lied                       B．lay                      C．laid D．were lying

10．A．facts                   B．truths                  C．jokes                   D．lies

11．A．used to                B．ought to              C．should have         D．had to

12．A．strange                B．wild                    C．scary                  D．dull

13．A．advice                 B．discussion           C．talk                     D．sleep

14．A．chat                    B．worries               C．meeting               D．interview

15．A．conversation        B．communication    C．sleep                   D．wish

16．A．crying                 B．shouting              C．screaming           D．regretting

17．A．friends                B．neighbors            C．strangers             D．soldiers

18．A．persuaded            B．changed              C．trained                D．guided

19．A．ones                   B．other                   C．others                 D．another

20．A．function         B．task             C．work           D．duty