We may look at the world around us, but somehow we manage not to see it until whatever we’ve become used to suddenly disappears. ___36___, for example, the neatly-dressed woman I ___37___ to see--or look at--on my way to work each morning.
For three years, no matter ___38___ the weather was like, she was always waiting at the bus stop around 8:00 am. On ___39___days, she wore heavy clothes and a pair of woolen gloves. Sometimes ___40___out neat, belted cotton dresses and a hat pulled low over her sunglasses. ___41___, she was an ordinary working woman. Of course, I ___42___ all this only after she was seen no more. It was then that I realized how ___43___ I expected to see her each morning. You might say I ___44___ her.
“Did she have an accident? Something ___45___?” I thought to myself about her ___46___. Now that she was gone, I felt I had ___47___ her. I began to realize that part of our ___48___ life probably includes such chance meetings with familiar ___49___: the milkman you see at dawn, the woman who ___50___walks her dog along the street every morning, the twin brothers you see at the library. Such people are ___51___markers in our lives. They add weight to our ___52___ of place and belonging.
Think about it. ___53___, while walking to work, we mark where we are by ___54___ a certain building, why should we not mark where we are when we pass a familiar, though ___55___ person?
36. A. Make B. Take C. Give D. Have
37. A. happened B. wanted C. used D. tried
38. A. what B. how C. which D. when
39. A. sunny B. rainy C. cloudy D. snowy
40. A. took B. brought C. carried D. turned
41. A. Clearly B. Particularly C. Luckily D. Especially
42. A. believed B. expressed C. remembered D. wondered
43. A. long B. often C. soon D. much
44. A. respected B. missed C. praised D. admired
45. A. better B. worse C. more D. less
46. A. disappearance B. appearance C. misfortune D. fortune
47. A. forgotten B. lost C. known D. hurt
48. A. happy B. enjoyable C. frequent D. daily
49. A. friends B. strangers C. tourists D. guests
50. A. regularly B. actually C. hardly D. probably
51. A. common B. pleasant C. important D. faithful
52. A. choice B. knowledge C. decision D. sense
53. A. Because B. If C. Although D. However
54. A. keeping B. changing C. passing D. mentioning
55. A. unnamed B. unforgettable C. unbelievable D. unreal