第二节　完形填空(共20小题;每小题1.5分，满分30分)

阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。

From my second grade on, there was one event I feared every year: the piano recital(独奏演唱会). A recital ___36__I had to practice a boring piece of music and perform before strangers. Each year I ___37__ask my father if I could skip the recital “just this once”. And each year he would shake his head, muttering(嘀咕) ____38_____about build self-confidence and working toward a ____39____.

So it was with really great___40___that I stood in church one recent Sunday, video camera in hand, and ___41___my 68-year-old father sweating in his shirt ___42___rising to play the piano in his very first recital.

My father had longed to play music since childhood, but his family was poor and couldn’t _____43____lessons. He could have gone on regretting it, ___44____too many of us do. But though he was rooted in his past, he wasn’t ___45_____there. When he retired three years ago, he ___46__ his church music director to take him as a student.

For a moment after my father sat down at the keyboard, he ___47___stared down at his fingers. Has he forgotten the ____48__? I worried, remembering those split seconds___49___ago when my mind would go blank and my fingers would ___50____. But then came the beautiful melody(旋律)，from the ___51__fingers that once baited(装饵于) my fishing lines. And I___52___he had been doing what music teachers always stress:___53_____the music and pretend the others aren’t there.

“I’m ____54____of him for starting something new at his age,” I said to my son Jeff.

“Yeah, and doing it so___55____,” Jeff added.

With his first recital, my father taught me more about courage and determination than all the words he used those 30-plus years ago.

36. A. reflected B. explained C. meant D. proved

37. A. would B. could C. might D. should

38. A. nothing B. everything C. anything D. something

39. A. goal B. stage C. journey D. chance

40. A. trouble B. satisfaction C. strength D. disappointment

41. A. kept B. sent C. watched D. felt

42. A. through B. from C. against D. before

43. A. miss B. afford C. select D. understand

44. A. as B. once C. if D. while

45. A. educated B. protected C. stuck D. spoilt

46. A. allowed B. invited C. inspired D. persuaded

47. A. roughly B. simply C. merrily D. curiously

48. A. words B. videos C. notes D. lessons

49. A. decades B. weeks C. hours D. moments

50. A. play B. freeze C. click D. adjust

51. A. same B. warm C. different D. dirty

52. A. predicted B. realized C. imagined D. insisted

53. A. pass over B. turn up C. bring in D. concentrate on

54. A. ashamed B. aware C. tired D. proud

55. A. casually B. anxiously C. nicely D. frequently