People often ask me how I write with four children.
More often than not, my stories are pieced together, written, and edited in a series of ___36___ moments. If I’m working while the kids are home, I have the added ___37___ of tuning out their chaos(混乱). I’ll write and write until I fall under a spell, and just when I was getting ___38___, it happens — Camille will crawl into my office ___39___a big smile — and a smelling diaper (尿布).
I wish I ___40___ a daily routine(常规工作), a solid time no one can interrupt, but I don’t. I may go days or even weeks without writing. I hate these ___41___, but much as I like to believe the world needs my writing, my daughters need me much more. So for now I write when I can. While this arrangement works, I sometimes ___42___ how productive I’d be if my life wasn’t stop-and-go. With time on my side, I could be a writing machine, ___43___ at once what would normally take me months.
This leads me to a question I find ___44___ to all parents: Do kids hold back or ___45___ our dreams? Children are needy by nature, and regardless of how much ___46___ we show them, they want more. By the time we tend to them, we’re tired out — and ___47___ in the mood to follow our dream. They push our personal pleasures ___48___ and slow us down, making tortoises out of hares.
On the other hand, children add a richness to our lives that I believe inspires better work, ___49___ compensating(补偿) for time we lose. As a writer, I don’t find inspiration sitting at my computer. ___50___, I find it when I’m out living, and the ___51___ I take because of my children — going to the ballpark, birthday parties, even doctor visits — put me in ___52___ with people who constantly set off new ideas. Many ideas arise through ___53___ conversation, which can ___54___ me like thunder. Immediately, I’ll make a mental note, knowing that someday I’ll use that ___55___ in a story.
36. A. quiet B. stolen C. happy D. precious
37. A. courage B. challenge C. instruction D. advantage
38. A. direction B. invention C. inspiration D. application
39. A. wearing B. dressing C. worn D. dressed
40. A. get B. enjoy C. gave D. had
41. A. breaks B. days C. weeks D. needs
42. A. doubt B. believe C. deny D. wonder
43. A. operating B. working C. finishing D. running
44. A. challenging B. remaining C. related D. controversial
45. A. prevent B. inspire C. awake D. explain
46. A. attention B. effort C. concentration D. time
47. A. hardly B. practically C. totally D. fairly
48. A. ahead B. back C. aside D. down
49. A. and B. then C. now D. thus
50. A. Still B. Instead C. Therefore D. Consequently
51. A. courses B. chances C. risks D. paths
52. A. combination B. agreement C. line D. contact
53. A. discussion B. dispute C. conversation D. puzzle
54. A. explode B. hit C. destroy D. multiply
55. A. piece B. talk C. scene D. method