【2011·辽宁锦州市质检二】A

I used to believe in the American dream that meant a job, credit, success. I wanted it and worked toward it like everyone else, all of us separately chasing the same thing.

One year, through a series of unhappy events, it all fell apart. I found myself homeless and alone. I had my truck and $56. I searched the countryside for some place I could rent for the cheapest possible amount. I came upon a deserted cottage in a small remote valley. I hadn’t been alone for 25 years. I was scared, but I hoped the hard work would distract and heal me.

I found the owner and rented the place for $50 a month. The locals knew nothing about me. But slowly they started teaching me the art of being a neighbor. They dropped off blankets, tools and canned deer meat and began sticking around to chat. They would ask if I wanted to meet cousin Albie or go fishing. They started to teach me a belief in a different American dream, not the one of individual achievement but of neighborliness. Men would stop by with wild berries, ice cream, truck parts to see if I needed some. The women on that mountain worked harder than any I'd ever met. They taught me how to store food in the stream and keep it cold and safe. I learned to keep enough for an extra plate for company.

What I had believed in, all those things I thought were necessary for a civilized life, were non-existent in this place．Up on the mountain, my most valuable possessions were my relationships with my neighbors．

After four years in that valley, I moved back into town. I saw a lot of people were having a really hard time, losing their jobs and homes. With the help of a real estate broker(房地产经纪人) I chatted up at the grocery store, I managed to rent a big enough house to take in a handful of people. It’s four of us now, but over time I've had nine come in and move on to other places from here. We’d all be in shelters if we hadn't banded together.

The American dream I believe in now is a shared one. It’s not so much about what I can get for myself; it’s about how we can all get by together.

56. Before a series of unhappy events happened, the writer ________.

A. had a well-paid job                   B. worked hard for his American dream

C. worked hard and liked to share            D. felt hopeless about his American dream

57. What does the underlined sentence “I learned to．．．” in Paragraph 3 most probably mean?

A. The writer learned to run a company.

B. The writer learned to share with others.

C. The writer learned to keep enough plates.

D. The writer learned to save money for his company.

58. Why did the writer rent a big house?

A. To make some money.                         B. To show off his wealth.

C. To share with those people in need.        D. To make friends with his neighbors.

59. The writer mainly tells us about ________．

A. his unhappy experiences               B. the friendly people in the valley

C. the change of his living conditions            D. his new idea of the American dream

1 

It’s good to make mistakes, and here is why.

First of all, mistakes are a clear sign that you are trying new things. It’s always good to try new things because when you are trying new things you are growing. If you never try anything new, how can you improve? How can you expand? The simple answer is “You can’t”. Look around you. With very few exceptions, either everything you see in your physical world or every single detail of every single thing is the result of someone trying something new.

Another good thing about mistakes is this: When you are making mistakes, you are learning. Consider this: Edison failed 10,000 times before he perfected the light bulb. When asked how it felt to fail that many times, he said that he hadn’t failed 10,000 times, but rather had learned 10,000 things that didn’t work．

Finally, when you make a mistake you are much closer to success. Why?

Because when all is said and done, you will have tried some number of things before you succeeded. Every time you make a mistake you eliminate one of those things and are one step closer.

But this all doesn’t mean that you should go ahead without considering the consequences of a mistake. Quite the contrary, when you try something new you have to be willing to set some reasonable limits so that in the event that it doesn’t work out the way you want it to, you will be in a position to try again.

We all have limited resources in the form of time and money so don’t blow them all on one approach to a problem. Realize that it probably won’t be perfect the first time and allocate (分配) these resources appropriately so you can learn, make corrections, and try it again. Only by accepting and using your mistakes in this way can you make significant advances in your business and your career．

There is an old saying that goes, “If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not trying hard enough．”

So go forth and make mistakes. And learn. And grow. And prosper（成功）．

1.From the second paragraph, we can conclude that _______．

A. mistakes are unnecessary for development                           

B. we are afraid of trying new things                                          

C. it’s common for people to make mistakes                              

D. mistakes are better than not trying

2. The underlined word “eliminate” means _______．

A. avoid                                        B. Remove                        C. accept                               D. solve

3.. According to the article, one thing you should pay attention to about making mistakes is    ．

A. avoiding making the same mistakes                                  

B. accepting the punishment willingly

C. taking consequences into account                                     

D. trying things out one by one

4.. What would the writer probably suggest we say to ourselves when we make a mistake?

A. Never mind, I can always try again．                                    

B. I’d better stay out of trouble．

C. Ok! Now I can learn something．                                      

D. Look at this mess. Anyone would be upset．

Directions:    Read the following text and choose the most suitable heading from A-F for each paragraph. There is one extra heading which you do not need.

An interview with Wynton Marsalis, a noted jazz musician

There were the older jazz musicians who hung around our house when I was young. I saw how much they practiced, how serious they were about their art. I knew then I had to work just as hard if I wanted to succeed. Of course, my father inspired me a lot, and many teachers took the time to nurture my latent and the talents of other students in our school.

Yes. We’ve done such a poor job with music education because, as a society, we haven’t maintained the kind of education that a true artist and musician needs. Young people haven’t been able to equate romance and talent with music. For instance, most of the people who make it in the music industry today have to look good. How they sound is secondary. Sarah Vaughan, Bessie Smith, Ella Fitzgerald ― those big, romantic queens of jazz music wouldn’t make it in today’s music industry, and that’s a shame. We need to teach young people about the alternatives.

Around the would people make music that, if you listen carefully to it, sounds a little like the cadence of their language. I’d call it folk music. When I’m away from home, I make a point of listening to regional folk music, not what’s on the radio.

The same music is on the radio all over the world, and the American sound is overwhelming. Even the pop music that’s produced and created in foreign countries has that American beat, that underscore of funk. As a musician, I’m not interested in hearing recycled versions of the same genre over and over. Any music that doesn’t have a development section just isn’t interesting to me.

The music press has so much to introduce these days, and jazz is just a small fraction of it. Because some people are intimidated by jazz, they don’t cover it unless it’s a big name. New jazz musicians don’t get much of break. A lot of editors don’t say anything about jazz these days unless it’s Marsalis. That’s a shame. What VH1 is doing with their Save the Music campaign is phenomenal. They’re getting all these instruments out to needy kids. It’s the kind of thing all networks should be doing.

For a girl who's interested in fashion, what would be the dream job? Being a model? Probably no — that's for a pencil thin who doesn't eat．One answer is, fashion stylist．

As more brands open stores in China to expand their reach, the increase in outdoor advertising might light a stylist spark in a girl's heart．Fashion magazine offices are crowded with interns （实习生）, and fashionable brand HR managers get thousands of resumes of people looking for a stylist position．

"It looked too high before, but now I find it more approachable," said Xue Rui, 22, a Fudan University Chinese literature graduate who works as an assistant stylist at Hermès in Shanghai．"There is no certain principle in dressing up models, and you can try every way with your own distinct taste to make them pretty and attractive．"

The attractiveness of this line of work is not only in the fabulous clothes．And it's not like it used to be: an insider's job with little recognition and even less money．Now it's a career with a profile, prospects and pay packet．

Girls can find it hard to ignore this tempt and the field is opening up to normal girls, not only style or fashion design majors．"A fashion designer knows how to make a dress pretty, but a stylist knows how to make a person beautiful, from head to toe," explained He Qing, 21, a junior in fashion design at the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology．

"You have to be 'all-round': from hair and make up to clothes, shoes, and accessories（配饰） to the event," said He．"You have to know everything, and handle several things at the same time．It's challenging．That's why I love it．"

It's not, however, without its downside, no matter how great you may think it is, "It's incredibly hard work," said Chen Qianzhu, a stylist at the Chinese version of Elle magazine．"You need to build good relations with various people — stars, photographers, PR managers, other media, even airlines．"

You need to take care of clothes in the workplace and pay for even a tiny spot you get on them, Chen said．"The worst thing is that you might work extremely hard for a week on some serious photos, but if the chief's not satisfied, you do them all over again．"

1．A fashion stylist has to do the following EXCEPT _______．

       A．make every effort to dress up models

       B．make a model attractive, from hair to feet

       C．pay for a tiny stain happening to the clothes

       D．not to eat and keep a thin figure like a pencil

2．Xue Rui, He Qing and Chen Qianzhu are mentioned in the passage in order to ______．

       A．show the strengths and weaknesses of the new type of career

       B．compare the different changes about the occupation

       C．make the article interesting and convincing

       D．support an idea by giving enough evidence

3．The underlined world 'all-round' in Paragraph 6 can be replaced by ______．

       A．all-star             B．all-out           C．all-powerful        D．all-purpose

4．Where can the passage be found?

       A．In a newspaper．                                 B．In a magazine．

       C．In an advertisement．                    D．In an essay written by a graduate．