Question

一篇完型填空，请问40题为何选C?

Just ten years ago, I sat across the desk from a doctor with a serious look. "Yes," he said, "there is a serious injury in the left lung…" I listened, too 21 to speak, as he continued, "You'll have to 22 work at once and go to bed. Later on, we'll see." He gave no definite promise of recovery.
Feeling like a man who has suddenly been placed under 23 of death. In the next three days, I 24 my affairs; then I went home, got into bed, and set my watch to tick off not the minutes, 25 the months. Two and a half years and many crashed hopes later, I left my bed and began the long 26 back. It was another year before I made it.
I speak of this experience because these years that passed so 27 taught me what to believe and what to 28 . They said to me: Take time, 29 time takes you. I realize now that this world I'm living in is not my oyster（牡蛎）to be opened but my opportunity to be 30 . To me, each day is such a 31 gift. The sun comes up and presents me with 24 brand new, wonderful hours-not to pass, but to 32 .
I've learned to 33 those little but all-important things I never thought I had the time to notice before: the play of light on 34 water, the music of the wind in my favorite pine tree. I seem now to see and hear and feel with some of the recovered 35 of childhood. I recall the touch of the springy earth under my feet the day I first stepped upon it after the years in bed. It was like 36 one's citizenship in a world one had nearly lost. 37 ,I sit back and say to myself, let me make a 38 of this moment I'm living right now. All this, I owe to that long time spent on the deadlines of life. Wiser people come to this awareness 39 having to acquire it the hard way. But I wasn't wise enough. I'm 40 now, a little, and happier.
30．A．picked B．accepted C．grasped D．quitted
31．A．precious B．potential C．pleasant D．permanent
32．A．spend B．fill C．employ D．kill
33．A．observe B．appreciate C．ignore D．respect
34．A．falling B．rolling C．running D．pouring
35．A．ignorance B．absence C．carelessness D．freshness
36．A．regaining B．requiring C．rebuilding D．recovering
37．A．Regularly B．Immediately C．Frequently D．Continuously
38．A．copy B．note C．study D．summary
39．A．beyond B．by C．without D．through
40．A．better B．stronger C．wiser D．healthier
21-25 CBACD 26-30 DBDAC 31--35 ABBCD 36-40 ACBCC

Answer 1

Wiser people come to this awareness 39 having to acquire it the hard way. But I wasn't wise 这里说聪明人有这个意识不用hard way 就能获得，下文but我不是聪明的，而现在我变得有一点（ I'm 40 now, a little）怎么样了，所以说填c

Answer 2

But I wasn't wise enough. I'm 40 now, a little, and happier.前面说我过去不够明智，现在我稍微明智了点。前后时态形成对比，语义也形成对比。