It's over three years since I began to learn English. I am glad that I am getting on well with it.  I find English very interesting, but quite difficult. When I first started, I thought I had only to remember the new words and learn some grammar. I know little about English idioms(习语). I thought each English word had a word with the same meaning in Chinese. When I learned to say "I see a book on the desk", I thought the English word "see" was just like the Chinese word "kan". So one day when my teacher asked me, "What are you doing?" I answered, "I'm seeing a book." "That's wrong," the teacher said. "You don't see a book. You read a book. You can't use an English word like a Chinese one. Be sure not to make the same mistake again." 
After that I began to pay more attention to the differences between Chinese and English. For example, in English we say a "high mountain", but a "tall man". In Chinese we use the same word "gao" for both. Again in English we say "take part in the sports meeting", "attend a meeting" and "join the army", while in Chinese we can use "can jia" for all the three. It's interesting, isn't it? So to study English doesn't only mean hard work, it can be great fun, too! We not only have to pay attention to pronunciation, grammar, spelling and handwriting, we also have to understand English idioms. We can learn English well only in that way!
But all this is only a beginning and I still have a long way to go. I'll try my best and work even harder than before. I must speak and listen to English more both in and out of class. I must read and write more, too. I must learn English well so that I can work well when I grow up. 
【小题1】When I first started learning English, I thought __________.

Life is not easy, so I’d like to say,“When anything happens, believe in yourself.”When I was 14,  I was__1__ nervous to talk to anyone. My classmates often laughed at me. I was sad but could do nothing. Later__2_ happened. It affected my life. It was an English speech contest. My mother asked me to take part in it. What a/an__3 idea! It meant I had to___4__ in front of all the teachers and students of my school!
“Come on, boy. Believe in yourself. You are sure to win.” Then mother and I talked about many different topics. At last I chose the topic” Believe in yourself”. I tried my best to _5_ all the speech and practised it over 100 times.  __6__my mother’s great help, I did well in the contest. I could hardly (几乎不) believe my _7_ when the news came —— I won the first place. I heard the   8 from the teachers and students. Those__9__looked down on （瞧不起）me before, but they now all said congratulations to me. My mother hugged (拥抱)me and cried excitedly.
Since then, everything changed for me. When I do anything, I try to tell  10 to be sure and I will find myself. This is true not only for a person but also for a country.
【小题1】A. so            B. too          C. very
【小题2】A. something     B. nothing      C. anything
【小题3】A. interesting   B. exciting     C. terrible
【小题4】A. say           B. speak        C. tell
【小题5】A. remember      B. see          C. hear
【小题6】A. At            B. To           C. With
【小题7】A. ears          B. eyes         C. result（结果)
【小题8】A. cheers        B. wishes       C. thanks
【小题9】A. boys          B. girls        C. classmates
【小题10】A. my mother     B. him          C. myself