阅读理解

　　How many people have I met who have told me about the book they have been planning to write but have never yet found the time? Far too many．

　　This is Life, all right, but we do treat it like a rehearsal(排演)and, unhappily, we do miss so many of its best moments．

　　We take jobs to stay alive and provide homes for our families always making ourselves believe that this style of life is merely a temporary state of affairs along the road to what we really want to do．Then, at 60 or 65, we are suddenly presented with a clock and several grandchildren and we look back and realize that all those years waiting for Real Life to come along were in fact real life．

　　In America they have a saying much laughed at by the English：“Have a nice day”．They speak slowly and seriously in their shops, hotels and sandwich bars．I think it is a wonderful phrase, reminding us, in fact, to enjoy the moment：to value this very day．

　　How often do we say to ourselves, "I'll take up horse-riding(or golf, or sailing)as soon as I get a higher position," only to do none of those things when I do get the higher position．

　　When I first became a reporter I knew a man who gave up a very well paid respectable job at the Daily Telegraph to go and edit a small weekly newspaper．At the time I was astonished by what appeared to me to be his completely abnormal(反常的)mental state．How could anyone turn his back on Fleet Street in central London for a small local area? I wanted to know．

　　Now I am a little older and possibly wiser, I see the sense in it．In Fleet Street the man was under continual pressure．He lived in an unattractive London suburb and he spent much of his life sitting on Southern Region trains．

完型填空

　　Sharon wrote this when she was 16 and in the 11th grade．Her goal is to become an international diplomat(外交官)and peace-maker．

　　It was my first day at school．I felt 　　1　　 and scared．I went to all my classes with no 　　2　　．It felt like no one 　　3　　．I listened anxiously to all the lessons and waited for lunch 　　4　　 at 1∶00．Then finally the bell rang．It was time to talk and have 　　5　　．

　　In the lunch line I met a new friend who wore a hijab(穆斯林妇女戴的面纱)on her head, and though I am 　　6　　．we got along fine, and I was so 　　7　　 when she said,“Sit-with us, at our table．”She pointed to the one next to the door．

　　So I 　　8　　, and took my tray and was 　　9　　 to walk with her across the floor, when suddenly I felt a jog．“Hey, I saw you on the bus,”said a tall girl in a long skirt．“I see your Jewish star necklace．You 　　10　　 sit with us．”

　　At that moment I looked around, and that's when I 　　11　　, to my surprise, the nations of the world, 　　12　　 themselves．That's what I saw through my own eyes．

　　The Spanish only sat with Spanish, the Hindus only with Hindus, the Russians always with the Russians, and 　　13　　 the Arabs with the Jews．

　　I saw the reason why 　　14　　 got started．Everyone 　　15　　 to their own kind．The 　　16　　 was just like a map of the world, where there should never have been so much separation among nations．But why was everyone so 　　17　　?

　　And so I turned 　　18　　 this girl, and went with the first, and there was no offence, I built a 　　19　　 between two worlds when I sat with those 　　20　　 from me．