�、�. Cloze (20 points)

　　Directions:

　　For each blank in the following passage, there are four choices given below and marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that is most suitable and mark your answer by blackening the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet.

　　The death of a child, _51_ one’s own child, is something the mind can hardly comprehend. It seems to go _52_ nature. The end of a life that is still forming _53_ has just begun is an almost unthinkable cruelty.

　　But it happens. Parents sometimes must witness the illness and death of the children _54_ whom they gave birth. And _55_ will ever fill the empty place that the dead child leaves behind. Parents _56_ to die before their children, which is the natural order of life events. When the situation is reversed and a child dies _57_ the parents it seems wrong.

　　Yet we never know why one person dies and another lives. But we do know _58_ a child is gone, the parents still have a future, as grey and worthless as it may at first seem. Death may take the child, but the love never _59_.

　　The sorrow after a child’s death is one of the longest and hardest type of _60_ to live with. And it takes long to deal with the parents’ own emotions.

　　51.A. especially B. special C. especial D. most

　　52.A. with B. against C. beyond D. above

　　53.A. and B. or C. but D. so

　　54.A. at B. with C. to D. for

　　55.A. everything B. other thing C. something D. nothing

　　56.A. think B. expect C. like D. surely

　　57.A. before B. after C. in front of D. as

　　58.A. as if B. as though C. even if D. that

　　59.A. gives up B. goes away C. goes back D. goes through

　　60.A. loss B. losses C. losing D. lost

　�、�. Reading Comprehension (60 points)