阅读下面短文，根据短文内容，从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选择最佳选项。

    The town of Pressure and the town of Pleasure were neighbors but they had nothing in common. Residents(居民) built walls to 1 influence from the other town.

    In Pressure, everyone wanted to be the very best. When women gave birth, they would compete（竞争、比赛） to have the baby with the loudest cry. There was violent competition in every aspect（方面） of life. Because 2 was the symbol（象征） of success. People were always busy making money, with no time for relaxation. Some young people couldn't bear the intensity(紧张) and chose to drink to escape（逃避）.

    In Pleasure, the motto（格言） was: If only you like it, do it. People grew up without pressure and could do anything they liked. Children played computer games day and night. At school, teachers didn't care 3 students came or not. Workers might sit around the office all day long drinking coffee and doing 4 .Thanks to the lack（缺乏） of regulations（规章制度）, nobody worried about losing their jobs. It was pleasure that mattered. The computers they used were old ones from the town of Pressure.

    Some of the young were addicted（上瘾） to drugs（药物）5 the emptiness（空虚） of their lives. Then, people in the two towns began asking themselves, “What is life 6 ?” But, just before life in the two towns completely7, there came a great person—Mr Reason. He went from door to door, talking with people and 8 advice. People in Pressure learnt to be satisfied with what they had 9 people in Pleasure began to make plans. They 10 the walls between them and built a road to connect the two.

根据材料内容，从方框中选择恰当的单词填空，使材料意思完整、通顺，有的需要变换形式。

    Once，there was a young painter who was good at painting birds．His paintings sold____ and he was famous all over his country．

    The emperor(皇帝)loved Collecting paintings,especially roosters(公鸡)．____he asked the famous painter to paint a roosters for him．He wanted the roosters to be the best of all his collections．

    The painter____to do so．The emperor waited and waited for one year,but did not get the painting．He became____and asked the painter to come to see him．

    The painter came．He walked into the palace____paper,paints and a brush(刷子)．In five minutes，a perfect picture of a rooster____on the Paper．Seeing this，the emperor was all the more angry．"If you can paint a picture of a rooster in five minutes，____did you keep me waiting for a year?"he said．

    "I'll let you know why,Your Majesty,"said the painter．"Could you please come with me?"

    He____the emperor to his own study(书房)．There，paper almost filled the____．On each paper was a painting of a rooster．

    "Your Majesty,"said the painter．"It took____one year to improve my skill in order to paint a perfect rooster for you．"