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第二节完形填空(共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分)
阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Growing up for me was a challenge. I started out at primary school and was always asked by my teacher to sit at the  36  of the class because I was a fool.
I kept  37  things: I forgot nursery songs and spellings. I was the  38  of class jokes and I was all alone and  39 . I hated school, but my dad would hear none of it. He kept telling me I was a  40 , if I believed it.
A  41  around came one day when I remembered the  42  of the word “Cognoscenti”; a word all the other “  43 students ” had forgotten how to spell  44  they spent their free time making fun of me. I wasn’t asked to spell,  45  I raised up my hand. So I stood up and went to the front of class,  46  23 pairs of eyes staring at me. My teacher grabbed her stick, ready to hit me if I’d  47_ . I wrote the letters, spelt the word and became an instant champion. Afterwards, I  48  and won, for my school, five Spelling Bee championships.
Secondary school had its own share of challenges. I was a tall kid and wasn’t good at any  49 , except looking. I loved basketball and tennis.  50  I held a bat(球拍), I was laughed at by my opponent. He  51  six straight sets(盘，局) without sweat and there I was, sweating like I’d run a marathon, whereas I hadn’t even  52  a single point. My dad’s  53  kept playing in my ears “Stanley, you’re a champion if you believe it.”
Believe it I did, because I wasn’t only good at tennis and basketball, I was an all-round athlete and  54  won both athletic and  55  scholarships to university.
36. A. front                   B. back                         C. side                          D. corner
37. A. forgetting            B. leaving                     C. repeating                  D. using
38. A. cause                  B. inventor                    C. object                       D. course
39. A. rootless               B. homeless                   C. careless                     D. friendless
40. A. champion            B. fool                          C. character                   D. failure
41. A. moment              B. possibility                 C. turn                          D. change
42. A. meaning              B. spelling                    C. way                          D. form
43. A. polite                  B. dishonest                  C. bright                       D. absent-minded
44. A. once                   B. while                        C. when                        D. because
45. A. even though         B. as though                  C. in case                      D. only if
46. A. for                      B. as                             C. with                         D. before
47. A. hesitated              B. succeeded                 C. lied                         D. failed
48. A. presented             B. represented               C. requested                  D. proposed
49. A. exercise               B. mathematics              C. sport                        D. spelling
50. A. At first                B. First of all                C. The first time            D. For the first time
51. A. won                    B. owned                      C. missed                      D. gained
52. A. reached               B. seized                       C. caught                      D. scored
53. A. message              B. information               C. sentences                  D. words
54. A. even                   B. still                          C. almost                      D. nearly
55. A. economic            B. historic                     C. academic                  D. financial