1 . It’s not our fault.
It’s not our fault that we failed to earn straight A’s, make perfect College Board scores, and get into our first choice of college. It’s not our fault that we failed to earn millions of dollars in our twenties and billions by thirty-thus getting ourselves on the cover of Forbes.
It’s not our fault that our start didn’t glow white hot. However, early 21st century society has made us feel shame exactly for that, for not exploding out of the starting blocks like an Olympic sprinter-for not blooming early. Parents, schools, employers, and the media are now crazily over celebrating early achievement as the best kind of achievement or even the only kind.
It wasn’t always so. Joanne, 55, is late bloomer. Her teenage years were unstable and unhappy. In school, Joanne earned above-average grades but hardly good enough to earn high honors and distinction. A teacher recalls Joanne as bright but not extraordinary. A quiet girl, Joanne passed through high school with few remembering her. She was rejected by her dream college but went to a fallback college instead. After graduation, Joanna worked as a secretary. Bored, she married a man she met on an outing and they had a baby girl. The marriage didn’t survive two years.
At the age of 30, Joanne saw herself at a dead end, with no job and a dependent child. She was diagnosed with depression, which prevented her from working much and earning. Strangely enough, it is this situation that took her closer to her gift. She started to write. Writing was her unique talent. In the months she depended on welfare to feed her baby, she made her name Joanne Kathleen(J.K.) Rowling known around the world with her popular Harry Potter series. And now she is a self-made billionaire who regularly appears on the Forbes.
The fact is that many of us are late bloomers of some kind. At some point, we got stuck though. Be patient, late bloomers will find their way eventually.
1. What does the underlined “that” refer to?| A．Succeeding later. | B．Exploding suddenly. | C．Blooming earlier. | D．Growing wildly. |
| A．creative | B．ordinary | C．dependent | D．bored |
a. She was diagnosed with depression.
b. Her name appeared on the Forbes.
c. She worked as a secretary.
d. She started to write.
e. She got divorced.
| A．cbdea | B．ceadb | C．eacdb | D．ebdac |
| A．A good start actually means half done. |
| B．Slow learners will achieve success if pushed. |
| C．Children develop and adapt at different paces. |
| D．Writing is effective in inspiring depressing hearts. |
