20. A. friend B. age C. success D. failure

B

I've always loved pigeons(鸽子). Some years ago I managed to persuade my wife to let me buy a few and started 1 them myself. They cost a lot of money and so it spoilt(破坏) our 2 a bit, but my wife never actually stopped me so I 3 carried on. I learnt so much about them that I could 4 a good racer anywhere and I bought some beauties. My pigeons won some top races, and I even began to make a bit of 5.

You see, people are prepared to pay big prices if they get to know that your pigeons are 6 big prizes.

My wife had been changing her 7 to the pigeons over the last year or two anyway. She was quite 8 of all the prizes we'd won. Then there was a lot of travelling, which she liked. You see, someone has to take the pigeons a 9 way off and release them. Some of the 10 were really nice. I never traveled. I used to like to wait at home and see them come in. They got the wonderful sense of 11, which could bring them back home so quickly. They'd flown hundreds of miles sometimes 12 storms or against strong winds. And there they'd come, tiny white birds against the great 13. Then I'd watch them 14 round and come down onto the landing shelf. I'd look at my watch and think,"My goodness, that's a good 15." And I'd take off the little leg ring and push it through the machine to 16 what time he'd arrived. Then my wife would 17 up and say, "Has he arrived yet?" Then we would work out if we'd won 18.

However, last year we had a 19! One of them got some sort of flu(流感) and died; then they all 20. It was terrible; I had to burn them all. We lost a fortune, of course.

19. A. thinking B. reading C. developing D. translating

18. A. pulled B. put C. broke D. looked

17. A. mind B. book C. voice D. work

16. A. lasting B. normal C. careful D. general

15. A. hope B. efforts C. novels D. imagination

14. A. use B. love C. meaning D. respect

13. A. writing B. organizing C. telling D. reading

12. A. books B. shops C. record D. list

11. A. sold B. published C. printed D. passed