When I was growing up，I had an old neighbor，Dr. Gibbs．He didn’t look like any  1   I __2  ．He never invited us to play in his yard，but he was a very   3    person．

When Dr. Gibbs wasn’t saving lives，he was planting trees．He owned a large field and wanted to make it a forest．

The good doctor had some interesting ideas about planting trees．He never watered his new trees．Once I asked why．He said that watering plants spoiled them，and that if you   4   them，each baby tree would grow weaker and weaker，so you had to make things difficult for them and  __5   the weaker trees early．

He talked about how watered trees grew shallow（淺的）roots，and how trees that weren’t watered had to grow deep roots in search of water   6    the earth by themselves．  7   roots were very important．

So he never watered his trees．He'd planted an oak and，  8   watering it every morning，he'd beat it with a rolled-up newspaper．I asked him why he did that，and he said it was to get the tree's attention．

Dr. Gibbs died several years   9   I left home．Every now and then，I walked by his house and looked at the trees   10   I watched him   11   about twenty-five years ago．They’re very big and strong now．I planted some trees a few years later and carried water to them for a whole summer．After two years of   12   too much，whenever a cold wind blows in，they  13  a lot．

Every night before I go to bed，I check on my two sons．Mostly I pray（祈禱）that their lives will be easy．But lately I've been thinking that it's time to change my prayer．I know my children are going to face difficulties．There's always a cold wind   14   somewhere，so   15   we need to do is to pray for roots that reach deep into the brave heart，so when the rains fall and the winds blow，we can face it strongly and won't be beaten down．

1．A．doctor                   B．farmer                 C．planter                   D．a(chǎn)dult

2．A．know                    B．knew                   C．have known           D．had known

3．A．healthy                  B．weak                   C．kind                       D．bad

4．A．developed              B．watered               C．created                  D．caught

5．A．pick out                 B．clean out              C．come out                      D．give out

6．A．over                      B．on                       C．towards                 D．under

7．A．Thick                    B．Thin                    C．Short                     D．Deep

8．A．because of             B．rather than                  C．instead of               D．instead

9．A．when                    B．a(chǎn)fter                    C．before                    D．so that

10．A．that                     B．who                    C．where                    D．whose

11．A．stick                    B．plant                    C．weigh                    D．beat

12．A．noticing               B．pulling                 C．caring                    D．worrying

13．A．fall                      B．increase               C．shook                    D．shake

14．A．a(chǎn)nnoying              B．continuing            C．blowing                 D．dropping

15．A．long as                B．far                       C．that                       D．what