三 语法填空（共10小题，每小题1.5分，满分15分）
There was once a boy who had a temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he 26______ hammer a nail into the back of the fence.
The first day the boy 27____ (drive ) 37 nails into the fence . Over the next few weeks as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered 28______ (gradual) decreased. He discovered 29_____was easier to hold his temper than to drive nails into the fence.
