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【完形填空】Cloze: The Last Bus
Every night at 23:40, Lao Chen drove the same bus along the same route, and Deng Wei was almost always (1) it.
She worked as a night-shift accountant and had taken this ride more than 1,800 (2).
The bus was small, with only fourteen seats, and it (3) the worst of the traffic in the city.
For a long time, Deng Wei said nothing to anyone on the bus; she simply looked out of the window and let the city lights (4) her.
She had a heavy responsibility at home: her mother had suffered a stroke, and a nurse in Foshan (5) after her every day.
The fare of two yuan was the only luxury Deng Wei allowed herself, and she (6) every other expense.
Then one night in March, a passenger with a parrot sat down beside her and said something funny.
Deng Wei laughed — a sound she had not made (7) eleven months.
The passenger, Wu Kai, was travelling to a hospital for eye surgery, and he spoke with the quiet precision of a man who had once (8) to be a surgeon.
They began to talk on the bus, and for a while Deng Wei believed that his attention would (9).
But by August he had cancelled their meetings and his messages had become (10).
Later she learned that he owed a huge amount of money and had been in trouble with the law.
One Tuesday the bus did not come at all, and Deng Wei had to walk home in the rain.
She did not stop working, because she could not, but she began to notice the driver's hands on the wheel.
Lao Chen never complained about his schedule, and he treated the bus as a small civilisation that he refused to abandon.
Deng Wei thought of her mother and of the nurse's Sunday photographs, and she began to send money as a form of thanks.
In January the route was cancelled, and the last bus ran on a Friday with nine passengers and one parrot.
Deng Wei sat in her usual seat, deleted Wu Kai's number from her phone, and looked out at the delta.
She understood that she had been living inside a hypothesis — that patience would be repaid and that a stranger's interest would be enough.
The bus turned a corner, and Lao Chen said, for the last time, "Sit back. We gallop." She sat back.
Choices
(1) A. on B. by C. in D. at
(2) A. times B. moments C. occasions D. periods
(3) A. escaped B. avoided C. prevented D. refused
(4) A. calming B. calm C. calm down D. calmed
(5) A. looked B. took C. cared D. watched
(6) A. cut in B. cut out C. cut down D. cut off
(7) A. since B. from C. in D. for
(8) A. wished B. hoped C. dreamed D. aspired
(9) A. keep B. continue C. remain D. last
(10) A. little B. scarce C. rare D. few