阅读理解。
My first performance (表演) in front of an audience was coming up soon.
I tried as hard as I could to remain calm, but my heart was racing. I stared down at my sweat-covered,
shaking hands.
I looked up again at the audience, realizing that these were real people. They were not just my mum and
dad, who would say, "Good job!" even if I messed up the entire piece.
What if I had the wrong music? What if I played the wrong notes?
As it turned out, I was never able to answer these questions because the spotlight (聚光灯) was waiting
for me. I grasped my hands tightly together, drying off the sweat.
Slowly I walked to the mud-brown piano in the center of the room. It contained 88 demanding keys,
which were waiting impatiently to be played. I swallowed the golf-ball-sized lump (隆起部分) in my throat
and sat down. Slowly, I opened the music. Next, I rested my still shaking hands on the ivory (象牙色的)
keys.
As my fingers played across the keys, I was becoming more unsure of my preparation for this moment.
But the memory of my years of training came flooding back. I knew that I had practiced this piece so many
times that I could play it backwards if requested.
Although at one point I accidentally played two keys instead of the intended one, I continued to move
my fingers automatically (自动地).
My eyes burned holes into (were fixed on) the pages in front of me.
There was no way that I was going to lose my concentration. To keep this to myself, I leaned forward
and focused carefully on the music.
When I came to the end of the page, a warning went off inside my head: DON'T MAKE A MISTAKE
WHEN YOU TURN THE PAGE!
Needless to say, I obeyed myself with all my heart and mind. And, proud of my "page-turning" feat (技
艺), I finished the rest of the piece without making a single mistake.
After the final note died away, a celebration went into action inside my head. I had finished. I had
mastered the impossible.
1. The author was nervous before the performance because _____.
A. her mother and father weren't present
B. the strong spotlight was shining onto the stage
C. she hadn't mastered the entire piece
D. she had never performed in public before
2. The underlined phrase "mess up" in Paragraph 3 probably means _____.
A. put into disorder
B. forget about
C. stop halfway
D. do well in
3. The author _____.
A. didn't make any mistake in the performance
B. felt better at the beginning of the performance
C. paid all attention to nothing but her performance
D. lost her concentration (注意力) sometimes during the performance
4. What did the author feel about her performance?
A. She thought it was comfortable and successful.
B. She thought it was very difficult but successful.
C. She thought she had never made a mistake during the performance.
D. She thought she played through the piece carefully but light-heartedly.
