6．C　根据下文中的"Suddenly, the front door was violently thrown open."和"Then she ran into the room and shoved (推) our puzzle off the table, smashing it into the five thousand pieces"可知，母亲生气了。故选C。

7．A　根据本句中的"a five­thousand­piece puzzle (拼图)"可知，拼图需要很长的时间才能拼好。本处用"a lifetime"来形象地表明需要很长的时间。故选A。

8．C　母亲将拼图从桌子上推了下去，把它打乱变成了我们刚开始的样子。故选C。

9．D　根据语境可知，显然，母亲有毛病了。故选D。

10．A　参见上题解析。

11．B　当医生告诉作者他的母亲患有幻想症时，作者意识到他的"童年"结束了。故选B。

12．C　根据语境可知，作者开始意识到母亲的病是不能忽视的。故选C。

13．A　就在那时作者意识到别的孩子来家里玩的时候总会感觉到他的母亲(有些)不同。故选A。

14．D　作者总是琢磨他能做"什么"，但是没有解决办法。空处引导宾语从句，并在从句中做do的宾语，故选D。

15．C　因为需要解决母亲的问题，所以作者尽量不把注意力放在自己的问题上。concentrate on把注意力集中于。故选C。

16．B　根据下文的"If there's no one to talk to"可知，本处意为"谈话是世上最好的放松方式之一"。故选B。

17．D　没有人跟作者说话的时候，他只能"转向"小提琴和其他的一些爱好。故选D。

18．D　想到过去，作者意识到母亲被完全地剥夺了生活。rob sb.of sth.剥夺某人某物。故选D。

19．B　根据第7空前的"a five­thousand­piece puzzle(拼图)"和下文的"one piece among the thousands"可知，本处意为"每一天都只是拼图中的一片"。故选B。

20．A　根据上文的"one piece among the thousands we spend our lives putting together"可知，本处意为"希望它不要破碎"。fall apart破碎。故选A。

四、语法填空

　　Is there such a thing as being "over­protective"？

　　I can honestly say that my answer to that question 1.________ (change) dramatically (戏剧性地) since I became a parent.

　　Before the birth of my daughter, I taught at 2.________ private school, often viewing my students as over­protected, worrying 3.________ would happen when they went on to middle schools.

　　Some did well, and some did not.Some needed constant pats on the back, words of 4.________ (inspire) and extra support, which I 5.________ (happy) gave.Others were content on their own, needing little 6.________ no interaction (互动) with their teacher.

　　 I'd always supposed their parents were over­protective, for they were the ones that still walked their 7.________ (five) graders into the classroom and met them at the school gate.

　　 Admittedly, I laughed at those parents, 8.________ (think) their children would never learn to be 9.________ (independence) if they didn't let go just a little.Then I had my own daughter.The moment I looked at her little face, I 10.________ (know) I'd do everything in my power to protect her and make sure she always feels safe!

【答案】

1．has changed 2．a 3．what 4．inspiration 5．happily

6．or 7．fifth 8．thinking 9．independent 10．knew

【解析】本文是一篇议论文。作者当老师时，认为家长对学生过度关怀，同时，对一些家长的做法表示不理解，比如上小学五年级的孩子还需接送。但是，在自己成为家长之后，作者才明白自己也一定会倾其所有去呵护自己的女儿。

1．has changed　根据时间状语"since I became a parent"判断用现在完成时，且主语为"my answer"，是单数形式。故填has changed。

2．a　school是可数名词，前面辅音音素开头的形容词"private"做定语，且在文中第一次提到，所以此处应用不定冠词，泛指"一所私立学校"。故填a。