A man found the cocoon (茧) of a moth (蛾). He took it home so that he could   1  the moth come out of the cocoon. On that day a small   2  appeared. He sat and watched the moth for several hours as the moth struggled to   3  the body through that little hole. Soon it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had   4  as far as it could and it could go no further. It just seemed to be stuck. So the man, out of his kindness, decided to help the moth. He took a pair of scissors and   5  the remaining bit of the cocoon. The   6  then came out easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriven (无用的) wings. The man continued to watch the moth because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and   7  to be able to support the   8  , which would get smaller in time. Neither happened! In fact, the little moth spent the rest of its life   9  around with a swollen body and shriven wings. It was   10   able to fly.
What the man in his kindness didn’t   11  was that the small cocoon and the   12  of the moth to get through the   13  opening was a way to push fluid (液体)   14  the body of moth    15  its wings so that it would be ready to fly   16  it got out of the cocoon. Freedom and   17  would come only after the struggle. By taking the struggle away, he also took away the moth’s health.
Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If we were to   18  our lives without any difficulties, we would become disabled. We would not be as   19  as what we could have been. Give every opportunity a chance. Leave no room for    20  .

It was a party. I was 18 and it was fresher(大一新生) week. I was at the beginning of a course in English Literature and full of enthusiasm for my subject. She was also 18 and enrolled in a course in physics.
“Your major is of no use to society. What will you do with it when you graduate, other than teach? Plus, you’re going to be poor your whole life,” she said. “You have no soul and your degree is boring. I don’t care how much money you’re going to earn. I’d rather be poor and don’t mind being a teacher. If I love my work I’ll have something far more meaningful than a big bank account!” came the reply.
And so it went, back and forth, neither of us giving the other an inch, each of us stubbornly committed to our prejudice. We were both ignorant, but our ignorance was also society’s ignorance. It had always been that way. Scientists mocked(嘲笑) humanists; humanists laughed at scientists. Back in the 1960s, the physicist-turned novelist C. P. Snow labeled the sciences-humanities divide “a problem of ‘the two cultures’” . He said it was bad for society. The modern world needed well-rounded people.
I think I know better now, but it would have helped if we had been encouraged to think a little more outside our science and arts “boxes”.
That’s why I believe it is healthy that China is beginning a debate on whether it’s wise for young people to have to choose which direction their careers – and lives – will take at such an early age. At the moment, in their second year of high school, students must choose either the sciences or the humanities. After making the choice, they focus their energies on passing the appropriate college entrance exam.
But now, people in China are asking: Is this forced, early decision good for young people or society? Young people need time to explore, to discover where their real talents and interests lie. There are more than just a few middle-aged people out there, stuck in jobs they hate because they made the wrong choice at the wrong time.
And from the point of view of society, isn’t it better for students to delay a while before they decide what to study? Scientists can benefit from learning to develop the critical skills associated with the humanities; students in the humanities, surely, only stand to gain by finding out a little more about science and technology, which are so important to the future of a developing country like China.
With any luck, in the future young people fresh to college will be better informed about the possibilities of education than people of my generation.
【小题1】The author describes what happened at a fresher party to ________.

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Changed Lives
In 1921, Lewis Lawes became the warden(监狱长) at Sing Sing Prison. No prison was kept    1    than Sing Sing during that time. But 20 years later, it had become a   2    place. When he was asked about the change, here's what he said, "I     3    it all to my wonderful wife, Catherine, who is    4    outside the prison walls."
Catherine Lawes was a young mother. Everybody    5   her from the beginning that she should never   6     foot inside the prison walls, but that didn’t     7    her! When the first prison basketball game was held, she went into the gym with her three beautiful kids and she sat in the stands with the prisoners.
She    8     getting to know them and their records. She    9    one convicted murderer was blind so she paid him a visit.    10   his hand in here she said, "Do you read Braille(布莱叶盲文)?" "What’s Braille?" he asked. Then she taught him how to read. Years later he would    11    in love for her.
Then, she was killed in a car accident. The next morning Lewis Lawes didn’t come to work, so the acting(代理) warden took his place. It seemed almost    12   that the prison knew something was    13    .
The following day , her body was resting in a casket（灵柩） in her home.   14   the acting warden took his early morning walk, he was   15   to see a large crowd of the toughest, hardest-looking prisoners   16    like a crowd of animals at the main gate. He came closer and 17   tears of grief(悲恸) and sadness. He turned and faced the men, "All right, men you can go. Just be sure and    18    tonight!" Then he opened the gate and a parade of prisoners  19   , without a guard, the three-quarters of a mile to stand in line to   20  their final respects to Catherine Lawes.
And every one of them came back . Every one!  
1. A. better          B. harder       C. older      D. tougher 
2. A. beautiful       B. wonderful    C. humanitarian    D. attractive
3. A. belong         B. give        C. contribute      D. owe
4. A. working        B. supporting    C. buried         D. located 
5. A. warned         B. told         C. reminded       D. informed  
6. A. put            B. lay          C. set             D. get
7. A. persuade       B. stop        C. keep           D. submit
8. A. insisted on      B. hold out      C. carry out       D. keep up
9. A. searched       B. thought          C. discovered     D. caught
10. A. Shaking      B. Putting            C. Feeling       D. Holding 
11. A. laugh         B. weep              C. appreciate      D. touch
12. A. long          B. apparently          C. immediately    D. later
13. A. changeable    B. disappointing        C. mad            D. wrong
14. A. As           B. Once               C. While         D. Since
15. A. glad          B. angry              C. shocked        D. frightened 
16. A. rushed        B. shouted             C. waited         D. gathered
17. A. noticed       B. found              C. expected        D. understood
18. A. check on      B. check in            C. check out        D. check through 
19. A. escaped       B. walked             C. fled             D. hurried
20. A. attribute      B. take                C. pay             D. display 

Long time ago, there was a farmer who lived with his daughter. A young man fell in love with the farmer’s beautiful daughter and wished to   36   her. One day, he went to the farmer to   37   his permission. The farmer looked at him and said, “ Guy, stand out in that  38   . I’m going to release (释放)  39  bulls, one at a time. If you can   40   the tail of any one of the three bulls, you can marry my daughter.”
41  , the young man got out and stood in the field,   42    the first bull. The barn（牛棚） door   43     and out came the biggest bull that he had ever seen. He   44     that one of the next bulls had to be a better   45     than this one, so he ran over to the side and let the bull   46    .
A few   47     later, the barn door opened again. Unbelievable! The young man had never seen any bull so   48     and fierce as this one in his life. It stood there, pawing（扒） the   49   and eyeing the young man. “ What the next   50    was like ? It had to be a better choice than this one,” he thought. He let the bull pass through again.
The door opened a third time. A   51     came across the young man’s face. This was the weakest bull that he had ever seen. “ This one was my bull,” he   52     to himself. As the bull came running by, he positioned himself just right and   53     at just the exact moment. He threw his hands to catch ...... But to his   54    , the bull had no tail.
Life is full of opportunities.   55    catch the first one.

Mr.Gray traveled a lot on business. He sold machines of various kinds to famers, which he thought not really a very _36_ job, but he had always been interested in _37_, and he was quite satisfied with his life. He had a big_38_, and usually enjoyed driving it long distances, but he was also quite_39_to go by train sometimes too especially when the weather was_40_. He was a little frightened of driving in the rain or snow, and it was _41_tiring to sit comfortably in a train and look out of the windows without being worried about how one was going to get to the next place. One of Mr. Gray’s  _42_was often where to stay when he reached some small _43_in the country. He did not expect _44_and wonderful food, but he found it annoying when he was given a cold room, and when there was no hot water _45_ good food after a long and tiring day.
Late one winter evening, Mr. Gray arrived at a small railway station. The journey by train that _46_had not been at all interesting, and Mr. Gray was cold and tired and _47_. He was looking forward to a _48_but satisfying meal by a brightly burning _49_, and then a hot bath and a comfortable bed. While he was walking to the taxi stand, he said to a local man who was also _50_there. “As this is my _51_visit to this part of the country and I was in too much of a hurry to find out about a hotel before I _52_home, I would very much like to know how many you have here.” The local man answered, “We have two.” “And which of the two would you _53_me to go to?” Mr. Gray asked then. The local man scratched his _54_ for a few moments and then answered, “Well, it’s like this: _55_one you go to, you’ll be sorry you didn’t go to the other.”