Around noon on October 7, 2005, my Russian-born wife Nafisa gave birth to our daughters, Lara and Hana. I had lived in the United States for over 20 years, but moved back to Pakistan in 2000 to be with my father during the final years of his life (he died in October 2004). I was working as a school principal (校长) in Islamabad.
        After spending the day at the hospital, my mother and I went home at about 9 p.m., while my sister Elmira stayed on with Nafisa and the babies. I was so excited that I hardly slept that night. Nafisa had asked me to bring her some fresh fruit, so the next morning I drove to a market next to the Margalla Towers. At the same time, my mother stayed at home.
        Just before 9, as I was picking out some apples and bananas, the ground started to move from side to side. The shaking (抖动) became stronger and the air filled with strange noises. Everyone in the market rushed outside and started crying. Finally, after several minutes, the earthquake (地震) stopped. Part of the Margalla Towers had fallen down. People covered with blood (血) could be seen everywhere.
        Later I learned that when the ground started shaking, Nafisa and Elmira carried the babies and rushed out of the hospital. By the time my mother and I arrived at the hospital, they were resting on the grass. Just as we were moving back into the building at about 3 p.m., another strong shaking hit.
        The aftershock (余震) continued for several days. Whenever the shaking started, we just held the babies and tried to calm (使平静) each other. We felt completely helpless. Still we were among the lucky ones. The earthquake had destroyed much of Kashmir — thousands died and many more were left homeless. Many of our friends had been killed.
        My school reopened a few days after the earthquake. The following weeks at the school were full of worries. During the aftershocks, I had to sound the alarm (警报) to all 3,000 students and 300 teachers. Much of the time the school was strangely quiet. The students stayed in small groups rather than run around and play. As a principal, I was used to telling students to keep quiet and calm. Now I started to miss all that noise.
        Like so many people in Pakistan, I've spent a lot of time trying to find out why we had to experience this terrible earthquake. I now believe life wanted to teach us a lesson. One minute I was on top of the world and the next I was at the bottom.
56. How many people were there in the writer's family when the earthquake happened?
A. Four.    B. Five.    C. Six.    D. Seven.
57. Where were the writer and his family when the earthquake began?
A. They all stayed in the hospital except the writer.
B. Some were at home, and the others in the hospital.
C. Most of them were in the hospital but two weren't.
D. Each of them had his own place except the babies.
58. The writer missed the noise at school because ________.
A. he would have nothing to do without noise
B. he looked forward to the return to usual life
C. he loved everything created by the students
D. he became used to noises in the earthquake
59. The underlined sentence in the passage means ________.
A. life is often made up of happiness and sadness
B. good things are always followed by bad things
C. one can't be successful in life without difficulty
D. when you are too excited things will go wrong