請回答第 17 題至第 21 題:
A woman repeated a bit of gossip about a neighbor. Within a few days the whole community knew the story.
The person it concerned was deeply hurt and 17_______ . Later, the woman responsible for spreading the rumor
learned that it was completely untrue. She was very sorry and went to a wise old sage to find out what she could
do to 18_______ the damage.
“Go to the marketplace,” he said, “and purchase a chicken, and have it killed. Then on your way home, pluck
its feathers and drop them one by one along the road.” 19_______ surprised by this advice, the woman did what she
was told. The next day the wise man said, “Now, go and collect all those feathers you dropped yesterday and
bring them back to me.”
The woman followed the same road, but to her 20_______ the wind had blown all the feathers away. After
searching for hours, she returned 21_______ only three in her hand. “You see,” said the old sage, “it’s easy to drop
them, but it’s impossible to get them back. So it is with gossip. It doesn’t take much to spread a rumor, but once
you do, you can never completely undo the wrong.”
【題組】21 (A) with (B) on (C) from (D) by