The Price of a Dream
I grew up poor, living with my wonderful mother. We had little money but plenty of love and attention.  I was   36  and energetic. I understood that no matter how poor a person was, he could still   37  a dream.
My dream was to be a sportsman.   38  I was sixteen, I had started playing baseball. I could throw a ninety-mile-per-hour fastball and hit anything that moved on the football field.  I was also   39 . My high-school coach was Ollie Jarvis, who not only believed in me, but taught me  40 to believe in myself. He   41 me the difference between having a dream and realizing the dream. One particular   42  with Coach Jarvis changed my life forever.
It was the summer between my junior and senior years, and a friend recommended (推荐) me for a summer job. This meant a chance for money in my pocket—money for a new bike and new clothes, and the   43  of savings for a house for my mother. Then I realized I would have to   44  summer baseball to deal with the work schedule, and that meant I would have to tell Coach Jarvis I wouldn’t be playing. 
When I told Coach Jarvis, he was as   45  as I expected him to be.  “You have your whole life to work,” he said.  “Your playing days are limited. You can’t   46  to waste them.” I stood before him with my head hanging, trying to think of the   47  that would explain   48  him why my dream of buying my mom a house and having money in my pocket was worth facing his   49  in me.
“How much are you going to make at this job, son?” he asked. “Three twenty-five an hour,” I replied.
“Well,” he asked, “is $3.25 an hour the   50  of a dream?”
That simple question made it   51  to me the difference between   52  something right now and following a dream. I   53  myself to sports that summer, and within the year I was   54  by the Pittsburgh Pirates to play baseball, and was   55  a $20,000 contract. In 2000, I bought my mother the house of my dream!

   I am Ali. I have always believed in myself. My parents taught me to be  41 and that I could be the best at anything. I  42  challenging my neighbourhood boys to see who could jump the highest and run the fastest. Of course I knew when I made the challenge, I would win. I never even   43  losing.
I started my boxing  44 when I was 12. In high school I boasted (自夸) that one day I was  45 to be the champion of the world. As part of my training, I would run down the street. I would rush in and out of shops to   46  them I was training for the Olympics and I was going to   47  a gold medal. I never thought of failing but only glory(光荣) I was going to    48   when I won. When I said I was going to be the "Greatest of All Time", I   49  myself. And I still do.
But I didn’t know that my will would be  50 when I retired. In 1996, I was asked to  51  the cauldron(圣火) at the summer Olympic Games in Atlanta.
When the   52  came for me to set fire to the cauldron, I realized I had the eyes of the world on me. Then I heard an extremely loud  53 . I was reminded of my 1960 Olympic  54  in Rome, when I won the gold medal. I remembered those 36 years between Rome and Atlanta and  55 that I had come full circle. Nothing in life has defeated me. I am still "The Greatest."

One of the most common social fears is that we are not good enough. Perhaps you feel you won’t   21  others because they are more confident, successful, intelligent or attractive than you. Such thinking is misguided. The   22  of doing well is accepting yourself as you are.
When I was a student, I kept a diary filled with   23  memories. Some were painful memories from   24  when I felt hurt, confused, lonely and insecure. I   25  pieces of dreams and personal feelings of anger and hatred,   26  things I enjoyed such as magic shops and coin dealers.
Then a terrible thing happened.   27  dinner one night I realized I had left my diary in the cloakroom（衣帽间）outside the campus dining hall.   28  that somebody might read it and find out the truth about me, I   29  back, but it was gone.
Weeks passed, and eventually I gave up hope of ever finding it   30 . A month later, I was 31  up my jacket in the same place when I saw my brown   32  diary, just where I’d left it.
  33  I read through the pages and found that a   34  had written the following, “God bless you. I’m   35  like you, only I   36  keep a diary, and I’m   37  to know there are others like me. I hope things turn out well for you.”
Tears came to my eyes. It had never dawned（开始为人所明白）on me that any one could know my inner feelings and also   38  things just like the way I did.
No matter what you are like, whether you’re rich or poor, brilliant or average, attractive or 39 , there are people like you. Discard（抛弃）your fears of not measuring up（符合期望）, and 40  yourself as you are.

【小题8】

A．Excited B．Puzzled C．Surprised D．Frightened

【小题12】

A．new B．worn C．broken D．similar

【小题19】

A．strong B．pretty C．clear D．plain

The day was warm and the sun shone down like a new beginning on my life. I was waving goodbye to my son, the last one of my fledglings （刚会飞的鸟）to leave home and go to new woods, "University actually" . I felt so lighthearted after spending many years looking after my four children—cooking, washing, ironing, teaching them how to look after themselves and manage their finances—that I actually thought “At long last, freedom".

But, as I watched my last one leave, although it was a joyous occasion, I realized I had not really prepared for this day, I was too tied up with bringing up these adults of the future to realize that they would all leave the nest and lives independently.

At first I didn't know what "I" wanted to do. I tried a part time job, which ended in me running out in tears. I started a business making soft furnishings, but that didn't work either.  I grew my own veggies and fruit, which lasted 3 years, until I was advised by my doctor that my feet couldn't take any more "tools” driven through them.

I began wondering if I had a future of my own. I cried for the life I was used to, and hadn't known or wanted anything different.

Then one day I saw an ad. for foster parents, I discussed it with my husband who was always behind everything I tried and with great disturbance , I rang up the number.

I now laugh and sing with my 14-year-old foster daughter, even when my cooker is a mess and my bathroom is a disaster area. I now know, 8 years later, what “I” was meant to be doing with all the spare hours, days, and weeks I had on my hands when my last fledgling flew the nest. The sun shines once again in my home.

1.How did the mother first feel when her last child went off to university?

2.The underlined phrase “was tied up with” in the second paragraph means “        ”.

3.In the third paragraph, the poor mother did all the things just to         .

4.What did the empty-nested mother think of her husband?

5.Thanks to the foster daughter, the author         .

   I am Ali. I have always believed in myself. My parents taught me to be  41  and that I could be the best at anything. I  42   challenging my neighbourhood boys to see who could jump the highest and run the fastest. Of course I knew when I made the challenge, I would win. I never even   43   losing.

   I started my boxing  44  when I was 12. In high school I boasted (自夸) that one day I was  45  to be the champion of the world. As part of my training, I would run down the street. I would rush in and out of shops to   46   them I was training for the Olympics and I was going to   47   a gold medal. I never thought of failing but only glory(光荣) I was going to    48    when I won. When I said I was going to be the "Greatest of All Time", I   49   myself. And I still do.

   But I didn't know that my will would be  50  when I retired. In 1996, I was asked to  51   the cauldron(圣火) at the summer Olympic Games in Atlanta.

   When the   52   came for me to set fire to the cauldron, I realized I had the eyes of the world on me. Then I heard an extremely loud  53  . I was reminded of my 1960 Olympic  54   in Rome, when I won the gold medal. I remembered those 36 years between Rome and Atlanta and  55  that I had come full circle. Nothing in life has defeated me. I am still "The Greatest."

1. A. brave                 B. confident            C. honest           D. polite

2.A. excuse             B. avoid                C. remember             D. suggest

3.A. gave up                B. went on              C. heard of           D. thought of

4.A. breaking               B. matching         C. training     D. watching

5.A. willing           B. sure             C. hopeful      D. active

6. A. tell                  B. ask             C. wish        D. take

7.A. win                B. lose                 C. find         D. buy

8. A. need              B. get                  C. decide  D. make

9.A. believed in          B. cared about            C. turned to   D. went through

10.A. forced                B. increased            C. damaged  D. tested

11.A. protect          B. carry           C. light    D. touch

12.A. challenge           B. chance             C. choice   D. moment

13.A. cheer                 B. laugh            C. noise    D. shout

14. A. history              B. experience   C. devotion     D. stage

15.A. expected              B. supposed         C. proved  D. realized