When other nine-year-old kids were playing games, she
was working at a petrol station. When other teens were studying or going out,
she struggled to find a place to sleep on the street. But she overcame these
terrible setbacks to win a highly competitive scholarship (奖学金) and gain entry to Harvard University. And her amazing
story has inspired a movie, “ Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story ” ,
shown in late April.
Liz Murray, a 22-year-old American girl, has been
writing a real-life story of willpower and determination. Liz grew up in the
shadow of two drug-addicted (吸毒) parents. There was
never enough food or warm clothes in the house. Liz was the only member of the
family who had a job. Her mother had AIDS and died when Liz was just 15 years
old. The effect of that loss became a turning point in her life. Connecting the
environment in which she had grown up with how her mother had died, she decided
to do something about it.
Liz went back to school. She threw herself into her
studies, never telling her teachers that she was homeless. At night, she lived
on the streets. “ What drove me to live on had something to do with
understanding, by understanding that there was a whole other way of being. I
had only experienced a small part of the society, ” she wrote in her book
Breaking Night.
She admitted that she used envy to drive herself on.
She used the benefits that come easily to others, such as a safe living
environment, to encourage herself that “ next to nothing could hold me down ” .
She finished high school in just two years and won a full scholarship to study
at Harvard University . But Liz decided to leave her top university a couple of
months earlier this year in order to take care of her father, who has also
developed AIDS. “ I love my parents so much. They are drug addicts. But I never
forget that they love me all the time. ”
Liz wants moviegoers to come away with the idea that
changing your life is “ as simple as making a decision ” .
1. In which order did the following things happen to
Liz?
a. Her mother died of AIDS.
b. She worked at a petrol station.
c. She got admitted into Harvard.
d. The movie about her life was put on.
e. She had trouble finding a place to sleep.
A.b, a, e, c, d B.a, b, c, e, d
C.e, d, b, a, c
D.b, e, a, d, c
2.The main idea of the passage is ________.
A.how Liz
managed to enter Harvard University
B.what a hard
time Liz had in her childhood
C.why Liz loved
her parents so much
D.how Liz
struggled to change her life
3.What actually made her go towards her goal?
A.Envy and
encouragement. B.Willpower and
determination.
C.Decisions and
understanding. D.Love and
respect for her parents.
4.When she wrote “ What drove me to live on...I had
only experienced a small part of the society ” , she meant that ________.
A.she had
little experience of social life
B.she could
hardly understand the society
C.she would do
something for her own life
D.she needed to
travel more around the world