题目内容：

Long long ago, when the great library of Alexandria burned, the story goes that one book was saved. But it was not a ______ book. A poor man, who could______ a little, bought it for a few coins.

The book wasn’t very interesting, but between its________ there was something very interesting _____. It was about the ______ of the "Touchstone (试金石)"! The touchstone was a small pebble (鹅卵石) that could turn any common metal into pure gold. The writing explained that it was _______ among thousands and thousands of other pebbles that looked exactly like it. But the secret was this: The real stone would feel warm, ________ ordinary pebbles were cold.

So the man ________ his few belongs, bought some simple supplies, camped on the_______and began ____ pebbles. He knew that if he picked up common pebbles and threw them down again, he might pick up the same pebble hundreds of times. So, when he felt one that was cold, he threw it into the sea. He spent a whole day doing this, but ________to find the touchstone. Yet he went on and on this way. Pick up a pebble. Cold-throw; it into the sea. Pick up another. Cold-throw it into the sea.

The days stretched into weeks and the weeks into months and the months into years. One day, however, about mid-afternoon, he picked up a pebble and it was warm. He threw it into the sea before he ________ what he had done. He had_______ a strong habit of throwing each pebble into the sea that when the one he wanted ________, he still threw it away.

So it is with chance. _______we don't pay enough attention, it is easy to miss a chance when it is in hand and it's just as easy to throw it away.

1.A. costly    B. cheap    C. modern    D. important

2.A. record    B. read    C. speak    D. hear

3.A. pages    B. words    C. backs    D. covers

4.A. indeed    B. perhaps    C. however    D. somehow

5.A. function    B. secret    C. role    D. purpose

6.A. remaining    B. laying    C. fixing    D. lying

7.A. and    B. while    C. or    D. yet

8.A. sold    B. rented    C. lent    D. threw

9.A. market    B. field    C. seashore    D. hometown

10.A. dealing    B. served    C. testing    D. collecting

11.A. managed    B. stopped    C. forgot    D. failed

12.A. realized    B. complained    C. guessed    D. discovered

13.A. built    B. set    C. created    D. formed

14.A. passed away    B. came along    C. sent out    D. took place

15.A. If    B. Whether    C. Although    D. Unless