题目内容：

    History books are filled with wealthy people who were practically poor compared to me.

I have storm windows, __Croesus, the last king of Lydia who was incredibly rich, did not. The entire population__ before Alexander the Great, but he couldn't buy unpacked cat food. William I, who conquered England some 930 years ago, __ a compound saw （复合锯）.

Given how much ___I am than so many famous __ people, you'd think

I'd be content. However, the__ is that, like most people, I compare my wealth with ___of living persons: neighbors, school classmates, TV personalities. The ___I feei toward my friend Howard's new kitchen is not __ by the fact that no French king __ had a refrigerator with glass doors. There is really no rising or falling ___of  living. Over the centuries people simply find different things to  __ about. You'd think that merely not having a disease would put us in a good  __ , but no, we want a hot bathtub, too.

Of course, one way to achieve happiness would be to __ that even by contemporary standards the things I __ are pretty nice. My house is ___than the houses of many investment bankers, but even so it has a lot more rooms than my wife and I can keep __ .

__to people looking back at our era from a century or two in the future, those bankers* fancy counter tops and my own worn ones will seem __ shabby. I can't __ my neighbor right now. But just wait.

1.A. as B. while C. when D. since

2.A. jumped B. smiled C. laughed D. trembled

3.A. lacked B. possessed C. abandoned D. lost

4.A. well off B. better off C. worse off D. badly off

5.A. living B. alive C. dead D. deadly

6.A. problem B. danger C. pleasure D. question

7.A. those B. this C. that D. one

8.A. surprise B. envy C. anger D. puzzle

9.A. increased B. relieved C. added D. refused

10.A. ever B. never C. often D. sometimes

11.A. condition B. level C. state D. standard

12.A. talk B. care C. complain D. joke

13.A. mood B. expression C. state D. status

14.A. suggest B. realize C. suppose D. expect

15.A. do B. like C. hate D. own

16.A. larger B. prettier C. smaller D. uglier

17.A. clean B. messy C. comfortable D. unpleasant

18.A. However B. Besides C. Therefore D. Thus

19.A. especially B. extraordinary C. equally D. extremely

20.A. keep away from B. keep in with C. keep on at D. keep pace with