阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从16~35各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出一个最佳选项，将短文内容补充完整。
It started with a dogwood (山茱英) tree.
I was in Ohio when my mother died on a cold day in February, and everything was ___16___.A few weeks into my grief (悲痛), my uncle suggested planting a tree in her___17___. He had visited my parents decades before during a California spring. They drove down a neighborhood street___18___blooming (盛开的) dogwood trees and ever since, the___19___of a dogwood reminded him of my mom.
We planted the dogwood in May. Its gray trunk was as thin as my mother's arms. It lay in the___20___much like her ashes (骨灰) would settle on the rocky soil of the Rocky Mountains five years later.
Planting a living thing to___21___her hard life that ended too soon soothed (抚慰) my heart. This tree would be a symbol of her, something I could ___22___despite all I’d lost.
My mother could make anything___23___.She possessed not just green thumbs but green hands and a nature that could raise anything but___24___
As a young adult, I was never good at cultivation (培养)— opportunities, relationships, flowers.___25___distance and poor health, my relationship with my mom never got the___26___to blossom like I'd hoped.
But my mom’s dogwood grew. Its ___27___pushed into the hard soil; its white blossoms____28____like stars every June. This tree gave me hope that life goes on ___29___the past.
Soon I began buying other plants. Without explanations, these plants___30___ thrived (旺盛) under my care. And I grew, too, learning how to ___31___them. So many lessons that nature already knew, that my mother must have known but didn’t have time to ___32___, I applied to my own life.
A part of me believes this is my mother's ___33___she gave to me after death — the ability to encourage and celebrate___34___where there was none, to make flowers appear out of dirt. It is her reminder to find the good in whatever I’m___35___ , and a promise that wherever she is, it is beautiful.
Though she has been gone for more than 14 years, I can still find her in my garden.
16. A. cold B. colorless C. false D. delicate
17. A. company B. favor C. memory D. place
18. A. lined with B. made of C. flooded with D. loaded with
19. A. existence B. sight C. height D. wonder
20. A. air B. heaven C. water D. ground
21. A. honor B. protect C. value D. claim
22. A. live up to B. adapt to C. hold on to D. catch up to
23. A. appear B. rise C. applaud D. grow
24. A. herself B. itself C. themselves D. myself
25. A. Far from B. Because of C. In face of D. Apart from
26. A. season B. chance C. situation D. moment
27. A. branches B. seeds C. roots D. leaves
28. A. failed B. smelt C. remained D. exploded
29. A. in spite of B. in case of C. in regard to D. in addition to
30. A. properly B. slightly C. frequently D. suddenly
31. A. tend B. protect C. water D. appreciate
32. A. learn B. share C. draw D. apply
33. A. lesson B. secret C. gift D. letter
34. A. tradition B. holidays C. victory D. life
35. A. Taken B. handed C. reminded D. convinced
【答案】16. B 17. C 18. A 19. B 20. D 21. A 22. C 23. D 24. A 25. B 26. B 27. C 28. D 29. A 30. D 31. A 32. B 33. C 34. D 35. B
