My father woke up early one summer morning when I was fourteen and announced, “Get up, you’re going with me to cut the grass in the garden.”
The idea that my father thought I was old enough to help him in his business made me feel proud and excited. From sunup to sundown, my father, my younger brother and I worked in the large garden. By the end of the day I was too tired to say a word but I felt happy. This was my first time to help my father in his business. I got $6 for my work that day.
One day my father found some leaves I had missed and pulled me aside. “Take away these leaves!” he said. “And don’t make me have to tell you to do it again.” The message was clear. Today I value the importance of doing job well the first time. I will never fail to impress (留下印象) the person I’m working for.
After two years, my father told me and my brother that he felt we were old enough to cut the grass by ourselves. Every Saturday during my last two years of high school, we set off early in the morning with the same wish we had gained while working under our father.
Looking after the garden was neither exciting nor high paying, but that didn’t matter. It taught me that any job was a good job and whatever I was paid was more than I had before.
A newspaper reporter once asked me how someone could possibly live with hard work and low pay. “If you’re only thinking about hard work and money, you probably don’t want to do better than you are doing,” I answered. In every job, from cutting the grass to washing dishes, I’ve learned much. I’ve learned something that helps me in my next job.
If you work hard enough, you can learn from any job you do.
7. The writer ______ from working in the garden.
A. learned to work hard to get money
B. found he could be well paid
C. felt he could impress others by working hard
D. learned any job was good though he might be paid less
8. When the writer finished high school, maybe he was ______ years old.
A. fourteen             B. eighteen             C. twenty           D. twenty-two
9. The writer’s father was ______.
A. very strict but helpful
B. lazy and easy to get angry
C. careful and enjoyed working in the garden
D. funny and hard-working
10. Which is the most important to the writer according to the passage?
A. Finishing work as quickly as possible.
B. Asking no money for your work.
C. Keeping learning from any job you have.
D. Keeping on looking for different jobs.

My father woke up early one summer morning when I was fourteen and announced, “Get up, you’re going with me to cut the grass in the garden.”

The idea that my father thought I was old enough to help him in his business made me feel proud and excited. From sunup to sundown, my father, my younger brother and I worked in the large garden. By the end of the day I was too tired to say a word but I felt happy. This was my first time to help my father in his business. I got $6 for my work that day.

One day my father found some leaves I had missed and pulled me aside. “Take away these leaves!” he said. “And don’t make me have to tell you to do it again.” The message was clear. Today I value the importance of doing job well the first time. I will never fail to impress (留下印象) the person I’m working for.

After two years, my father told me and my brother that he felt we were old enough to cut the grass by ourselves. Every Saturday during my last two years of high school, we set off early in the morning with the same wish we had gained while working under our father.

Looking after the garden was neither exciting nor high paying, but that didn’t matter. It taught me that any job was a good job and whatever I was paid was more than I had before.

A newspaper reporter once asked me how someone could possibly live with hard work and low pay. “If you’re only thinking about hard work and money, you probably don’t want to do better than you are doing,” I answered. In every job, from cutting the grass to washing dishes, I’ve learned much. I’ve learned something that helps me in my next job.

If you work hard enough, you can learn from any job you do.

7. The writer ______ from working in the garden.

A. learned to work hard to get money

B. found he could be well paid

C. felt he could impress others by working hard

D. learned any job was good though he might be paid less

8. When the writer finished high school, maybe he was ______ years old.

A. fourteen             B. eighteen             C. twenty           D. twenty-two

9. The writer’s father was ______.

A. very strict but helpful

B. lazy and easy to get angry

C. careful and enjoyed working in the garden

D. funny and hard-working

10. Which is the most important to the writer according to the passage?

A. Finishing work as quickly as possible.

B. Asking no money for your work.

C. Keeping learning from any job you have.

D. Keeping on looking for different jobs.

先阅读短文，然后从文中每小题的四个选项中选出一个可以填入短文中相应空白处的最佳答案。

I did very badly at school. My headmaster thought I was useless and when I was 14, he said, “You’re never going to be    (1)  but a failure(失败者).

After five years of poor jobs, I fell    (2)  with a very nice girl. But her mother said to me, “You’ve    (3)  in everything you’ve ever done. You can’t give any happiness to my daughter!” It was the frustrating thing that could have changed me later. I decided to do something    (4)  about my life, because I wanted to show her that what people said about me was    (5) .

So I tried hard with my writing and went to college. My first book came out while I was at college. After college I    (6)  during the day in high schools and went to evening classes at college. Later, I gave up that job to write full time. At the same time, I was offered a part­-time job as a    (7)     at Leeds University. I began to feel    (8)  of myself –here was once a poor boy who’d left school early, now teaching at the university. My writing career(生涯)   (9)  when I discovered my own style.

Now I’m rich and    (10)  , have been on TV, and met lots of film stars. But what does that mean? I just wish all the people who have put me down had said: “I believe in you. You’ll succeed.”