阅读理解。
The quality of patience goes a long way toward your goal of creating a more peaceful and loving
self. The more patient you are, the more accepting you will be of what life is, rather than insisting tha
t life be exactly as you would like it to be. Without patience, life is extremely frustrating. You are
easily annoyed, bothered, and irritated. Patience adds a dimension of ease and acceptance to your
life. It’s essential for inner peace. Becoming more patient involves opening your heart to the present
moment, even if you don’t like it. If you are stuck in a traffic jam, late for an appointment, being
patient would mean keeping yourself from building a mental snowball before your thinking get out
of hand and gently reminding yourself to relax. It might also be a good time to breathe as well as an
opportunity to remind yourself that, in the bigger scheme of things, being late is “small stuff”.
Patience is a quality of heart that can be greatly enhanced with deliberate practice. An effective
way that I have found to deepen my own patience is to create actual practice periods-periods of time
that I set up in my mind to practice the art of patience. Life itself becomes a classroom, and the
curriculum is patience. You can start with as little as five minutes and build up your capacity for
patience over time. What you’ll discover is truly amazing. Your intention to be patient, especially
if you know it’s only for a short while, immediately strengthens your capacity for patience. Patience
is one of those special qualities where success feeds on itself. Once you reach little milestone(里程
碑)-five minutes of successful patience-you’ll begin to see that you do indeed have the capacity to
be patient, even for longer periods of time. Over time, you may even become a patient person.
Being patient will help you to keep your perspective. You’ll see even a difficult situation, say your
present challenge, isn’t “life or death” but simply a minor obstacle that must be dealt with. Without
patience, the same scenario can become a major emergency complete with yelling, frustration, hurt
feelings, and high blood pressure.
1. In the first paragraph, the expression “building a mental snowball” can be best replaced by ________.
A. imagining a big snowball
B. awaiting a result calmly
C. taking a deep breath
D. losing your patience
2. The main idea of the first paragraph is that .
A. it takes a long time to cultivate patience
B. patience is very important for us
C. patience is essential for inner peace
D. being late is “small stuff”
3. It’s implied in the second paragraph that .
A. the quality of patience is very hard to cultivate
B. patience should become a school course
C. you’ll get more than expected from practicing patience
D. the quality of patience will lead you to success
4. People without patience will treat the challenge as .
A. a minor thing
B. a matter of life or death
C. the small stuff
D. a great chance
5. The purpose of this passage is to .
A. persuade people to be more patient
B. tell how to practice patience
C. list the advantages of patience
D. state the importance of patience
