When my father was dying, I traveled a thousand miles from home to be with him in his last days. It was far more heartbreaking than I'd expected, one of the most difficult and painful times in my life. After he passed away I stayed alone in his apartment. There were so many things to deal with. It all seemed endless. I was lonely. I hated the silence of the apartment.
But one evening the silence was broken: I heard crying outside. I opened the door to find a little cat on the steps. He was thin and poor. He looked the way I felt. I brought him inside and gave him a can of fish. He ate it and then almost immediately fell sound asleep.
The next morning I checked with neighbors and learned that the cat had been abandoned by his owner who'd moved out. So the little cat was there all alone, just like I was. As I walked back to the apartment, I tried to figure out what to do with him. Having something else to take care of seemed like the very last thing I needed. But as soon as I opened the apartment door he came running and jumped into my arms. It was clear from that moment that he had no intention of going anywhere. I started calling him Willis, in honor of my father’s best father.
From then on, things grew easier. With Willis in my lap time seemed to pass much more quickly. When the time finally came for me to return home, I had to decide what to do about Willis. There was absolutely no way I would leave without him.
It's now been five years since my father died. Over the years, several people have commented on how nice it was of me to rescue the cat. But I know that we rescued each other. I may have given him a home but he gave me something greater.
51. When the author first saw the cat, she _______.
A. didn’t know what to do B. was very happy
C. was angry with his crying D. felt sympathy for him
52. The underlined sentence in Para.3 implies that the author _______.
A. loved to stay alone in the house B. needed something to fill the empty house
C. was too busy and tired to keep a cat D. needed something to take care of to kill time
53. We can learn from the passage that _______.
A. Willis was named after the author’s father
B. time passed quickly after the author adopted Willis
C. the author and Willis were both homeless
D. Willis missed his previous owner
54. What’s the best title for the passage?
A. A little cat B. How to take care of animals
C. A painful experience D. What I got from a little cat