When my daughter was in the 4th grade, one day she brought home four twigs. They were tiny trees giv

When my daughter was in the 4th grade, one day she brought home four twigs. They were tiny trees given to the students by the school to   21   . None of them looked very   22   but with a hope for the   23   , so I helped my daughter plant them in our backyard. Over the years an accident with the lawnmower（割草机）and   24   soil brought an end to three of them. All that was left was a single evergreen（常青树）.
It was not straight and grew very   25   , seemingly never growing very tall. In the end it looked more like a fat bush than a   26   . I noticed a few years ago that it was starting to   27   . The lower branches were becoming   28   . The needles on the branches a little further up had turned brown. Only the top third of the tree was still green. Last summer I did my best to   29   it by feeding it a lot of fertilizer（肥料）but   30   .
This morning I went out and looked at it again. I was   31   on whether it would be better to just cut it down. It would make mowing the lawn   32   and I would no longer have to watch it die. As I walked over to take a closer look at it,   33   , I noticed something moving within the needles. It was a robin patiently   34   a nest in the topmost branches. I   35   when I looked at it and thought that maybe this old tree had some life and   36   left in it yet. It may not be healthy or pretty but it was still giving a bird a   37   and oxygen to this world.
This tree   38   me of something too. All of our lives have a   39   . All of our lives have meaning. It doesn’t matter whether we are young and healthy or old and sick. Until our last   40   here we can help to make this world a better and more beautiful place.
21．A．research B．climb C．feed D．plant
22．A．delicate B．young C．strong D．precious
23．A．safety B．future C．praise D．fruit
24．A．poor B．soft C．wet D．thick
25．A．wildly B．slowly C．firmly D．randomly
26．A．branch B．wheat C．tree D．trunk
27．A．die B．bend C．grow D．appear
28．A．flexible B．hard C．broken D．bare
29．A．protect B．save C．cure D．decorate
30．A．in vain B．in order C．in place D．in shock
31．A．relying B．insisting C．carrying D．deciding
32．A．shorter B．busier C．easier D．greener
33．A．besides B．however C．therefore D．otherwise
34．A．building B．painting C．discovering D．designing
35．A．cried B．whispered C．smiled D．teased
36．A．privilege B．potential C．energy D．usefulness
37．A．home B．point C．stage D．direction
38．A．cheated B．reminded C．warned D．ridded
39．A．limit B．result C．switch D．purpose
40．A．wish B．matter C．chance D．moment
 
【答案】