When something goes wrong, it can be very satisfying to say, “Well, it’s so-and-so’s fault.” or “I know I’m late，but it’s not my fault; the car broke down.” It is probably not your fault, but once you form the habit of blaming somebody or something else for a bad situation, you are a loser. You have no power and could do nothing that helps change the situation. However, you can have great power over what happens to you if you stop focusing on whom to blame and start focusing on how to remedy the situation. This is the winner’s key to success.
Winners are great at overcoming problems. For example, if you were late because your car broke down, maybe you need to have your car examined more regularly. Or, you might start to carry along with you the useful phone numbers, so you could call for help when in need. For another example, if your colleague causes you problems on the job for lack of responsibility or ability, find ways of dealing with his irresponsibility or inability rather than simply blame the person. Ask to work with a different person, or don’t rely on this person. You should accept that the person is not reliable and find creative ways to work successfully regardless of how your colleague fails to do his job well.
This is what being a winner is all about—creatively using your skills and talents so that you are successful no matter what happens. Winners don’t have fewer problems in their lives; they have just as many difficult situations to face as anybody else. They are just better at seeing those problems as challenges and opportunities to develop their own talents. So, stop focusing on “whose fault it is.” Once you are confident about your power over bad situations, problems are just stepping stones for success.
1.According to the passage, winners .
A. meet with fewer difficulties in their lives
B. have responsible and able colleagues
C. deal with problems rather than blame others
D. blame themselves rather than others
2.The underlined word remedy in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ______.
A. avoid B. accept C. considerD. improve
3.When problems occur, winners take them as ______.
A. chances for self-development B. barriers to greater power
C. challenges to their colleagues D. excuses for their failures
4.Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
A. A Winner’s Problem B. A Winner’s Secret
C. A Winner’s opportunity D. A Winner’s Achievement
Hank Viscardi was born without legs. He had—not legs but stumps(残肢) that could be fitted with a kind of special boots. People stared at him with cruel interest. Children laughed at him and called him ‘Ape Man’ (猿人) because his arms practically dragged on the ground.
Hank went to school like other boys. His grades were good and he needed only eight years to finish his schooling instead of the usual twelve. After graduating from school, he worked his way through college. He swept floors, waited on table, or worked in one of the college offices. During all this busy life, he had been moving around on his stumps. But one day the doctor told him even the stumps were not going to last much longer. He would soon have to use a wheel chair.
Hank felt himself got cold all over. However, the doctor said there was a chance that he could be fitted with artificial legs(假腿). Finally a leg maker was found and the day came when Hank stood up before the mirror. For the first time he saw himself as he had always wanted to be—a full five feet eight inches tall. By this time he was already 26 years old.
Hank had to learn to use his new legs. Again and again he marched the length of the room, and marched back again. There were times when he fell down on the floor, but he pulled himself up and went back to the endless marching. He went out on the street. He climbed stairs and learned to dance. He built a boat and learned to sail it.
When World War II came, he talked the Red Cross into giving him a job. He took the regular training. he marched and drilled along with the other soldiers. Few knew that he was legless. This was the true story of Hank Viscardi, a man without legs.
1.Children laughed at Hank and called him ‘Ape Man’ because _____.
A. he didn’t talk to them
B. he kept away from them
C. he couldn’t use his arms
D. his arms touched the ground when he moved
2.It can be inferred from the story that five feet eight inches tall is _____.
A. too tall for an average person
B. an average height for a fully grown person
C. too short for an average person
D. none of the above
3.The sentence “he talked the Red Cross into giving him a job” implies that the Red Cross_____.
A. was not willing to give him a job at first
B. gave him a job because he was a good soldier
C. gave him a job after he talked to someone he knew in the organization
D. was only glad to give him a job
4.The writer suggests that Hank Viscardi _____.
A. had no friends
B. was very shy
C. never saw himself as different from others
D. was too proud to accept help from others
It’s such a happy-looking library, painted yellow, decorated with palm-tree stickers and sheltered from the Florida sun by its own roof. About the size of a microwave oven, it’s pedestrian-friendly(对行人友善的), too, waiting for book lovers next to a sidewalk in Palm Beach country Estates, along the northern boundary of Palm Beach Gardens.
It’s a library built with love.
A year ago, shortly after Janey Henriksen saw a Brian Williams report about the Little Free Library organization, a Wisconsin-based nonprofit organization that aims to promote literacy(读书识字) and build a sense of community in a neighborhood by making books freely available, she announced to her family of four, “That’s what we’re going to do for our spring break!”
Son Austin, now a 10th-grader, didn’t see the point of building a library that resembles（类似） a mailbox. But Janey insisted, and husband Peter unwillingly got to work. The 51-year-old owner of a ship supply company modified（修饰） a small wooden house that he’d built years earlier for daughter Abbie’s toy horses, and made a door of glass.
After adding the library’s final touches (装点), the family hung a signboard on the front, instructing users to “take a book, return a book,” and making the Henriksen library, now one of several hundred like it nationwide and among more than 2,500 in the world, the only Little Free Library in Palm Beach County.
They stocked it with 20 or so books they’d already read, a mix of science fiction, reference titles, novels and kids’ favorites. “I told them, keep in mind that you might not see it again,” said Janey, a stay-at-home mom.
Since then, the collection keeps replenishing (补充) itself, thanks to ongoing donations from borrowers. The library now gets an average of five visits a day.
The project’s best payoff, says Peter, are the thank-you notes left behind. “We had no idea in the beginning that it would be so popular.”
1.In what way is the library “pedestrian-friendly”?
A. It owns a yellow roof.
B. It protects book lovers from the sun.
C. It stands near a sidewalk.
D. It uses palm-tree stickers as decorations.
2.Janey got the idea to build a library from __________.
A. a report on a Wisconsin-based organization
B. a spring break with her family
C. a book sent by one of her neighbors
D. a visit to Brian Williams
3.The library was built __________.
A. by a ship supply companyB. on the basis of toy horses
C. with glass D. like a mailbox
4.The passage tells us that the borrowers__________.
A. get paid to collect books for the library
B. receive thank-you notes for using the library
C. donate books to the library
D. visit the library over 5 times on average daily
My mom only had one eye. I hated her. She was such an _. My mom ran a small shop at a flea market（跳蚤市场）. She collected little weeds and such to sell anything for the we needed, she was such an embarrassment. I remember that it was field day(户外活动日) during elementary school, and my mom came. I was so . How could she do this to me? I threw her a look and ran out. The next day at school, “Your mom only has one eye?" they me.
I wished that my mom would just from this world so I said to my mom, "Mom, why don't you have the other eye?! You're only going to make me a laughingstock(笑柄). Why don't you just die?" My mom did not . I guess I felt a little bad, but at the same time, it felt to think that I had said what I'd wanted to say all this time.
Maybe it was because my mom hadn't me, but I didn't think that I had hurt her feelings very badly.
That night I woke up, and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. My mom was there, so , as if she was afraid that she might wake me. I took a look at her, and then turned . Because of the thing I had said to her earlier, there was something pinching （夹痛）at me in the corner of my . Even so, I hated my mother who was crying out of her one eye. So I told myself that I would grow up and become , because I hated my one-eyed mom and our poverty.
Then I studied really hard. I left my mother and came to Seoul and studied, and got admitted to the Seoul University with all the I had. Then, I got married. I bought a house of my own. Then I had kids, too. Now I'm living happily as a successful man. I like it here because it's a place that doesn't me of my mom.
This was getting bigger and bigger, when someone came to see me. "What? Who's this?" It was my mother still with her one eye. It felt as if the whole sky was falling apart on me. My little daughter ran away, of my mom's eye.
1. A. shameB. delightC.embarrassmentD. advised
2.A. food B. house C. book D. money
3.A. proud B.embarrassedC.shyD. frighted
4.A.kindlyB.disappointedC. hatefulD. loving
5.A. teasedB.askedC.scoldD. blame
6.A. leaveB.travelC.escape D. disappear
7.A. speakB.responseC.object D. forgive
8.A. good B.sadC.regrefulD. ashamed
9.A.cherishedB.lovedC.punishedD. valued
10.A. laughing B.drinkingC.cookingD. weeping
11.A.loudly B.quietlyC.carefullyD. sadly
12.A.awayB.outC.inD. over
13.A.mindB.faceC.heartD. room
14.A.strongB.confidentC.healthyD. successful
15.A.desperate B.considerateC.comparedD. consistant
16.A.indepedenceB.honoursC.experienceD. misery
17. A.warnB.remember C.remindD. inform
18.A.confidenceB.heartC.dreamD. happiness
19.A.unexpectedB.specialC.strange D. similar
20.A.tired B.scaredC.gladD. curious
When people move to another country, they often try to________ the customs of their native land.
A. turn on B. bring up C. keep up D. give up
Due to bad weather，the police had to __________the search for the missing boy.
A. resign B. abandon C. conduct D. release
