高等教育自学考试《英语（二）》考前点题卷三

The easy way out isn’t always easiest.I learned that lesson when I decided to treat Doug, my husband of one month, to a special meal.I glanced through my cook book and chose a menu which included homemade bread.Knowing the bread would take time.I started on it as soon as Doug left for work.As I was not experienced in cooking, I thought if a dozen was good, two dozen would be better, so I doubled everything.As Doug loved oranges, I also opened a can of orange and poured it all into the bowl.Soon there was a sticky dough covered with ugly yellowish marks.Realizing I had been defeated, I put the dough in the rubbish bin outside so I wouldn’t have to face Doug laughing at my work.I went on preparing the rest of the meal, and, when Doug got home, we sat down to Cornish chicken with rice.He tried to enjoy the meal but seemed disturbed.Twice he got up and went outside, saying he thought he heard a noise.The third time he left, I went to the windows to see what he was doing.Looking out, I saw Doug standing about three feet from the rubbish bin, holding the lid up with a stick and looking into the container.When I came out of the house, he dropped the stick and explained that there was something alive in out rubbish bin.Picking up the stick again, he held the lid up enough for me to see.I felt cold.But I stepped closer and looked harder.Without doubt it was my work.The hot sun had caused the dough to double in size and the fermenting yeast made the surface shake and sigh as though it were breathing.I had to admit what the living thing was and why it was there.I don't know who was more embarrassed by the whole thing—Doug or me.

As Christmas is coming,there are presents to be bought, cards to be sent, and rooms to be cleaned.Parents are ___1___ with difficult jobs of hiding presents from curious youngchildren.If the gifts are large, this is sometimes a real ___2___.On Christmas Eve, young children find the excitement almost unbearable.They are torn between the wish to go to bed early so that Father Christmas will bring their presents quickly and the wish to ___3___ up late so that they will not ___4___ the fun.The wish for gifts usually proves stronger.But though children go to bed early, they often lie ___5___ for a long time, hoping to get a short ___6___at Father Christmas.Last Christmas, my wife and I ___7___ hid a few large presents in the storeroom.I ___8___ the moment when my son, Jimmy, would ___9___ me where that new bike hadcome from, but ___10__ he did not see it.On Christmas Eve, ___11___ took the children hours to go to sleep.It must have beennearly ___12___ when my wife and I went quietly into their room and began ___13___ stockings.Then I pushed in the ___14___ I bought for Jimmy and left itbeside the Christmas tree.We knew we would not get much sleep that night, forthe children were ___15___ to get up early.At about five o’clock the next morning, we were ___16___ by loud sounds coming from the children’s room — theywere shouting excitedly! ___17__ I had time to get out of bed, young Jimmy cameriding into the room on his new bike, and his sister, Mary, followed closebehind pushing her new baby carriage.___18___ the baby arrived.He moved ___19___the hands and knees into the room dragging a large balloon behind him.Suddenlyit burst.That woke us up ___20___.The day had really begun with a band!

Growing up I always heard the expression, “You don't know ___请作答此空___ you've got till it's gone.” These words have never really had much meaning to me until just ___2___.This happens to everyone at least once, not ___3___ the things we have.How would we know how ___4___ things are if we never get anything ___5___ away from us? Every day I have been taking ___6___ of things that could easily be taken away, like my job, friends, and pets.In this __7__, losing my job was one of the hardest things I've had to deal with about a year and a half ago I used to work for a retail store called Gottschalks.I worked for them for about two years.I worked in customer service and counted the vault for the store, which was balancing out the amount the store had made the day before.When I worked for the company I made pretty good money and got pretty good hours, but I would always find things to ___8___ about.I complained about things that did not really ___9___ when I should have been more thankful that I still had a job.This was around the time ___10___ the country began feeling the effects of the recession and businesses starting closing all over.That's when the rumors started going around that Gottschalks might be heading into bankruptcy, but still I felt I had no reason to worry.