As a matter of fact,           beauty of           nature there made an excellent impression on me.

a; the; /

a; the; the

the; the; /

a; /; the

考察冠词。句意：事实上，那里的自然之美给我留下了极好的印象。as a matter of fact “ 事实上”，为固定短语。第二个空表示特指，用定冠词the。Nature表示“大自然，自然界”时，前面一般不加冠词。故选A项。

Mary and her friend          a plan and gathered forty people from my company to help the homeless people at the Christmas party.

came up with

put up with

caught up with

kept up with

考查动词短语辨析。句意：玛丽和她的朋友想出了一个计划，在圣诞节聚会上，从我的公司聚集了四十几个人来帮助无家可归的人。A. came up with 提出；B. put up with 忍耐；C. caught up with追上，赶上；D.kept up with 跟上。下文“聚集人帮助无家可归的人”是想出的计划。故选A项。

Only then_______ how much damage had been caused.

she realized

she had realized

had she realized

did she realize

“only＋状语”位于句首，整个句子用不完全倒装．此外，由then可确定用过去时态．

The sunlight is white and blinding,           hard-edged shadows on the ground.

throwing

being thrown

to throw

to be thrown

考查非谓语动词。句意：阳光炽白炫目，在地上投下浓重的阴影。主语The sunlight和throw是主动关系，因此要用现在分词表主动，此处是现在分词短语作状语。故选A项。