完形填空。      "We expected our first child to be perfect." Most parents have thought so.
     I know that" s what I   1  with our oldest son, Joe.He would be perfect.Joe would sail through    2    from
learning ABC" s to being awarded a Ph.D..
     Joe,    3  , had other ideas.
     He was always a    4   kid.He wasn"t the kind of boy who threw   5  at passing cars on a freezing winter
day or who dropped water balloons on the mailman during the heat of August.
     But he wasn"t perfect.Especially when it came to that nice little    6    that I had about sailing through
school. From the day Joe started kindergarten he struggled with scissors and handwriting and math. Always   7  . He passed each grade with great    8   , never at the top of his class.
     How I    9   friends who had children with the "math gene".A mom told me her daughter was doing high
school algebra(代数) while in the sixth grade.Another mom said her son had just taken first place in the
district" s annual Math Challenge.
     After hearing these stories, I would look at Joe and    10  : Why didn"t we raise a mathematical talent?
How is he ever going to get into   11   if he does not get better at math? Needless to say, my motherly    12   never really amounted to(总计) much.Does it ever? Moms tend to worry and worry, while whatever
they" re worrying about usually    13  on its own.
     During high school, Joe slowly   14  at math.He got through algebra I & II, and geometry, our state
requirements for math.I felt greatly    15  at his little achievement.Then he announced that
he" d take pre-calculus (微积分) in his last year of high school, which   16   me a lot.
     "Why?" I questioned.
     "Because I need to keep my skills up," he explained." I   17  math, but I need to take it so I don" t forget
how to do it."
     "For college, " he added."I want to do really well in college, Mom.I know it will be 18_,but I think it" s
important that I try to do my best."
     My oldest son wasn"t perfect.He wasn"t a math talent, either.But he knew what was important: he was
focusing on his   19   while I was worrying over his past.And that, to me, is even better than being    20 .

(     )1. A. worked     (     )2. A. school     (     )3. A. however   (     )4. A. careful   (     )5. A. toys       (     )6. A. belief     (     )7. A. art       (     )8. A. effort     (     )9. A. respected (     )10. A. consider (     )11. A. job       (     )12. A. love     (     )13. A. pauses   (     )14. A. developed (     )15. A. hopeful   (     )16. A. moved     (     )17. A. fail     (     )18. A. hard     (     )19. A. career   (     )20. A. perfect

B. expected     B. books       B. therefore   B. proud       B. clothes     B. fantasy     B. scissors     B. attention   B. supported   B. imagine     B. life         B. doubt       B. comes       B. improved     B. grateful     B. inspired     B. hate         B. boring       B. major       B. intelligent

C. continued   C. experience C. fortunately C. good       C. flowers     C. interest   C. handwriting C. pleasure   C. trusted     C. wonder     C. society     C. worry       C. declines   C. advanced   C. relieved   C. satisfied   C. prefer     C. necessary   C. future     C. successful

D. showed         D. situations     D. obviously       D. happy           D. snowballs       D. enthusiasm     D. math           D. ambition       D. envied         D. wish           D. college         D. guidance       D. disappears     D. achieved       D. amused         D. surprised       D. choose         D. beneficial     D. world           D. confident