Having passed what I considered the worst obstacle, our spirits rose. We 1 towards the left of the cliff, where the going was better, 2 rather steeper. Here we found little snow, 3 most of it seemed to have been 4 off the mountain. There was no 5 of the mountain in the distance because the clouds were forming all around us.

　　About 1 o’clock a storm 6 suddenly. We had time to have 7 its approach but we were concentrating on cutting steps, and 8 we had time to do anything, we were blinded by snow. We could not move up or down and had to wait 9 , getting colder and colder. 10 my hood(兜帽), my nose and cheeks were frostbitten and I dared not take a hand out of my glove to warm them.

　　After two hours of this, I realized we would have to do 11 to avoid being frozen to death where we stood. From time to time through the mist I had 12 the outline of a dark buttress(扶壁)just above us, to descend in the wind was 13 question; our only hope was to scramble up to this buttress, and dig out a platform at the foot of it on which we could 14 our tent.

　　We climbed to this place and started to 15 the ice. At first my companion seemed to regard the 16 as hopeless but gradually the wind 17 and he cheered up. 18 we had made a platform big enough to put up the tent, and we did this as 19 we could. We 20 into our sleeping bags and fell asleep, felling that we were lucky to be still alive.

　　1. A. setB. gotC. madeD. took

　　2. A evenB. thoughC. soD. if

　　3. A. when B. whereC. asD. so that

　　4. A. fallenB. flownC. splitD. blown

　　5. A. viewB. visionC. lookD. glimpse

　　6. A. came upB. came outC. came overD. came on

　　7. A. viewedB. noticedC. notifiedD. glanced

　　8. A. afterB. beforeC. unlessD. until

　　9. A. motionlesslyB. constantlyC. steadilyD. continually

　　10. A. In spite ofB. In relation toC. In case ofD. In the event of

　　11. A. anythingB. nothingC. somethingD. everything

　　12. A. laid outB. made outC. drawn outD. marked out

　　13. A. withoutB. inC. beyondD. out of date

　　14. A. wrenchB. wedgeC. padD. pinch

　　15. A. cut downB. cut away C. cut outD. cut off

　　16. A. positionB. situationC. occupationD. orientation

　　17. A. died outB. died offC. died backD. died down

　　18. A. Instead ofB. FurthermoreC. IndeedD. At last

　　19. A. wellB. goodC. bestD. better

　　20. A. climbedB. crashedC. creptD. crawled