It’s a classic story: A kid is forced to learn an instrument from a young age, they play it throughout their childhood, and they develop a bittersweet relationship with it. Is the constant battle between the love for the music and the hate for the constant challenge worth the fight? For me, it was.
I started playing the piano when I was four-that was 15 years ago! This was huge commitment, so there must have been something worth holding on to, right?
The easy guess is that I was purely in love with music and piano. Although that’s the sweeter tale, it’s a bit more complicated. I struggled a lot with piano. Family and peers were, at least in my own head, constantly placed beside me in competition. I felt pressure to be the best in order to prove something to others-and more devastatingly (破坏性地) to prove something to myself. The seed of my musical interest was grown in the sunlight of competition and doubt. Hate sprouted (滋生) when my self-criticism hit too hard.
It’s difficult to learn to love something that didn’t originate from love. For a while, piano was more of an annoyance than a hobby. But somehow, love grew. It was deeply buried. But it was there, and by high school,it was strong enough that when I was truly on the verge of quitting any kind of formal training. I found the strength to hold on tighter, and dig further. I switched teachers, and got incredibly lucky with one who helped me tunnel into what I loved. I learned pieces for myself, I composed for myself, and I found confidence not because I got “good enough,” but because I learned that anything I had was good enough.
The love and hate I’ve had for the piano were both planted and grown. If you too have learned to hate something, remember that with commitment, it can be uprooted, and love can make a home in its place. There is always time. There is always room.
1. What does the author want to show by telling a classic story?| A．The benefits of music. |
| B．Kids’ struggle in learning instruments. |
| C．Kids’ bittersweet childhood. |
| D．The popularity of learning instruments. |
| A．She finally quit formal training. |
| B．She never treated it as her hobby. |
| C．She was in pure love with music and piano. |
| D．She once experienced great pressure from herself. |
| A．Her attitude. | B．Her training. |
| C．Her compromise. | D．Her achievement. |
| A．Practice makes perfect. |
| B．Love is a thing that grows. |
| C．Content is better than riches. |
| D．Chance favors the prepared mind. |
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【推荐1】Success doesn’t begin until you begin the walk down the way towards your goals.
And your walk down the way always begins first with a baby step. Why do we call them baby steps? Are they really anything more than our next step down life’s way?
Baby steps are the first steps we take as an act of faith. We see others stepping out and we want to show our ability to walk by following them. As we grow, we continue our development by taking extra baby steps. Sometimes we fall; sometimes we fail. After that, all steps become an act of faith; we just become more practiced. If you say to yourself “I don’t want to make a fool of myself” or “I’d better be good at this”, you’ll probably never take the baby steps towards your goals and end up lying in your own self-pity.
As a culture, we focus on results. We think about every risk that must be taken to reach our goals. There are few people who are excellent performers of any tasks the first time they try them. They fail and succeed. Then, they build upon their abilities learned each time. They practice their skills and use their talents through baby steps before they are ready to prove them to the whole world.
So, learn to take those baby steps to reach the goals before you. Know that you can depend on God to show you the way. As you become more experienced, your baby steps become a walk, then a jump, and finally a sprint. That’s how our baby steps lead us through the marathon of life.
1. In the third paragraph, the writer expresses the view that .| A．we can’t expect to succeed without working hard at first |
| B．adults should learn from babies in dealing with hard tasks |
| C．we must make full use of our skills in order to get rewards |
| D．baby steps play the key role in leading us towards success |
| A．slow rush | B．sudden stop | C．hard climb | D．fast run |
| A．Light-hearted. | B．Regretful. | C．Encouraging. | D．Concerned. |
【推荐2】We have a strange obsession with the concept of perfection. “If I have the perfect parents and perfect grades, then I would be happy.” Under cultural influence, we seek what we can’t have without remembering that we don’t actually need to be perfect. Imperfection allows us to be human.
Parents, teachers and other high-achieving peers will have us believe that we must be perfect if we wish to remain competitive. However, what job or school requires you to have a 2400 SAT, 4.0 GPA and develop a cure for some form of cancer by the age of 18? Although these would be great achievements, are they worth the cost of sleep? We feel like we need the perfect grades to get into the perfect college that will provide us with the perfect education necessary to obtain the perfect job. With this misconception, when writing our resumes(简历), we then seek out experiences that we think may help build a good name for ourselves. Feeding on our thirst for perfection, some college and career industries have been set up claiming to help us reach our goals.
The truth is, you only need to be good enough. Don’t worry about anything secondary to your passions. You won’t become an expert at anything if you spend your time trying to succeed in everything you do. You only become an expert when you devote your time to the one or two projects that truly bring you joy.
As members of this society, we have a responsibility to be excellent in what we do, not perfect. Although perfection can be a goal, it should not be the only goal. We only have 24 hours in a day. Thus, we need to prioritize(优先选择)what we want to do and cut out the activities we cannot do. If you enjoy debating, take a law class and see how it suits you. If you enjoy cooking, experiment in the kitchen and see what you can make!
Try as hard as you can and let your future worry about itself. Worry about your task at hand and you will be successful in achieving your dreams. Above all, remember that you are going to be okay.
1. From the passage, we can learn that ____.| A．perfect grades are necessary when applying to colleges |
| B．many students devote themselves to the cure for cancer |
| C．many students ignore the importance of writing good resumes |
| D．the desire for perfection may cost many students their good health |
| A．As a member of society, we are responsible for being perfect. |
| B．Actually seeking perfection is good for a person’s development. |
| C．Students’ great desire for perfection actually benefits some industries. |
| D．We should make full use of our time to do our planned activities. |
| A．Their real interests. |
| B．Their resumes. |
| C．Their experiences. |
| D．Their weaknesses. |
| A．Getting rid of worries. |
| B．Never trying what they can’t do. |
| C．Having great confidence. |
| D．Accepting their imperfection. |
Most perfectionists are also highlyorganized. They've perfected their work process along with everything else in their life. They have processes and patterns for handling almost anything that comes their way, from email to new projects and clients to bookkeeping. It can definitely add up to a more effective workday with less wasted time and effort.
Perfectionists can be thought of as overbearing(霸道的) by those who don't share their attitude. It can also be upsetting to clients who aren't interested in “perfect” and simply want their project done yesterday. When you strive for perfection, everything takes just a bit longer to get right. Even if you have a more efficient design and development process than many other designers, it is likely that you spend more time on each step than a lot of others do.
While most people who call themselves “perfectionists” do so in a lighthearted or positive manner, there are those out there to whom perfection becomes an obsession(痴迷). They consider anything less than perfect completely unacceptable. This can lead to obsessive behavior and can have damaging effects on their overall quality of life. Just feeling good about a job done to the best of your ability is entirely normal for a perfectionists and isn't something to worry about. But it becomes particularly dangerous when perfectionists feel they are never quite able to attain perfection, and so drive themselves crazy trying to always reach this unattainable goal.
These perfectionists often place their entire selfworth on their accomplishments and ability to reach perfection, and since they're never able to reach it, it creates a very negative selfimage and low selfesteem or depression. The good news is that there are trained psychologists who can help those who are nervously obsessed with perfection to overcome their obsession.
1. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of perfectionists?
| A．They enjoy investing time and efforts. |
| B．They are not easy to satisfy. |
| C．They have special ways of handling emails. |
| D．They set high requirements for others. |
| A．better coworkers | B．bigger achievements |
| C．higher efficiency | D．less organization skills |
| A．showing psychological sickness |
| B．realizing their own value |
| C．wasting time and energy |
| D．improving their selfimage |
| A．It's very normal to always do one's best in life. |
| B．Perfectionists should seek help as soon as possible. |
| C．Perfectionists should not be too proud of themselves. |
| D．People should not pursue perfection too much. |
【推荐1】Growing pains and gains
It’s not easy to grow up. Actually it’s far from easy. Growing up can be a real “pain” for some of us. We are always doing things that someone else makes us do and aren’t allowed to do all the things we like. Sometimes we feel trapped, sometimes we are fearful, and sometimes we just don’t understand why we can’t stay young forever. When we look back on all the hardships in life with a positive attitude (态度), we realize that all of our growing pains actually turn into growing gains!
As a young girl my parents forced my sisters and me to do so many things that I never liked. They made me learn to play the violin and then the piano. At that time I hated music, just because it was what they wanted me to do. But looking back now, I am so glad that my parents encouraged me to take music lessons. Music has enriched my life in so many ways. I realize that my parents and teachers were always pushing me along, not because they wanted me to suffer but because they wanted me to succeed in life. They’ve always wanted me to have a better life than they did themselves.
Every moment of our lives we are either living or dying, so live life to its fullest! We are all going to experience growing pains, but they are just small pains in life. They might seem so huge at the time but we must be strong.Think about how we would feel if we had no fear and live life like that. The future is ours! A little hard work and sweat never hurt anyone! If we realize that these pains are just small bumps (凸块) on our road to success we will realize that our growing pains are actually growing gains!
1. According to Paragraph 1, we learn that when we are young,_________.| A．life is full of joy |
| B．life is easy for us |
| C．we know we can stay young forever |
| D．we sometimes can’t do things we like |
| A．take music lessons |
| B．turn gains into pains |
| C．look back on hardships |
| D．live a successful life by suffering a lot |
| A．Growing pains are necessary for us to grow up. |
| B．We all have to experience growing pains. |
| C．A little hard work and sweat are harmful to us. |
| D．Life without fear is a better choice for us. |
【推荐2】Bethany Burke was packing for a family vacation when she glanced in the mirror and froze. She saw a small ugly red bump in the middle of her forehead. “That’s the worst,” she remembers thinking. She had no idea, however, how much worse it would get.
Bethany, a 15-year-old high school student tried to forget about the bump as she boarded a flight from her hometown of Austin, Texas, to Portland, Oregon. But during the flight the bump grew and grew.
After the plane landed, more bumps appeared, including one close to her eye. Her parents took her to the nearest emergency room. As it turns out, Bethany had been attacked by a superbug (超级病菌).
Superbugs were once a problem only in hospitals and nursing homes. In the past decade, though, they have been affecting healthy children and adults as well. In a few hours, they can cause life-threatening infections.
“Teens, especially student athletes, can be easily hurt because superbugs stay in warm, damp places where people come into close contact with each other, such as school locker rooms and gyms,” says Dr. Aaron Glatt, an infectious disease specialist. “If you get cut playing sports, and you come into contact with a superbug on a mat, you give it a way to get in,” he explains.
As for Bethany, she says the doctor didn’t seem too concerned. “He just handed me this pill, an antibiotic (抗生素),” Bethany says. “He gave us the impression that it was going to clear up very fast.”
It didn’t take long for Bethany to realize the antibiotics the doctor had given her weren’t working. One of the bumps grew so large that she could no longer open her eye, and her pain increased. Her parents rushed her to another hospital. The new medicines seemed to start working. Her fever dropped, and the bumps stopped growing.
Luckily for Bethany, there were still three powerful antibiotics that together were able to fight off her infection. But what happens when superbugs become resistant even to those drugs? For doctors, that’s the biggest worry.
1. Bethany discovered a bump on her forehead ________ .| A．after the plane for Portland landed | B．when she came back from a vacation |
| C．when she was preparing for a vacation | D．after she boarded a flight from Austin |
| A．they sweat a lot | B．they are often tired |
| C．they are healthy and strong | D．they often wear dirty clothes |
| A．Even worse. | B．Much better. |
| C．A little better. | D．As terrible as before. |
| A．antibiotics are being overused |
| B．teens are being attacked by superbugs |
| C．superbugs may become resistant to all drugs |
| D．more people will get infected with superbugs |
【推荐3】The first day of school our professor challenged us to get to know someone we didn’t already know. I turned round to find a wrinkled, little old lady looking at me with a smile that lit up her entire being.
She said, “Hi, handsome. My name is Rose. I’m eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?”
I laughed and enthusiastically responded, “Of course you may!” and she gave me a giant squeeze.
We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months, we would leave class together and talk nonstop.
Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went.
At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. After being introduced, she cleared her throat and began. “We do not stop playing because we are old, we grow old because we stop playing. There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You’ve got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you will die. We have so many people walking around who are dead and don’t even know it! There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up.
If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don’t do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty- seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything. I will turn eighty-eight.
The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets.”
She concluded her speech by courageously singing “The Rose”. She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives. Rose taught us by example that it is never too late to realize our dreams.
1. Which words can be used to describe Rose?| A．Ambitious and strict. | B．Positive and optimistic. |
| C．Regretful and courageous. | D．Confident and kind-hearted. |
| A．she was a big football fan | B．she was a well-educated professor |
| C．she was an outstanding student | D．she was an inspiring figure |
| A．If you regret nothing, you won’t fear death. |
| B．If you fear death, you will regret something. |
| C．People regret something when they face death. |
| D．People die with regrets because of what they have done. |
| A．My best friend | B．Dream in heart |
| C．Secrets to success | D．Accepting challenges |
【推荐1】As a boy growing up in India, I had longed to travel abroad. I used to listen to the stories my father would tell me about his stay in Canada and tours to Europe in the 1970s, with great interest.
My big moment finally came in the summer of 1998 when I was able to accompany my parents to Europe, where my father was to attend a meeting. We planned to travel to Belgium, Netherlands and West Germany.
I have clear memories even today of going to Mumbai airport at night all excited about finally going abroad. I had heard several great things about Lufthansa till then but now I finally got to experience them first hand, during the flight to Frankfurt. We flew business class and even today I can remember the excellent service by the Lufthansa crew (工作人员). The flight was really smooth and thoroughly enjoyable, even for someone like me, who is especially afraid of flying.
After spending almost two weeks in Europe, we took the Lufthansa airport express from Dusseldorf to Frankfurt airport for our return. What a journey that was! All along the Rhine (莱茵河), it was simply an unforgettable experience. I had a sad feeling on the flight back to Mumbai as it marked the end of a wonderful vacation, but the Lufthansa crew members were able to change it into a most enjoyable experience yet again, with the quality of their service.
Being the first airline to take me abroad, Lufthansa will always hold a special place in my heart. Even today, I continue to enjoy flights on Lufthansa and simply cannot dream of choosing any other airline. Flying, in general, for me, has always been a terrible and painful experience. Flying on Lufthansa, however, is something I always have and will always look forward to.
1. What does the author’s big moment refer to?| A．Travelling abroad. | B．Attending a meeting. |
| C．Listening to a story. | D．Accompanying his parents. |
| A．Depressed. | B．Satisfied. | C．Doubtful. | D．Critical. |
| A．Frankfurt. | B．Mumbai. | C．Dusseldorf. | D．Canada. |
| A．Beautiful memories about Europe. | B．Dreamed family flying. |
| C．An important flight travel. | D．Unforgettable experiences on Lufthansa. |
【推荐2】Today, I’ve been recording an audiobook. I am excited that I have realized my life-long dream.
I will never forget at primary school I used to wait with breathless anticipation to take my turn reading out a paragraph of great works in front. At my secondary school, when students were encouraged to select and present a reading at “morning talk”, I often added my name to the list.
This was all handy background for my career in broadcasting. But, much as I enjoy hosting shows and interviewing people, I often find myself missing the simple pleasures of reading out loud. I’d thought about putting myself forward as a narrator(朗读者) for audiobooks. But I’m not an actor. I can’t do regional accents or play female voice. Non-fiction, then, seemed the obvious target, but I felt that such books were best read by their authors. If it were authors’ own voice, their stories would touch me.
Recently, delivering my son’s nightly bedtime story has reawakened my love for reading out loud—highlights so far have included Charlotte’s Web. But I never thought I’d get the opportunity to do it professionally.
Then, last month, I was contacted by James Plunkett, author of End State, a forthcoming book about political ideas. He had no desire to read his book out loud, but as a fan of my program, he thought I might do a reasonable job.
So, I’ve spent this week in a studio, simply reading stuff out loud. And I’m LOVING IT!
Mind you, it’s an entirely unexpected experience. It’s disheartening when the recording needs to be stopped because I’ve just carelessly skipped over a ‘ the’, or had to clear my throat, or catch my breath. I’ve also learned how many words I’ve been mispronouncing my entire life: behavioral is BE-HAYVE-YOU-RAL, not BE-HAYVE-EE-AH-RUL.
Though tackling this 339-page book doesn’t turn out to be that easy, I’ve found the whole process awesome, and hope this becomes the first of many.
1. What does the author want to show by mentioning his experiences at school?| A．The purpose of schooling. | B．His love for reading aloud. |
| C．The power of encouragement. | D．His talent for silent reading. |
| A．He regrets being a TV host. | B．He doesn’t like non-fiction at all. |
| C．He lacks working experience. | D．He is aware of his disadvantages. |
| A．Because he was specifically invited. | B．Because he applied for it in person. |
| C．Because he read many bedtime stories. | D．Because he had a big crowd of fans. |
| A．Frightening but profitable. | B．Rewarding but unsafe. |
| C．Demanding but enjoyable. | D．Promising but unstable. |
【推荐3】After he received the China Youth May Fourth Medal, Yang Yongxiu felt a greater sense of responsibility.
Born in a rural family in Shangqiu, Henan Province, the first vehicle he drove was a tractor(拖拉机).” When I was a child, my father drove me to the farm during farming season,“ he said. Yang dreamed of making cars when he grew up. “During primary school, I often went to see the buses on the road near my village,” he said.” They made a deep impression on me.”
In 2007, he took gaokao, or China’s national college entrance examination, and scored more than he needed to get into an undergraduate program. To fulfill his dream, he chose to study numerical control technology at the Changchun Automobile Industry Institute, which has a long history of training workers for the automotive industry. After graduation, Yang joined the research and development department at FAW. Since then, the now 35-year-old has specialized in numerical control technology and has mastered the skill of making engine cylinders that meet extremely high standards. So far, Yang has been granted 18 national patents, solved a series of production-related problems and helped increase the group’s revenue by 12 million yuan.
At the beginning of 2020,Yang became a trainer. He is now responsible for teaching young workers and coaching them for competitions. He has trained about 700 people, some of whom have won awards, including 23 at the national level.
“I am happy to have been able to set up such a young team,” he said. “We have an average age of 29, and I believe this will help us come up with more ideas and energize the industry, in addition to developing a spirit of craftsmanship.” Looking ahead, Yang said he has more work to do to bring in more young talents. “I will continue to promote technical ability,” he said. “I hope we can write a new chapter through the power of youth in the future.”
1. What led to Yang’s receiving the China Youth May Fourth Medal?| A．His great contributions in his field. | B．His inspiring childhood experiences. |
| C．His passion for the automotive industry. | D．His outstanding performance in his college. |
| A．To meet his father’s will. | B．To learn how to make cars. |
| C．To save China’s car industry. | D．To find a good job after graduation. |
| A．The youths will make a big difference in the future. |
| B．China places more emphasis on automobile industry. |
| C．The youths have made many achievements in many fields. |
| D．Yang’s future work is to further research teaching techniques. |
| A．A book review. | B．A science story. | C．A news report. | D．A personal diary. |
