A great many people are disappointed because of unrealistic expectations.

Walking up to a department store’s  1   counter, an attractive young woman said, “I want to buy this material for a new dress. How much does it cost?”

“Only one  2   per yard,” replied the smirking (自鸣得意的) male clerk.

Not to be taken back by the funny words, the woman said, “That’s fine! I’ll take ten yards.”

With  3  written all over his face, the clerk hurriedly  4  out and wrapped the cloth, and then held it out teasingly, leaning forward to receive his “   5   ”.

The woman got the package quickly from the clerk and pointed to a little old  6  standing beside her. “Grandpa will pay the bill instead of me,” she  7 .

He was no doubt disappointed. But in the course of living, many people are  8 when others do not  9  their expectations. In order to be happy, some expectations must be dropped. These three particular  10  and unhealthy expectations are some of the main causes:

       1. Expect too much  11 .When others say, “Thank you,” or in any way to show their gratitude, be happy. It is a gift!

       2. Expect others to make you happy. They simply cannot do that. Make yourself happy and  12   your joy with others.

       3. Expect not to be  13 . At times, people will simply not come through for you in the way you need.  14   them and move on.

Get rid of these three unrealistic expectations and you can begin to expect more  15   right away!

A young man rushes about a small room, hiding himself behind a chair, jumping on the desk, jabbing (刺) the air with his pencil. To an outsider there appears to be no __1__ for these strange acts. However, he is the __2__ of an experiment in hypnosis (催眠). Being hypnotized, the young man has __3__ the suggestion that there is a fierce dog in the room. So he acts as though there were.

According to the popular conception of hypnosis, a hypnotized person is in a __4__ like sleepwalking－seemingly awake yet out of touch with his or her normal __5__ awareness and self-control. There are, however, enormous __6__ between the sleepwalker and the hypnotized person. First, the sleepwalker, __7__ the hypnotized person, pays no attention to other people and doesn’t take instructions. Second, the sleepwalker doesn’t remember sleepwalking, while the hypnotized person __8__ everything that went on under hypnosis.

Obviously, sleep and hypnosis are different. But what exactly is hypnosis? Psychologists still don’t have a firm answer to this question. Although hypnosis has been already successfully __9__ to a large range of medical uses, there is little clear agreement as to how hypnosis works. Only when scientists can understand this, can the full potential (潜能) of hypnosis in medical treatment be __10__.

A. reason     B. purpose      C. doubt  D. evidence

A. species    B. target  C. subject       D. aim

A. received  B. accepted     C. admitted     D. believed

A. time B. course C. development      D. state

A. awake     B. waking       C. sleepy D. sleeping

A. influence B. relations     C. similarities D. differences

A. unlike     B. like     C. for      D. with

A. forgets    B. destroys     C. enjoys D. remembers

A. come       B. put     C. turned D. changed

A. exploited      B. saved  C. made  D. kept

A bar manager was so sure that he himself was the strongest man. Thus he made a bet and declared he would offer $1000 if    1   could beat him.

     The    2   was that the landlord would squeeze（压榨）a lemon until all the    3   ran out into a beer glass, then hand the lemon to the customer. Anyone who could squeeze even one more   __ 4   out of the lemon would win the money.

     Over the years many people had tried this, truck drivers, weightlifters, karate masters, and    __ 5   had failed. Then one day a geeky little fellow with heavy black rimmed glasses    6   the bar and asked if he could try the challenge.

     After the laughter had quieted down the landlord said that it was only fair that the man should be given a    7   at the bet, so he picked up a lemon and started squeezing. Once he had done, he handed the    8   to the little man. Immediately, the little man promptly squeezed out 4 more drops of juice onto the bar!

     Everyone looked at the little man in    9   as the landlord handed over the prize and asked

"What do you do for a living that has given you such   10  ? Are you a lumberjack, weightlifter?"

"No." the man replied, "I work for the IRS.( 美国国税局)"

A. anyone        B. someone        C. every one       D. no one

A. fact           B. trap            C. challenge       D. match

A. flesh           B. juice           C. seeds         D. peel

A. water       B. lemon           C. beer glass     D. drop

A. none          B. neither          C. either           D. all

A. rushed into     B. came into     C. put into       D. looked into

A. then        B. likely         C. fair            D. chance

A. container    B. money        C. remains        D. other

A. tears           B. amazement      C. trouble         D. time

A. strength    B. bravery         C. skill           D. bet

A strong wind was blowing hard, thunder was rumbling (雷声隆隆地响), and lightning flashed across the dark sky. Rain was   1   down; it looked as if heaven had been broken open.

Gleams of light appeared from windows of faraway houses, ___2___ like jewels in all the dark.

A   3   woman dressed in rags and trembling with cold was   4   on a lonely road, while the merciless rain was   5   her without pause.

She knocked at a door, and a  6  answered it. She begged him to let her stay a while   7  . The boy then let her into the sitting room and   8   her sitting by the fire.

The woman  9  old and tired under the bright electric light,   10  she was only in her early thirties. She sat   11  for a moment, and then her eyes began to look about the   12  . When her wandering eyes rested on the picture of a young man, she   13   up, looking thunderstruck.

Just then, the boy came with his  14. The man at once recognized the woman as his   15  . They had   16   touch with each other during the war, and he thought he had lost her forever.

17   words needed to be spoken. They ran into each other’s arms  18   the boy stared at them, puzzled.

The storm was over and the sky cleared. Feeling very   19  , the couple stood face to face with their child between them, watching the rain as it gradually   20  .

1．A. pouring      B. falling        C. dropping         D. flooding

2．A.blowing     B.breaking         C.shining           D. flying

3．A. rich         B. beautiful           C. poor         D. ugly

4．A. crying  B. wandering        C. struggling               D. wondering

5．A. striking  B. hitting         C. flowing                    D. beating

6．A. girl       B. woman                    C. man              D. boy   

7．A. out             B. near               C. inside            D. outside

8．A. left           B. made            C. asked                   D. told

9．A. became         B. appeared           C. showed            D. sounded

10．A. so           B. though              C. however               D. and

11．A. still         B. thirsty            C. hungry           D. straight

12．A. house            B. picture           C. room               D. fire

13．A. picked        B. came              C. stood               D. looked

14．A. brother       B. mother           C. friend               D. father

15．A. sister                B. wife          C. mother       D. girlfriend

16．A. kept         B. got                 C. made                 D. lost

17．A. Much         B. Many               C. No                     D. Not

18．A. as           B. while               C. when                D. since

19．A. disappointed          B. sorry          C. happy        D. sad

20．A. began             B. stopped             C. ended           D. went

 A friend of mine was sitting in the living room one day when his cat dragged in a little “gift” in its mouth—a dead animal of some sort. Taking a closer look, he was surprised to  36 it as the bunny(小兔子) that  37 Mary, the young daughter of the family next door. My friend felt  38 , believing his cat had killed Mary’s bunny.
My quick-thinking friend came up with a plan.  39  from the cat’s mouth the dead animal, which by now was a     40 mess, he put it in the kitchen sink. With a little warm water and some shampoo, he tried to  41 the dead bunny as best he could. Then he took a hair dryer and blowdried the bunny  42 it looked pretty good.
Finally, under the cover of darkness, he crept into the next-door garden and placed it  43 in the cage. He managed to make the bunny look very  44 there in his little box.
The next morning, my friend looked out of the window and noticed a crowd of people  45 around the rabbit hutch(笼). Everyone seemed to be talking and pointing. My friend  46 to go over and act like any normal  47 neighbor and find out what was going on.
When he got there, Mary’s mother said to my friend, “You won’t believe this! It’s a(n)   48 thing! Mary’s bunny  49 a few days ago, and we buried that little bunny right over there…”
Have you ever tried to cover up one wrongdoing with another? Covering up only makes matters  50 .
When we get caught doing something  51 , for example, we may  52 to cover it up with a lie. But just like Mary’s bunny, the result is  53 what we expected. We  54 looking foolish. We would have been better off admitting we were wrong and accepting the  55 . What do you think of it?