When I was growing up， I had an old neighbor named Doctor Gibbs. He didn’t look like any doctor I’d ever known. He never yelled at us for playing in his yard， but was always very 1 . When Doctor Gibbs wasn’t 2 lives， he was planting trees. His house 3 on ten acres of land， and his life’s 4 was to turn this land into a forest. The good doctor had some 5 theories about planting trees. He believed in the principle: “No pain， no gain”. He never watered his new trees， a(n) 6 which is contrary to 7 wisdom.

Once I asked why and he told me that watering plants 8 them because it made them grow weaker. He said “you have to make things tough for the trees so that only the strongest 9 . He talked about how watering trees made them develop 10 roots and how， if they were not watered， trees would grow deep roots 11 moisture(水分). So Doctor Gibbs would plant an oak and， instead of watering it every morning， he would beat it with a rolled-up newspaper. I asked why he did that， and he said it was to get the tree’s 12 .

Doctor Gibbs died a couple of years after I left home. Every now and then， I walked by his house and looked at the trees that I’d watched him 13 some 25 years ago， they were tall and 14 .

I planted a couple of trees myself a few years ago. Tow years of coddling (溺愛) these trees meant they grew up weak. Whenever a cold wind blew， their branches 15 . Adversity（逆境）seemed to benefit Doctor Gibbs’ trees in ways comfort and ease 16 could.

Every night before I go to bed， I 17 my two sons. I stand over them and watch their little bodies. I often pray that their lives will be easy. But lately I’ve been thinking that it’s time to

18 my prayer. I know my children are going to 19 hardships. There’s always a cold wind blowing somewhere. What we need to do is to pray for deep roots so when the rains fall and the winds blow， we won’t be 20 .

1. A. cruel B. mean

C. kind D. grateful

2. A. living B. saving

C. wasting D. helping

3. A. depended B. located

C. sat D. existed

4. A. work B. goal

C. value D. belief

5. A. interesting B. complicated

C. funny D. abnormal

6. A. rule B. attitude

C. trend D. principle

7. A. current B. conventional

C. original D. reasonable

8. A. spoiled B. restored

C. strengthened D. discouraged

9. A. supported B. survive

C. insist D. continue

10. A. shallow B. strong

C. slim D. deep

11. A. in need of B. in spite of

C. in view of D. in search of

12. A. attention B. interest

C. injury D. improvement

13. A. grow B. plant

C. bring D. destroy

14. A. weak B. colorful

C. beautiful D. strong

15. A. waved B. danced

C. swung D. trembled

16. A. never B. always

C. sometimes D. almost

17. A. look through B. care for

C watch out D. check on

18. A. improve B. correct

C. stop D. change

19. A. experience B. challenge

C. beat D. reach

20. A. cut down B. held up

C. taken over D. torn apart