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，掌握其大意，然后从36~55各题所给A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
The Parking-Lot（停车场）Sweeper
Both my parents came from towns in Mexico. I was born in E1 Paso, Texas, and when I was four, my family moved to a housing project in East Los Angeles.
Even though we struggled to make ends meet, my parents stressed to me and my four brothers and sisters how    36   we were to live in a great country with limitless opportunities. They    37    us with the ideas of family, faith and love.
I got my first    38    job when I was ten. My dad injured his back working in a cardboard-box factory and was retrained as a hairstylist. He    39   space in a little shopping center and gave his shop the flowery name of Mr. Ben’s Coiffure.
The owner of the shopping center    40    my Dad’s payment for cleaning the parking lot three    41    a week, which    42   getting up at 3 a.m. Mom and I helped    43   
dustbin and pick up rubbish by hand. It took two to three hours to clean the lot. I     44    
sleep in the car on the way home.
I did this for two years, but the lessons I learned have     45   a lifetime. I obtained discipline（自律）and the importance of work, and learned at a(n)    46   age the importance of balancing life’s competing interests——in my    47  , school, homework and a job. This
   48    helped during my school years, when I worked 40 hours at a fast-food restaurant while taking a full    49   of college preparation courses.
The hard work    50   off. I attended the U.S. Military Academy and went on to    51   
graduate degrees in law and business from Harvard.     52   , I joined a big Los Angeles law firm and was elected to the California state assembly（州议会）. In these jobs and in everything else I’ve done, I have     53   forgotten those nights in the parking lot. The experience taught me that there is value in all work and that if people are working to    54    for themselves and their families, that is    55     we should honor.
36. A. important              B. different                   C. competitive              D. fortunate
37. A. mixed                    B. filled                        C. piled                        D. left
38. A. true                       B. new                         C. real                          D. good
39. A. hired                     B. bought                    C. cleaned                    D. created
40. A. reduced                 B. afforded                   C. collected                  D. charged
41. A. mornings              B. evenings                  C. dawns                      D. nights
42. A. meant                   B. overcame                 C. admitted                  D. allowed
43. A. lift                         B. empty                      C. throw                       D. hold
44. A. must                     B. need                        C. would                      D. should
45. A. existed                  B. lasted                       C. kept                         D. stayed
46. A. small                     B. exact                        C. early                        D. golden
47. A. mind                      B. way                          C. part                         D. case
48. A. really                     B. nearly                      C. simply                      D. merely
49. A. piece                     B. length                      C. mass                        D. load
50. A. made                     B. took                         C. paid                         D. started
51. A. receive                   B. offer                         C. require                     D. study
52. A. Thus                      B. Later                        C. Again                       D. Instead
53. A. seldom                  B. just                          C. even                        D. never
54. A. account                 B. enter                        C. provide                    D. call
55. A. everything             B. something               C. nothing                    D. anything