1 . One of the most beneficial skills you can learn in life is how to consistently put yourself in a good position. But not everyone knows how we can create that foundation. The position you find yourself in today is the accumulation of the small choices that you’ve been making for years.
The ordinary choices that guarantee a strong future go unnoticed. There is no pat on the back for doing the right thing just as there is no slap on the wrist for doing the wrong thing. Reading a chapter of a great book today won’t solve your problems just as not reading it won’t make them worse. Not doing the obvious thing that positions you for future success — rarely hurts you right away. But as the days turn to weeks, weeks into years, and years into decades do the small choices create massively different results.
Whenever this idea is brought up, people are quick to interject. “I do these things and I don’t get the results.” Most of us make the right choices most of the time. But most of the time isn’t the same as all of the time.
For your choices to compound, you need to be consistent. A lack of consistency keeps ordinary people from extraordinary results. It’s like we’re Sisyphus rolling a boulder halfway up the hill, only to throw our hands in the air and go home. When we show up the next day, we see the boulder at the bottom of the hill. Not only did this undermine our progress but it makes getting started even harder.
Excelling at the small choices that compound over time perpetually (不断地) leaves you in favorable circumstances. If you want results you need to pay the price. The price is knowing that time is working on your side even when the results don’t show it yet.
When you look below the surface, giant leaps aren’t really giant leaps at all. If you look for the magic moment, you’ll miss how ordinary becomes extraordinary.
1. According to the passage, what causes most people to fail?
| A．Selection difficulties. | B．Lack of perseverance. |
| C．Insufficient exterior support. | D．Shortage of social resources. |
2. Sisyphus’s story is used to _____.
| A．exhibit the way to get compound choices |
| B．prove that a good beginning is half success |
| C．emphasize the importance of being consistent |
| D．explain the difficulty of achieving extraordinary results |
3. What’s the genre of the passage?
| A．Narration. | B．Argumentation. | C．Practical writing. | D．Expository writing. |
4. Which is the best title of this passage?
| A．No Pains, No Gains. | B．Time Heals Everything. |
| C．Never Too Late to Mend. | D．Small Steps make Giant Leaps. |
