完形填空（每小题1分，满分20分）
I’ve always loved pigeons（鸽子）. Some years ago I managed to persuade my wife to let me buy a few and start   37   them myself. They cost a lot of money and so it spoilt（破坏）our   38   a bit, but my wife never actually stopped me so I    39   carried on. I learnt so much about them that I could   40   a good racer anywhere and I bought some beauties. My pigeons won some top races, and I even began to make a bit of   41   .
My wife had been changing her   42   to the pigeons over the last year or two anyway. She was quite   43   of all the prizes we’d won. Then there was the traveling, which she liked. You see someone has to take the pigeons a    44   way off and release them. Some of the    45   were really nice. I never traveled. I used to like to wait at home and see them   46   in. They’ve got this wonderful sense of   47   , which can bring them back home so quickly. They’d flown hundreds of miles sometimes   48   storms or against strong winds. And there they’d come, tiny white birds against the blue   49   .Then I’d watch them   50   round and come down onto the landing shelf. I’d look at my watch and think,“My goodness, that’s a good   51   .”And I’d take off the little leg ring and push it through the machine to   52   what time he’d arrived. Then my wife would    53   up and say,“Has he arrived yet?”Then we would work out if we’d won   54  .
Then last year we had a    55   !One of them got some sort of flu（流行病）and died, then they all went down.（病倒）. It was   56   , I had to burn them all. We lost a fortune, of course.
37．A．racing      B．feeding     C．tending     D．flying
38．A．kids  B．experiment       C．marriage   D．experience
39．A．just   B．even  C．almost      D．hardly
40．A．notice       B．learn C．imagine    D．recognize
41．A．living       B．fun    C．money      D．change
42．A．subject     B．decision    C．relation     D．attitude
43．A．proud       B．fond  C．careful      D．sure
44．A．different   B．long  C．short D．far
45．A．distances   B．activities   C．trips  D．movements
46．A．to come    B．come C．came D．have come
47．A．direction   B．sight  C．hearing     D．touch
48．A．over  B．across       C．with  D．through
49．A．heaven     B．mountain  C．cloud D．sky
50．A．turn  B．dance       C．circle D．whistle
51．A．fly    B．time  C．day   D．look
52．A．write B．record      C．count D．memorize
53．A．come B．show C．phone       D．cheer
54．A．again B．finally      C．only  D．accidentally
55．A．disadvantage    B．chance      C．test    D．disaster
56．A．terrible     B．great C．mean D．beautiful