I began working in journalism when I was eight. It was my mother’s idea. She wanted me to “make something” of myself, and decided I had better start young if I was to have any chance of keeping up with the competition.

With my load of magazines I headed toward Belleville Avenue. The crowds were there. There were two gas stations on the corner of Belleville and Union. For several hours I made myself highly visible, making sure everyone could see me and the heavy black letters on the bag that said THE SATURDAY EVENING POST. When it was suppertime, I walked back home.

“How many did you sell, my boy?” my mother asked.

“None.”

“Where did you go?”

“The corner of Belleville and Union Avenues.”

“What did you do?”

“Stood on the corner waiting for somebody to buy a Saturday Evening Post.”

“You just stood there?”

“Didn’t sell a single one.”

“My God, Russell!”

Uncle Allen put in, “Well, I’ve decided to take the Post.” I handed him a copy and he paid me a nickel. It was the first nickel I earned.

Afterwards my mother taught me how to be a salesman. I would have to ring doorbells, address adults with self-confidence, and persuade them by saying that no one, no matter how poor, could afford to be without the Saturday Evening Post in the home.

One day, I told my mother I’d changed my mind. I didn’t want to make a success in the magazine business.

“If you think you can change your mind like this,” she replied, “you’ll become a good-for-nothing.” She insisted that, as soon as school was over, I should start ringing doorbells, selling magazines. Whenever I said no, she would scold me.

My mother and I had fought this battle almost as long as I could remember. My mother, dissatisfied with my father’s plain workman’s life, determined that I would not grow up like him and his people. But never did she expect that, forty years later, such a successful journalist as me would go back to her husband’s people for true life and love.

1.Why did the boy start his job young?

A．He wanted to be famous in the future.

B．The job was quite easy for him.

C．His mother had high hopes for him.

D．The competition for the job was fierce.

2.From the dialogue between the boy and his mother, we learn that the mother was _______.

A．excited           B．interested         C．ashamed          D．disappointed

3.What did the mother do when the boy wanted to give up?

A．She forced him to continue.               B．She punished him.

C．She gave him some money.                D．She changed her plan.

4.What does the underlined word “nickel” most possibly mean?

A．a note that is worth ten dollars

B．a bill signed in acknowledgement of debt

C．a list showing how much you have to pay

D．a coin that is worth five cents

5.What is the text mainly about?

A．The early life of a journalist.

B．The early success of a journalist.

C．The happy childhood of the writer.

D．The important role of the writer in his family.

 

The other day I was talking to a stranger on the bus; he told me that he had a good   36   in Chicago and he wondered if, by any chance, I   37   to know him . For a moment, I thought he might be   38   ,but I could tell from the expression on his face that he was not. He was   39  . I felt like saying that it was ridiculous (可笑的) to   40   that out of all the millions of people in Chicago I could possibly have ever bumped into his friend. But,   41  , I just smiled and reminded him that Chicago was a very   42  city. He nodded, and I thought he was going to be content to drop the subject and talk about something else. But I was wrong. He was silent for a few minutes, and then he   43   to tell me all about his friend.

His friend’s main   44   in life seemed to be tennis. He was an excellent tennis player , and he   45    had his own tennis court. There were a lot of people with swimming   46  , yet there were only two people with private tennis court; his friend in Chicago was one of them. I told him that I knew several   47   like that, including my brother, who was a doctor in California. He   48   that maybe there were more private courts in the country than he   49   but he did not know of any others. Then he asked me   50   my brother lived in California. When I said Sacramento, he said that was a coincidence   51   his Chicago friend spent the summer in Sacramento last year and he lived next door to a   52   who had a tennis court in his backyard. I said I felt that really was a coincidence (巧合) because my next-door neighbour had gone to Sacramento last summer and had   53   the house next to my brother’s house. For a moment, we stared at each other, but we did not say anything.

   “Would your friend’s name happen to be Roland Kirkwood?” I asked finally. He   54   and said, “Yes. Would your brother’s name happen to be Dr Rey Hunter?” It was my   55   to laugh. “Yes,” I replied.

1.A. brother                                 B. teacher                           C.      friend                  D. neighbour

2.A.  happened                          B. managed                        C. tried                                         D. wanted

3.A. expecting                              B. lying                      C.      talking                           D. joking

4.A. funny                                     B. serious                            C. careful                                     D. disappointed

5.A.  find                                 B. think                                C. realize                                      D. see

6.A. indeed                                   B. actually                           C.      exactly                  D. instead

7.A. famous                                  B. interesting           C. big                                D. noisy

8.A. began                                    B. stopped                          C. refused                                    D. failed

9.A. problem                                 B. choice      C. interest                                    D. work

10.A. just                                                B. ever                                C. even                               D. surely

11.A. suit                                                B. habit                      C.      river              D. pools

12.A. people                                 B. players                           C strangers                                  D. friends

13.A. advised                      B.     admitted          C.      argued                                D. announced

14.A. recognized                         B. realized                          C. visited                             D. found

15.A. how                                           B. whether                          C. where                        D. when

16.A. if                                     B. because                            C. then                                          D. though

17.A. doctor                                B. friend                     C. neighbour                      D. player

18.A.visited                                   B. hired                                C. designed                                  D. sold

19.A. smiled                                 B. laughed                           C. cried                          D.nodded

20.A. chance             B. pleasure                C.      turn                                    D. time

 

It’s good to make mistakes, and here is why．

First of all, mistakes are a clear sign that you are trying new things． It’s always good to try new things because when you are trying new things you are growing． If you never try anything new, how can you improve? How can you expand? The simple answer is “You can’t”． Look around you． With very few exceptions, either everything you see in your physical world or every single detail of every single thing is the result of someone trying something new．

 Another good thing about mistakes is this: When you are making mistakes, you are learning． Consider this: Edison failed 10,000 times before he perfected the light bulb． When asked how it felt to fail that many times, he said that he hadn’t failed 10,000 times, but rather had learned 10,000 things that didn’t work．

 Finally, when you make a mistake you are much closer to success． Why?

 Because when all is said and done, you will have tried some number of things before you succeeded． Every time you make a mistake you eliminate one of those things and are one step closer．

 But this all doesn’t mean that you should go ahead without considering the consequences of a mistake． Quite the contrary, when you try something new you have to be willing to set some reasonable limits so that in the event that it doesn’t work out the way you want it to, you will be in a position to try again．

 We all have limited resources in the form of time and money so don’t blow them all on one approach to a problem． Realize that it probably won’t be perfect the first time and allocate （分配） these resources appropriately so you can learn, make corrections, and try it again． Only by accepting and using your mistakes in this way can you make significant advances in your business and your career．

 There is an old saying that goes, “If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not trying hard enough．”

 So go forth and make mistakes． And learn． And grow． And prosper（成功）．

1.From the second paragraph, we can conclude that _______．

A． mistakes are unnecessary for development

B． we are afraid of trying new things  

C． it’s common for people to make mistakes

D． mistakes are better than not trying

2.According to the article, one thing you should pay attention to about making mistakes is    ．

A． avoiding making the same mistakes

B． accepting the punishment willingly

C． taking consequences into account

D． trying things out one by one

3.What would the writer probably suggest we say to ourselves when we make a mistake?

A． Never mind, I can always try again．   

   B． I’d better stay out of trouble．

C． Ok! Now I can learn something．

D． Look at this mess． Anyone would be upset．

 

完形填空（共20小题，每小题2分，满分40分）

John, a famous musician, took his priceless zither (齐特琴) and played it in the crowded subway station. The music from the zither was delicately streaming __1__ the whole station. However, during the one-hour play only six or seven people truly __2__ the charming music. A three-year-old kid was so __3__ by the music that he forgot everything around. John only got 52 U.S. dollars for his work that day.

__4__, in normal days, when John is about to hold a concert, the ticket can be sold for more than 100 dollars and it is extremely __5__ to buy a ticket even at such a high price. Therefore, later, many __6__ in the station that day felt deeply regretful for not __7__ the famous musician and missing such a valuable but __8__ music feast.

I have a very busy friend who totally __9__ after knowing that his wife came down with a deadly illness. He cooked by himself for the family and took a walk with his wife every day. But his wife still did not __10__ to conquer the illness and passed away after three months. After that, he often sighed miserably that __11__ his past busy life, he had missed a lot of beautiful time with his wife. But now it is impossible to __12__ it.

Actually, I also missed something __13__ before. The __14__ we missed those things is simple: we had thought that we could still own them __15__.

Yet tomorrow is actually by no means __16__. There was a famous Buddhist monk saying that in many people’s __17__, they had only done two things: waiting and regretting. The result is that they were always too late to __18__ what they had. We would often claim to do something when we grow up, or when we have money or when we become old, etc. However, when we reach the __19__ we have expected, we could no longer __20__ our wish, because we have lost it by then.

1.                A．throughout      B．before         C．above    D．for

 

2.                A．heard          B．appreciated     C．found    D．absorbed

 

3.                A．attracted       B．confused        C．excited   D．stuck

 

4.                A．Therefore       B．However        C．Then D．Also

 

5.                A．convenient      B．necessary       C．easy D．hard

 

6.                A．listeners        B．passers-by       C．viewers   D．children

 

7.                A．greeting        B．recognizing      C．paying    D．contacting

 

8.                A．common        B．meaningful      C．cheap    D．expensive

 

9.                A．escaped        B．abandoned      C．submitted D．changed

 

10.               A．decide         B．want           C．manage   D．agree

 

11.               A．as with         B．thanks to       C．due to D．as for

 

12.                                A．come up with    B．look forward to

C．make up for                      D．look back on

 

13.               A．difficult        B．present        C．precious   D．delightful

 

14.               A．reason         B．origin          C．chance    D．result

 

15.               A．today          B．nowadays       C．yesterday  D．tomorrow

 

16.               A．reliable        B．easy           C．comfortable    D．charming

 

17.               A．lives           B．works          C．plans D．tasks

 

18.               A．protect         B．miss           C．suggest    D．value

 

19.               A．top            B．condition       C．success   D．scene

 

20.               A．say            B．understand      C．forget D．realize

 

 

Ben and his wife Susan were on their way to have dinner with their friends. It was a dark，windy night, and they did not know the way very well. They drove through a town until they found what they thought was the road to Dorling，where their friends lived. But it soon became clear that they were not on the road to Dorling at all. The road that they were on was getting narrower，and there were no other cars on it. The wind was blowing harder with every minute that passed.

They came to a small village .They drove past a church and then two houses without lights on. There was nobody about to tell them where they were，or where the road went. Just then，Ben saw a telephone box，twenty meters or so further on. While he walked back along the road to see if there was a name outside the church，Susan telephoned their friends and told them that they were still on their way.

Their friends were just saying that the dinner was already getting rather cold，when Ben came back to the telephone box，his head down against the wind. He said that there was a tree lying across the road，and that the telephone lines were down. Susan heard nothing more from their friends about the dinner.

1.Some time later Ben and Susan found they took a wrong road because ________.

A．their friends lived nearer than they drove

B．the road was getting narrower and their car alone was on it

C．the hard wind made them get lost

D．the road was not the same as before

2.Ben went to the church to see if there was a name outside because ________.

A．he was sure to find some people who knew Dorling

B．he hoped to get help from there

C．he wanted to telephone his friends where they were

D．he wanted to stay there for the night

3.Susan could hear nothing more from their friends because ________.

A．the telephone lines were broken by a tree

B．the strong wind made too much noise

C．they got angry

D．they had all left

4.From the passage we know ________.

A．Ben and his wife often went out for dinners

B．Ben and his wife lived in the country

C．both Ben and his wife were short­sighted(近视的)

D．Ben and his wife seldom(很少) went to Dorling