I was 15 months old, a happy carefree kid … until the day I fell. It was a bad fall. I landed on a glass rabbit that cut my eye badly enough to blind it. My mom found a doctor who knew that if the eye were removed entirely, my face would grow up badly shaped, so my scarred (有疤痕的), sightless, cloudy and gray eye lived on with me.

       Sometimes people, even strangers, asked me embarrassing questions or made hurtful remarks. When the kids played games, I was always the “monster”. I grew up imagining that everyone looked down upon me.

       Yet every time Mom would say to me, “Hold your head up high and face the world.” It became what I relied on.

       As a child, I thought Mom meant: “Be careful or you will fall down or bump into something because you are not looking.” As a teenager, even though I often looked down to hide my shame, I found that sometimes when I held my head up high people liked me.

       In high schools I was even elected class president, but on the inside I still felt like a freak (怪物). All I really wanted was to look like everyone else. When things got really bad, I would cry to my mom and she would look at me with loving eyes and say: “Hold your head up high and face the world. Let them see the beauty that is inside.”

       When I met the man who became my partner for life, we looked each other straight in the eye, and he told me I was beautiful inside and out.

       My mom’s love and encouragement was the spark (火花) that gave me the confidence to overcome my doubt. I had faced hardships head-on, and learned not only to appreciate myself but to have deep sympathy for others.

       “Hold your head up high” has been heard many times in my home. Each of my children has felt its invitation. The gift my mom gave me lives on in another generation.

60.   Why did the writer’s mother tell her to hold her head up high and face the world?

       A. Because her mother wanted her to be confident of herself.

       B. Because her mother didn’t want her to be seen as a “monster”.

       C. Because her mother thought the writer looked prettier when she did that.

       D. Because everyone looked down upon her and her mother wanted to show sympathy.

61.   Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the article?

       A. The writer was always confident after the accident happened.

       B. The writer managed to recover from her disability in high school.

C. In high school the writer was chosen as president of the student’s union.

       D. The writer gave her children encouragement and love, as her mother had done.

62.   The underlined sentence in the last paragraph means ____________.

       A. her children faced the same difficulty as their mother   

       B. her children each received an invitation from her mother

       C. her children didn’t quite understand the meaning of her words

       D. her children benefited from their mother’s encouraging words

63.   Which would be the best title for the article?

       A. My mom’s gift to me

       B. Disability is no shame

       C. How I found my life-partner

D. My terrible childhood accident