第一节：完形填空（共20小题；每小题1分，满分20分）
请认真阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
“Two books per visit per week,” said the unsmiling librarian as she handed a library card. Neither the limits nor her attitude surprised me,  a 9-year-old Jewish girl growing up in Berlin in the 1950s. I needed those visits. The books were filled with stories in which, however   21   things seemed, everything  22   well in the end,  23   justice, bravery, and wisdom—a striking contrast (对比) to my everyday experiences.
Thirty years later, I, a recent immigrant to the US with a daughter aged 13, stood in front of another librarian. This librarian was smiling.
“What did she say?” I asked my daughter, who already knew a little English and often served as my interpreter.
“She said ‘Can I help you?’”
“Ask if they have any books in  24  ,” I requested.
“No, they don’t.” translated my daughter.
While hunting for a job, I was told that the library needed people to shelve books. The interview was short—the job didn’t require much English, just a   25   of the alphabet. I started the next day. Every day, I handled hundreds of books whose meaning was   26   from me, mentally dividing them by size and color. One day, while shelving, I found English for Beginners and began studying it on my own. Step by step  English letters started forming words I could   27  , words combined into phrases, and—oh, wonder!—I was reading. It was a slow process, supported by dictionaries and    28   by tears, but it was progress. Afterwards I got promoted to the front desk—  29   books in and out and answering simple questions.
Every day I receive dozens of people. Sometimes I spot new immigrants. They come from all over the world, so they look different, but the hesitant expression on their faces and their shy manners are similar. My heart goes out to them, for they are people like me. I fully understand the    30   roads on which they have stepped. “They’ve come to the right place,” I think to myself. Then I smile and say—just the way a librarian said to me a long time ago—“Can I help you?”
A. attractive           B. dull            C. terrible      D. strange
22.  A. went out      B. turned out        C. ended in    D. came up
23.  A. rewarding    B. affecting      C. deserving      D. denying
24.A. Spanish        B. English          C. Russian     D. German
25.A. list            B. knowledge    C. line         D. competence
26. A. vague          B. simple           C. hidden      D. clear
27. A. recognize       B. realize           C. define      D. interpret
28. A. inspired         B. accompanied    C. blocked     D. excited
29. A. checking        B. classifying      C. borrowing   D. lending
30.A. difficult       B. smooth        C. endless     D. straight