When I was nine years old I lived in a small town. I found an ad for selling greeting cards in the back of a children’s magazine. I thought to myself I could do this. I begged my mother to let me send for the kit (配件). Two weeks later the kit arrived. The next three hours later, I returned home with no card and a pocket full of money shouting, “Mama, all the people couldn’t wait to buy my cards!” A salesperson was born.

When I was twelve years old, my father took me to see Zig Ziegler. I remember sitting in the dark hall listening to Mr. Ziegler raise everyone’s spirits up to ceiling. I left there feeling like I could do anything. When we got to the car, I turned to my father and said, “Dad, I want to make people feel like that.” My father asked me what I meant. “I want to be a motivational speaker just like Mr. Ziegler,” I replied. A dream was born.

Recently, I began pursuing（追求） my dream of motivating others. I realized that everything I had accomplished — the graduate degree, the successful sales career, speaking appointments, training and managing for a major fortune 100 company as a senior manager— had prepared me for this moment. I told my boss who was a great leader I would leave the company though I might not reach such a height in career. He told me to proceed（进行） and he believed I would succeed.

Having made that decision, I was immediately tested. One week after I gave notice, my husband was laid off from his job. We had recently bought a new home and needed both incomes to make the monthly mortgage (抵押) payment and now we were done to no income. I even planned to turn back to my former company, knowing they wanted me to stay but I was certain that if I went back, I would never leave. I decided I still wanted to move forward rather than end up with a mouth full of “if onlys” later on. A motivational speaker was born.

When I held fast to my dream, even during the tough times, the miracles（奇迹） really began to happen. In a short time period my husband found a better job. We didn’t miss a mortgage payment. And I was able to book several speaking appointments with new clients (客户). I discovered the incredible power of dreams. I loved my old job, my workmates and the company I left, but it was time to get on with my dream. To celebrate my success I had a local artist paint my new office as a garden. At the top of one wall she marked, “The world always makes way for the dreamer.”

1.Why was the kit sent for?

A. Selling greeting cards.                  B. Collecting greeting cards.

C. Buying greeting cards.                   D. Sending greeting cards.

2. When did the author decide to become a motivational speaker?

A. After buying a new home by mortgage.

B. After giving notice to leave her safe position in the company.

C. After finding a job in a major fortune 100 company.

D. After listening to Mr. Ziegler’s inspiring speech.

3. Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?

A. She was once an excellent manager.

B. She left her post at the height of her career.

C. She was not sure whether the former company could accept her.

D. She didn’t miss paying the monthly mortgage payment.

4. What does the underlined sentence mean in the last paragraph?

A. Carry on with your dreams and you will be successful.

B. Risk everything you have for a dream and you will succeed.

C. The world belongs to dreamers.

D. Everyone will find their dreams.

When I was nine years old I lived in a small town. I found an ad for selling greeting cards in the back of a children’s magazine. I thought to myself I could do this. I begged my mother to let me send for the kit (配件). Two weeks later the kit arrived. The next three hours later, I returned home with no card and a pocket full of money shouting, “Mama, all the people couldn’t wait to buy my cards!” A salesperson was born.

When I was twelve years old, my father took me to see Zig Ziegler. I remember sitting in the dark hall listening to Mr. Ziegler raise everyone’s spirits up to ceiling. I left there feeling like I could do anything. When we got to the car, I turned to my father and said, “Dad, I want to make people feel like that.” My father asked me what I meant. “I want to be a motivational speaker just like Mr. Ziegler,” I replied. A dream was born.

Recently, I began pursuing my dream of motivating（激励）others. I realized that everything I had achieved — a good education, the successful sales career, speaking appointments, training and managing for a major fortune 100 company as a senior manager— had prepared me for this moment. I told my boss I would leave the company though I might not reach such a height(高度) in career. He told me to move on and he believed I would succeed.

Having made that decision, I was immediately tested. One week after I quit(辞掉) my job, my husband was laid off from his job. We had recently bought a new home and needed both incomes to make the monthly mortgage (抵押) payment and now we were done to no income. I even planned to turn back to my former company, knowing they wanted me to stay but I was sure that if I went back, I would never leave. I decided I still wanted to move forward instead of ending up with a mouth full of “if onlys” later on. A motivational speaker was born.

When I held fast to my dream, even during the tough times, the miracles（奇迹） really began to happen. In a short time period my husband found a better job. We didn’t miss a mortgage payment. And I was able to book several speaking appointments with new clients (客户). I discovered the incredible power of dreams. I loved my old job, my workmates and the company I left, but it was time to get on with my dream. To celebrate my success I had a local artist paint my new office as a garden. At the top of one wall she marked, “The world always makes way for the dreamer.”

53．Why was the kit sent for?

A. Selling greeting cards.                                   B. Collecting greeting cards.

C. Buying greeting cards.                                  D. Sending greeting cards.

54．When did the author decide to become a motivational speaker?

A. After buying a new home by mortgage.

B. After leaving her secure position in the company.

C. After finding a job in a major fortune 100 company.

D. After listening to Mr. Ziegler’s inspiring speech.

55．Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?

A. She was once an excellent manager.

B. She left her post at the height of her career.

C. She was not sure whether the former company could accept her.

D. She didn’t miss paying the monthly mortgage payment.

56．What does the underlined sentence mean in the last paragraph?

A. Carry on with your dreams and you will be successful.

B. You will succeed if you have dreams.

C. The world is full of people with dreams.

D. Everyone will realize their dream in the world.

When I was nine years old I lived in a small town. I found an ad for selling greeting cards in the back of a children’s magazine. I thought to myself I could do this. I begged my mother to let me send for the kit (配件). Two weeks later the kit arrived. The next three hours later, I returned home with no card and a pocket full of money shouting, “Mama, all the people couldn’t wait to buy my cards!” A salesperson was born.
When I was twelve years old, my father took me to see Zig Ziegler. I remember sitting in the dark hall listening to Mr. Ziegler raise everyone’s spirits up to ceiling. I left there feeling like I could do anything. When we got to the car, I turned to my father and said, “Dad, I want to make people feel like that.” My father asked me what I meant. “I want to be a motivational speaker just like Mr. Ziegler,” I replied. A dream was born.
Recently, I began pursuing（追求） my dream of motivating others. I realized that everything I had accomplished — the graduate degree, the successful sales career, speaking appointments, training and managing for a major fortune 100 company as a senior manager— had prepared me for this moment. I told my boss who was a great leader I would leave the company though I might not reach such a height in career. He told me to proceed（进行） and he believed I would succeed.
Having made that decision, I was immediately tested. One week after I gave notice, my husband was laid off from his job. We had recently bought a new home and needed both incomes to make the monthly mortgage (抵押) payment and now we were done to no income. I even planned to turn back to my former company, knowing they wanted me to stay but I was certain that if I went back, I would never leave. I decided I still wanted to move forward rather than end up with a mouth full of “if onlys” later on. A motivational speaker was born.
When I held fast to my dream, even during the tough times, the miracles（奇迹） really began to happen. In a short time period my husband found a better job. We didn’t miss a mortgage payment. And I was able to book several speaking appointments with new clients (客户). I discovered the incredible power of dreams. I loved my old job, my workmates and the company I left, but it was time to get on with my dream. To celebrate my success I had a local artist paint my new office as a garden. At the top of one wall she marked, “The world always makes way for the dreamer.”
【小题1】Why was the kit sent for?

I needed to buy a digital camera, one that was simply good at taking good snaps (快照), maybe occasionally for magazines. Being the cautious type, I fancied a reliable brand. So I went on the net, spent 15 minutes reading product reviews on good websites, wrote down the names of three top recommendations and headed for my nearest big friendly camera store. There in the cupboard was one of the cameras on my list. And it was on special offer. Oh joy. I pointed at it and asked an assistant, “Can I have one of those?” He looked perturbed (不安).“Do you want to try it first?" he said. It didn't quite sound like a question. "Do I need to?" I replied. "There's nothing wrong with it?" This made him look a bit insulted and I started to feel bad. "No, no. But you should try it," he said encouragingly." Compare it with the others. "
I looked across at the others: shelves of similar cameras placed along the wall, offering a wide range of slightly different prices and discounts, with each company selling a range of models based around the same basic box. With so many models to choose from, it seemed that I would have to spend hours weighing X against Y, always trying to take Z and possibly H into account at the same time. But when I had finished, I would still have only the same two certainties that I had entered the store with: first, soon after I carried my new camera out of the shop, it would be worth half what I paid for it; and second, my wonderful camera would very quickly be replaced by a new model.
But something in the human soul whispers that you can beat these traps by making the right choice, the clever choice, the wise choice. In the end, I agreed to try the model I had chosen. The assistant seemed a sincere man. So I let him take out my chosen camera from the cupboard, show how it took excellent pictures of my fellow shoppers... and when he started to introduce the special features, I interrupted to ask whether I needed to buy a carry-case and a memory card as well.
Why do we think that new options (选择) still offer us anything new? Perhaps it is because they offer an opportunity to avoid facing the fact that our real choices in this culture are far more limited than we would like to imagine.
1. The shop assistant insisted that the writer should __ .
A. try the camera to see if there was anything wrong with it
B. compare the camera he had chosen with the others
C. get more information about different companies
D. trust him and stop asking questions
2. What does the writer mean by "it would be worth half what I paid for it"  (Paragraph 2) ?
A. He should get a 50% discount.
B. The price of the camera was unreasonably high.
C. The quality of the camera was not good.
D. The camera would soon fall in value.
3. The writer decided to try the model he had chosen because he __ .
A. knew very little about it
B. didn't trust the shop assistant
C. wanted to make sure the one he chose would be the best
D. had a special interest in taking pictures of his fellow shoppers
4. It can be inferred from the passage that in the writer's opinion, __
A. people waste too much money on cameras
B. cameras have become an important part of our daily life
C. we don't actually need so many choices when buying a product
D. famous companies care more about profit than quality