Question

I wrote my first poem at the age of seven and showed it to my mother．She read and cried, “Buddy, you really wrote a beautiful poem!”

Shyly but , I said yes．She poured out her . “It was nothing short of talent!”

“What time will Father be home?” I asked．I could hardly wait to my work to him．I spent quite some time for his arrival. I wrote the poem out in my finest handwriting, drew a fancy border around it and I placed it right on my father’s plate on the dining table. My father had begun his motion-picture career as a writer. I was sure he would be able to my poem.

At almost 7 o’clock my father burst in. He seemed . He circled the dining-room table, complaining about his employees.

Suddenly he paused and glared at his plate. “What is this?” He was reaching for my poem.

“Ben, Buddy has written his first poem!” my mother began. “And it’s beautiful, absolutely amaz…”

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to decide for myself.” Father said.

I my head as he read that poem. It was only ten lines. But it seemed to take hours. Then I heard him dropping the poem back on the table. Now came the moment of .

“I think it’s terrible,” he said.I couldn’t look up. My eyes were getting .

“Ben, these are the first lines of poetry he’s ever written,” my mother was saying. “He needs .”

“I don’t know why.” My father held his ground. “Isn’t there enough awful poetry in the world already?”

I couldn’t it another second. I ran from the dining room crying. Up in my room I myself on the bed and cried the worst of the out of me.

That may have been the end of the story, but not of its for me. I realized how fortunate I had been. I had a mother who said, “I think it’s wonderful!” and a father who drove me to hear with “I think it’s .”

Every one of us needs that mother force, from which all flows; and yet the mother force alone is incomplete. It needs the balance of the force that , “Watch. Listen. Review. Improve.”

Those voices of my childhood ring in my ears through the years, like two opposing winds blowing me. Between the two poles of and doubt, both in the name of love, I try to follow my true course．

1.A. typically B. proudly C. anxiously D. honestly

2.A. motivation B. shock C. Criticism D. praise

3.A. recite B. describe C. show D. introduce

4.A.waiting B. preparing C. praying D. planning

5.A. gradually B. desperately C. confidently D. casually

6.A. appreciate B. revise C. read D. polish

7.A. relaxed B. calm C. noble D. upset

8.A. shook B. lowered C. raised D. turned

9.A. decision B. excitement C. meditation D. devotion

10.A. dark B. wide C. wet D. bright

11.A. arrangement B. judgment C. encouragement D. adjustment

12.A. hold B. attain C. control D. stand

13.A. threw B. seated C. left D. kept

14.A. confusion B. pressure C. disappointment D. tiredness

15.A. challenge B. development C. difficulty D. significance

16.A. elegant B. awful C. fluent D. controversial

17.A. failure B. creation C. limit D. improvement

18.A. orders B. misleads C. cautions D. foresees

19.A. inspiring B. warning C. disturbing D. conflicting

20.A. confirmation B. restriction C. distrust D. disapproval

Answer 1