An old man had seven sons who were always quarreling（争吵）.Some enemies decided to cheat them out of their property（财产）（1）　 　making them quarrel about it.

    The good old man，one day，called his sons around（2）　 　 .He laid before them seven（3）　 　，which were tied together with a rope.He said， "I will pay a hundred dollars to the one who can break the bundle（束，捆）. "

    Each one worked hard to break the bundle.They tried many times but they（4）　 　.They all said that it could not be done.

    "And yet，my（5）　 　 ，" said the father， "nothing is easier to do." He then untied the bundle，and broke the sticks，one by one，very（6）　 　 "Ah!" said his sons， "it is easy enough to do it，so anybody could do it in that way."

    Their father replied， "As it is with these sticks，so is it with you，my sons.So long as you work （7）    　and help each other，you will do well，and none can hurt you.But if you quarrel and（8）　 　 ，it will happen to you just as it has happened to these sticks，which lie here（9）　 　on the ground."

    In fact，（10）　 　 it is a home，city，or country，people will grow rich and strong when they work together and help each other.

（1）A.on	B.in	C.by	D.for
（2）A.her	B.them	C.us	D.him
（3）A.candles	B.sticks	C.pencils	D.rulers
（4）A.missed	B.wondered	C.failed	D.refused
（5）A.boys	B.daughters	C.enemies	D.students
（6）A.quietly	B.easily	C.happily	D.carefully
（7）A.out	B.alone	C.hard	D.together
（8）A.jump	B.play	C.fight	D.run
（9）A.broken	B.separated	C.beaten	D.hidden
（10）A.how	B.what	C.either	D.whether