1 . Are you a loser? Great. Because studies show that if you want to be a success, you need to know how to fail.

The Secret of Success

Many social scientists agree that what successful people have in common is this: They were failures.

There’s George Washington, the top general of America’s troops in the Revolutionary War, who lost two huge battles and was nearly fired. There’s Steve Jobs, who developed failed products, before returning to change the world with the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. The list goes on: From Katy Perry and Hall of Fame basketball legend Michael Jorden to Glee star Chris Colfer. They were dropped from record labels, cut from basketball teams, or bullied in school. They used to feel humiliated, lost and hopeless.

But they eventually figured out how to move forward. Experts call this resilience---being able to recover from setbacks. Amy Fineburg, Ph.D.,a specialist in psychology said “We grow by pushing beyond the limits of what we can do today.” So next time you fail a test or strike out at bat or sing off-key, don’t give up.

“That’s how we grow,” says Amy Fineburg, Ph. D., an Alabana educator who specializes in Psychology. “We grow by pushing beyond the limits of what we can do today.”

Miranda’s Story

Miranda stared tae kwon do when she was 7, and for years she lost every competition she entered. She decided to quit. However, at the urging of her father, she worked harder, got improved, kept at it and improved even more. Miranda never became the champion she’s dreamed of becoming, but she stuck with it long enough to earn her black belt by age 12.

“I could easily have said: I’m a failure, I should never have tried,” she says. “But I’m really proud that I kept at it.”

The experience taught Miranda that she could fail and still go on to succeed. Today at 17, she finally winning medal---at Irish stepdancing. When she first started, she was bad at that, too. But her experience in tad kwon do built up her resilience muscles. So she didn’t see her struggle in dance as failures. She saw them as part of the process of achieving success.

The Right Attitude

One of history’s proudest failures was inventor Thomas Edison. He looked at his failures as situations that he could fix. So how resilient are you? Say you do poorly on a text in school, do you say, “I did badly because I watched TV last night?” Then how to move in is obvious: Turn off   the TV and study harder. Or would you say, “I failed the test because I have zero talent in math?” With this type of thinking, changes seem impossible to make.

The good news? Studies show that with Practice, people can change their way of thinking.

Just ask Michael Jordan

“I’ve missed more than9,000 shots in my career,” he says. “I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

1. How many people mentioned were failures before they succeed?

A．5

B．6

C．7

D．8

2. Which of the following is not an act of “resilience”?

A．Next time you fail a test or strike out at bat, don’t give up

B．We grow by pushing beyond the limits of what we could do today.

C．She saw her struggles in dance as part of the process of achieving success.

D．I failed the test because I have zero talent in math

3. What’s the best title of the article?

A．Failure is the mother of success

B．No success, no failure

C．Many a hand makes light work

D．No smoke, no fire

2 . There is a tree full of ripe plums(李子）with branches hanging over our house . Every single morning when I see plums on the ground , I am _________ . " Wow , plums ! " I say to myself and look up at the _________, and sure enough there are plums there .

I imagine the tree saying, "If I put the plum here, _________ where you walk,maybe you will see it." I step over the plum on the way out and see it on my way back, thinking how often I_________ it and step over it. Every time I _________ and see a plum, I feel as though someone has given me a _________.

"For me?"I said to the plum tree one morning as I _________ some plums. "You could have."Maybe we're supposed to offer our gifts to the world with generosity(慷慨）and love.

It seems that I have a hard time _________ that fruit falls freely from the sky. Is the tree_________ with me on purpose? Is there part of me that doesn't feel worthy of receiving __________ plums from the sky? Is life__________ to have moments that are so sweet and easy?

Sometimes it feels as though the tree were __________ to me and she were saying, "For you. For you. For you. "When I listen to her, I feel the __________ of her offering, and this is when my heart breaks. Despite the__________ of a day, there can be tender, touching moments in nature that feel to me like there's a force out there that__________ me refreshed(振奋的）.

1.

A．upset

B．surprised

C．anxious

D．calm

2.

A．tree

B．table

C．grass

D．ground

3.

A．exactly

B．hardly

C．gradually

D．certainly

4.

A．wear

B．enjoy

C．miss

D．trust

5.

A．judge

B．decide

C．stop

D．lose

6.

A．trouble

B．trick

C．fact

D．gift

7.

A．forced

B．refused

C．bought

D．gathered

8.

A．finding

B．accepting

C．calling

D．cooking

9.

A．pointing

B．agreeing

C．discussing

D．sharing

10.

A．bad

B．smelly

C．dirty

D．free

11.

A．frightened

B．allowed

C．locked

D．shown

12.

A．arguing

B．walking

C．referring

D．talking

13.

A．generosity

B．peace

C．temper

D．knowledge

14.

A．attention

B．choice

C．pleasure

D．difficulty

15.

A．keeps

B．hopes

C．needs

D．causes