阅读下面短文,完成36~55题
One summer day my father sent me to buy wire for our farm. At 16, I liked ___36___better than driving our truck, ___37___this time I was not happy. My father had told me I‘d have to ask for credit(赊账) at the store.
Sixteen is a ___38___age, when a young man wants respect, not charity. It was 1976, and the ugly___39___of racial discrimination was ___40___a fact of life. I‘d seen my friends ask for credit and then stand, head down, while the store owner ___41___whether they were ―good for it. ‖ I knew black youths just like me who were ___42___ like thieves by the store clerk each time they went into a grocery.
My family was ___43___. We paid our debts. But before harvest, cash was short. Would the store owner ___44___us?
At Davis‘s store, Buck Davis stood behind the cash desk, talking to a farmer. I nodded ___45___I passed him on my way to the hardware shelves. When I brought my ___46___to the cash desk, I said ___47___, ―I need to put this on credit. ‖
The farmer gave me and amused, distrustful ___48___. But Buck‘s face didn‘t change. ―Sure,‖ he said ___49___. ―Your daddy is ___50___good for it. ‖ He ___51___to the other man. ―This here is one of James Williams‘s sons. ‖
The farmer nodded in a neighborly ___52___. I was filled with pride. James William‘s son. Those three words had opened a door to an adult‘s respect and trust.
That day I discovered that the good name my parents had ___53___ brought our whole family the respect of our neighbors. Everyone knew what to ___54___from a Williams: a decent person who kept his word and respected himself ___55___much to do wrong.
【題組】52.
(A)sense
(B)way
(C)degree
(D)mood