第二节完形填空 (共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分)
The __36__ picked up the thermos and poured some hot water into the tea-cup and placed it on the small table in front of his __37__, who were a father and daughter, and put the lid on the cup with a clink. Obviously __38___ of something, he hurried into the inner room, leaving the  __39___ on the table. His two guests heard a box of drawers opening and a rustling(飒飒地响).
They  __40___ sitting in the living-room, the -year-old daughter, looking at the flowers outside the window. The father was just about to take his cup when the  __41__ came, right there in the living room. Something was hopelessly broken.
It was the thermos, which had fallen to the floor. The girl looked  __42__ her shoulder at once, startled(吓一跳), __43___. It was  __44___.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 __45___ floor and blurted out（脱口而出）, “It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter!”
The father started to say something. Then he muttered（嘀咕）, “ Sorry, I ___46__ it and it fell.”
“It doesn’t matter,” the host said.
Later, when they left the house the daughter said, “Daddy, I saw your  __47__ in the windowpane(玻璃窗). You were sitting perfectly__48__. Why did you say…?”
The father __49__, “What then would you __50__ 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 __51___, girl. It sounds more __52___ when I say I knocked it down. There are things people accept less the more you ___53__them. The truer your story is, the less true it sounds.”
The daughter was ___54__ in silence for a while. Then she said, “Can you __55__ it only this way?”
“Only this way,” the father said.
36.A.owner            B. host            C. guest            D. master
37.A.friends           B. neighbors        C. children         D. guests
38.A.knowing         B. remembering      C. hearing         D. thinking
39.A.thermos          B. cup             C. lid             D. tea
40.A.enjoyed          B. remained         C. imagined       D. hated
41.A.stranger          B. host             C. crash          D. noise          
42.A.around          B. at               C. behind         D. over
43.A.staring          B. watching          C. shouting        D. crying
44.A.helpless         B. exciting           C. strange         D. terrible
45.A.broken        B. streaming           C. dirty          D. flooded
46.A.touched       B. used               C. hit             D. moved
47.A.faced         B. shadow            C. reflection        D. action
48.A.calm         B. still                C. silent           D. straight
49.A.shouted       B. murmured          C. laughed         D. repeated
50.A. tell          B. make              C. accept          D. give
51.A.do           B. help               C. go              D. fit
52.A.comfortable   B. friendly            C. acceptable       D. agreeable
53.A.defend       B. support              C. discuss        D. argue
54.A.kept         B. shut               C. worried         D. lost
55.A.do          B. explain            C. make            D. manage