There are two basic ways to see growth:one as a product, the other as a process.People have generally viewed personal growth as an external(外在的)result or a product that can easily be identified and measured.The worker who gets a rise, the student whose grades improve, the foreigner who learns a new language——all these examples of people who have measurable results to show for their efforts.
By contrast(对照), the process of personal growth is much more difficult to determine, since it is a journey and not the specific signposts or landmarks along the way.The process is not the road itself, but the attitudes, feelings people have, and their caution or courage, as they meet with new experiences and unexpected difficulties.In this process, the journey never really ends; there are always new ways to experience the world, new ideas to try, new challenges to accept.
In order to grow, to travel new roads, people need to have a willingness to take risks, to face the unknown, and to accept the possibility that they may “fail” at first.How we see ourselves as we try a new way of being is necessary for our ability to grow.Do we see ourselves as quick and curious?If so, we tend to take more chances and be more open to unfamiliar experiences.Do we think we're shy and indecisive?Then our sense of fear can cause us to hesitate, to move slowly, and we think we are slow to adapt(适应)change or that we're not smart enough to deal with a new challenge.Then we are likely to take a more passive role or not try at all.
These feelings of insecurity(不安全)and self-doubt are both unavoidable and necessary if we are to change and grow.If we protect ourselves too much, then we stop growing.We become trapped inside a shell of our own making.
(1)
In the author's eye, one who views personal growth as a process would ________
[ ]
A.
succeed in climbing up the social ladder
B.
grow up from his own achievements
C.
face difficulties and take up challenges
D.
aim high and reach his goal each time
(2)
Which of the following can be viewed as the process of personal growing?
[ ]
A.
Our manager was always willing to accept new challenges.
B.
Jane won the first prize in the speech competition.
C.
Jerry picked up French during his stay in Paris.
D.
Father's salary rose from 5, 000 to 7, 000.
(3)
For personal growth, the author is in favor of all the following EXCEPT ________
[ ]
A.
being curious about more changes
B.
being quick in self-adaptation
C.
having an open mind to new experiences
D.
staying away from failures and challenges
(4)
Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
[ ]
A.
It is not so easy to measure personal growth.
B.
To try and fail on the new road facing the unknown is unavoidable.
C.
There are only two ways to see a person's growth.
D.
If you are too shy to take any risks in life, you cannot grow up.
(5)
The best title for this passage should be ________
I was in arush as always, but this time it was for an?date I just corldn’t be late for!I found myself at a checkout counter behind ar?woman seeingly in no nuny as she paid for her groceries.A PhD student with not a lot of money, I had humied into the store to pick up some flowers.I was in a huge rush, thinking of my upconing evening.I did not want to be Late for this date.
We were in Boston, a place not always known for small conversation bitween strangers.The woman stopped unloading her basket and looked up at me.She smiled.It was a nice smile-warm and reasuring-and I retuned her gift by smiling back.
“
Must be a special lady,” wboever it is that will be getting \those beautiful flowers.”she said.
“
Yes, she’s speciao,” I said ,and then to my cnbarrassment ,the words kept coming out.“It‘s only our second dute, but somchow I am just having the feeling she’s‘the one,’”jokingly, I addcd,“The only problem is that I can’t figure out why she’d want to date a guy like me.”
“
Well, I think she’s very lucky to have a boyfriend who buings her such lovely slowers and who is obviorsly in love with her,” the woman said.”My husband rscd to bring me flowers every week-even when tines were tough and we didn’t have much money.Those were incredible days; be was very romantic and-lf course- I miss him since he’s passed away.”
I paid for my flowers as se was gathering up her groceries.There was no doubt in my mind as I walked up to her.I touched her on the shoulder and said“You were right, you know.These flowers are indeed for a very special lady.”I hand??the fowes and thanked her tor such a mice conversation.
It took her a moment to realize htat I was giving her the flowers I had just purchased.“You have a wonderful evening ,”I said.I left het with a big smile and my heart warmed as I saw her smelling the beautiful flowers.
I remember being slightly late for my date that night and telling my girlfriend the above story.A couple of years later, when I finally worked up the courage to ask her to marry me, she told me that this stoty had hdlped to seal it for ber-that was the nigtht than I won her heart.
(1)
Why was the writer in a hurry that day?
[ ]
A.
He was to meet his girlfriend
B.
He had to go back to school soon.
C.
He was delayed by an elderly lady
D.
He had to pick up some groceries.
(2)
What does the underlined phrase“her gift”(Paragraph 2)refer to?
[ ]
A.
Her words
B.
Her smile
C.
Her flowers
D.
Her politeness.
(3)
Why did the writer give his flowers to the elderly lady?
[ ]
A.
She told him a nice story
B.
She allowed him to pay first.
C.
She gave him encouragement
D.
She liked flowers very much.
(4)
What is the message conveyed in the story?
[ ]
A.
Flowers are important for a date
B.
Small talk is helpful.
C.
Love and kindness are rewarding
D.
Elderly people deserve respecting.
阅读理解
Modcm inventions have speeded up people's lives amazingly.Motor-cars cover a bundred miles in little more than an hour.Aireraft cross the world a day, while computers operate at lightning speed.Indeed, this love of speed seems never-ending.Every ycar motor-cars are produced which go even faster each new computer boasts(吹嘘)of saving preeious seconds in handling tasks.
All this saves timc, but at a prick.When we lose or gain half a day in speeding aeross the world in an airplane, our bodies tell us so.We get the uncomfoerable feeling known as jet-lag; our bodies feel tlru they have been left bebind in anot ar nine zoors Again pending too long at compulers resul's in painti ninrts and fingers.Mobile phones also to dange according to some seientists; too much uss may thesmit h bul radiation into our brains, a we do not like to think about.
Howave, what do we do with the time we have saved?Certainly not or so it seems.We are so accustomed to constant activity that we find it difficult to sit and do nothing, or even just one thing at a time.Pcrhaps the days are long gone when we might listen quietly to a story on the radio, letting imavination take us into another world.
There was a time when some people's lives were devotcd simply to the cultivation of the land or the eare of eattle.No multi-tasking there; their lives wenl on at a much gentler pace, and in a familiar pattern.There is much that we might envy about a way of life like this.Yet before we do so, we must think of the hard tasks our ancestors faeed;:they farmed with bare hands, often lived close to hunger, and had to fashion tools from wood and stone.Modem machinery has freed peope fre that primitive existcnee.
(1)
The new rooucts opcome more and more time-saving beeause.
[ ]
A.
our lose e u speed uts never-ending
B.
mo is liwhcd
C.
shi pnces are increasingly high
D.
the manufacturers boast a lot
(2)
What does“the days”in Paragraph 3 refer to?
[ ]
A.
I maginary life
B.
Simple life in the past
C.
Times of inventions
D.
Time for constant activity
(3)
What is the author's attitude towards the modem teehnology?