a surprising bit of beauty during one of her trips. Along the shoulder of the highway, there was a long stretch of wild flowers. They were thin and delicate and purple, and moved back and forth in the wind as if whispering poems to each other.

　　The first time she saw the flowers, Mary was seized by an uncontrollable urge to pull over on the highway and pull a bunch from the soil. She carried them into her grandmother's room when she arrived at the hospital and placed them in a vase by her bed.

　　For a moment her grandmother seemed more lucid（清醒的）than usual. She thanked Mary for the flowers, commented on their beauty and asked where she had gotten them. Mary was overjoyed by the ability of the flowers to wake something up inside her sick grandmother.

　　Afterwards, Mary began carrying scissors in the car during her trips to visit her grandmother. She would quickly glide onto the shoulder, jump out of the car, and clip a bunch of flowers. Each time Mary placed the flowers in the vase, her grandmother's eyes would light up and they would have a splendid conversation.

　　One morning in late October, Mary got a call that her grandmother had taken a turn for the worse. Mary was in such a hurry to get to her grandmother that she sped past her flower spot. She decided to turn around, head several miles back, and cut a bunch.

　　Mary arrived at the hospital to find her grandmother very weak and unresponsive. She placed the flowers in the vase and sat down to hold her grandmother's hand. She felt a squeeze on her fingers. It was the last conversation they had.

24. Mary preferred to take country roads to the hospital because she could ________.

A. pick wild flowers for her grandmother. B. spend less time driving to the destination.

C. enjoy the natural view along the roads D. get on highway 81 more easily

25. When Mary placed the flowers by her grandmother's bed, her grandmother _________.

A. commented on Mary's beauty B. came alive at the sight of the flowers

C. was overjoyed by the flowers D. was curious about the type of the flowers

26. From the passage, we know that ________.

A. Mary discovered the wild flowers along the country roads

B. Mary's grandmother had passed away before she arrived at the hospital

C. Mary headed several miles back because she sped past the hospital

D. Mary's last conversation with her grandmother was a silent one

27. What does the passage convey to us?

A. Flowers have the magic to cure diseases.

B. Love has no beginning or ending.

C. Beauty in nature can be powerful.

D. Life is as beautiful as summer flowers.

C

I heard a story recently about a friend's former boss. When employees would go into this person's office to discuss something like a pay rise or promotion, the boss had a habit of greeting their request with silence. Quiet，tense seconds went slowly by, and they'd often leave, willing to take a pay cut or demotion(降职) -anything to end the terrible silence.

Embarrassing silences can be unbearable. In 2017, a study found that silence in a talk starts to be unbearable after about four seconds. There's so much uncertainty in the air as those silent