The prisoners became _____ in their attempts to escape.

1. A.
   despite
2. B.
   despair
3. C.
   desperate
4. D.
   despair of

阅读理解

　　William Faulkner was a great American writer. And great writers are supposed to be born ,not made by many people, but there are many surprising exceptions(例外). William Faulkner was one of them. He left school in the fifth grade at the age of fourteen. He worked as a house painter and later a dishwasher in a restaurant. He had to look for jobs around the country and suffered a lot. Once he tried attending college, but failed in passing the entrance examination and he left helplessly. Luckily for him, he found a postmaster's job in a small Mississippi town, but he didn't devote himself into his new job. He infuriated(激怒)the local people by getting the mail all mixed up and closing the office whenever he liked to do so. In the end he had to give up the job. It seemed to others that the young man would have no future.

　　“Opportunity, sooner or later, comes to all who work and wish”. William Faulkner didn't lose heart. After he had been out of school for eleven years, he started his writing career, which made him a great success, and later he won a Nobel Prize in literature.

　　So who's to say what about youth? A young boy or girl who knows what he or she wants to do in life probably has a better future. No teenagers need despair of the future, for they have that one special advantage over the greatest man alive——time.

(1)The reason why Faulkner gave up his postmaster's job was that ________

[　　]

A．the job was not worth doing

B．his pay was too low.

C．he preferred a writer than a postman.

D．the local people didn't satisfy him.

(2)How old did Faulkner begin to write?

[　　]

A．After he got married.

B．When he was 25 years old.

C．When he earned a lot of money.

D．When he gave up the postmaster's job

(3)If you want to succeed, you should ________.

[　　]

A．know what you want to do in your life

B．leave school early

C．don't do the job that you don't like to

D．wait quietly

(4)Which of the following is TRUE?

[　　]

A．Great writers should fail in the exam.

B．Faulkner is a born writer.

C．No teenagers need despair of the future.

D．Young man's advantage is freedom

The prisoners became _____ in their attempts to escape.

[　　]

A．despite　　　　　　　B．despair

C．desperate　　　　　　D．despair of

The trip to that city was eye-opening for everyone, and near its end, all the young people in our group began to reflect on what it had meant. We __21___the first night we had arrived. We had all gone into the markets of the city ___22__the young people could experience its energy. But what we actually saw simply __23__ us all ---- the rundown houses, the children in rags, the people begging for money … Walking home, ___24____ under a low bridge, we came across ___25___ families of homeless people seeking a bit of dry ground to sleep on __26__ the night. We had to step over bodies as we found our way through the darkness. ks5u

The poverty（贫困） was __27__ than anything my young companions had ever imagined. Back in the hotel, an air of sadness settled over the group. Many __28__ and cried. Spending time in this ___29__ moves a person to care about humanity. ks5u

That evening, our group spent hours talking about what we had ___30___. Gently, I encouraged everyone to talk about the difficult ___31__ that day’s discoveries had inspired. Sitting together ___32__ a circle as everyone had a chance to speak, we all began to realize that __33___ of us was alone in our struggle to cope with our reactions. ks5u

Based on my __34___ in poverty-stricken areas, I suggested that __35___ the emotions we had were painful, they could also be important in helping us to move forward. We all__36__ that we had seen things that should never be allowed to happen. ___37___, what could we do about it? Together, we began to brainstorm ways we could help to case the __38__ we had seen. As I encouraged group members to focus on __39__ they could do, a sense of determination __40___ the previous sadness, Instead of despair, these young people began to feel a call to action. ks5u