Once there lived a rich man     1    wanted to do something for the people of his town.    2     first he wanted to find out whether they deserved his help.

In the centre of the main road into the town, he placed    3    very large stone. Then he     4    (hide ) behind a tree and waited. Soon an old man came along with his cow.

“Who put this stone in the centre of the road?” said the old man, but he did not try to remove the stone. Instead, with some difficulty he passed around the stone and continued on his way.    5    man came along and did the same thing; then another came,and another. All of them complained about the stone but not tried to remove     6    . Late in the afternoon a young man came along. He saw the stone,    7    (say) to himself: “The night    8    (be) very dark. Some neighbors will come along later in the dark and will fall against the stone.”

Then he began to move the stone. He pushed and pulled with all his         9    (strong) to move it. How great was his surprise at last!    10     the stone, he found a bag of money.

8 . I was 10 the year my cousin Marley's parents gave her a(n) _____ Christmas surprise: they were getting a divorce (离婚). My aunt _____California, but my uncle decided to get her back. There was one matter_____to put his young daughter._____， my mother loved Marley, giving her more attention than her family ever did.

On that Christmas Eve, my _____ arrived on our doorstep ____ an old blue suitcase. Before she stepped     _____， Marley said, “It doesn't matter. When my parents come back, we'll have a bigger _____ than this.”

Late on the night Marley arrived, my mom came into my room, her arms   ____ with packages.

I knew they were my Christmas presents. “I know how you love surprises but we have to _____ which ones to give to Marley.”

My mother carefully ______ the gifts. Wow! I saw ice skates, red leather gloves and a dollhouse. The last present was the ______ we'd asked the lady at the local store to take down and play for us over and over again.

“Which ones？”my mother asked. “She can ______ the ice skates，”   I said reluctantly (勉强地). “That's good，” my mother said. She began to ______ the packages up again. Then she stopped and asked, “Are you sure about these？” At that moment, I realized she expected ______ from me than I had already     ______. So I gave her the music box, too, and she hugged me.

The next morning, Marley's eyes were resolute (坚定的). She expected nothing and wanted us to know she didn't ______. But when she saw her name on the biggest box, she couldn't hide her ______. I thought my happiness would be cut in half. Instead it was ______．

Over the last 40 years, Marley and I have grown apart. But the love we felt for each other that day still   ______. Today Marley says, “They were the best presents I ever got.”