Have successful people ever felt sad? Do they have any “secrets” to success? The answers to these questions can be found in US president Barack Obama’s “back to school” speech. Here is an excerpt(摘录) from his speech.

I know that sometimes, you hope that you can be rich and successful without any hard work—that your ticket to success is through pop music or basketball or being a TV star, when chances come, you’re not going to be any of those things.

But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. Not all the homework will seem rather important to your life ,but you should try your best. And you may not succeed at everything the first time you try.

That’s OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures (the opposite of success). JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was turned down 12 times before it finally came out. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots (投篮) during his career. But he once said, “I have failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures beat(打败) you—you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time.

No one’s born being good at things. You become good at things through hard work.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness; it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to tell when you don’t know something, and to learn something new.

And even when you’re struggling(奋斗), even when you’re discouraged (泄气), and you feel other people have given up on you.but you should remember, don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.

1.Some of the most successful people in the world have are the ones who’ve had the______ failures.

A. fewest       B. most          C. saddest        D. valuable

2.What can be found in US president Barack Obama’s “back to school” speech ?

A. secrets to success.

B. being successful is easy. 

C. your failures beat you.

D. Asking for help is a sign of weakness.

3.Why does Barack Obama mention (提到) JK Rowling and Michael Jordan in the third paragraph?

A. To compare these two famous persons.

B. To explain that the more failures he has, the more successful he is.

C. If you want to be successful, you should fail first.

D. To show that failure is the mother of success.

4.Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A. No one can be successful without working hard.

B. Failure can be good if you treat it in a right way.

C. Those who believe in themselves shouldn’t ask others for help.

D. One should try his best to make his dream come true.

5.Which of the following has the closest meaning to the underlined sentence?

A. One shouldn’t ask questions because it is a sign of strength.

B. One should believe in himself though he will face much difficulty.

C. One doesn’t have to work hard when he has failed several times.

D. One doesn’t have to ask for help because it is a sign of weakness.

 

For many people the subject of hiccups (嗝) is a joke, but for Harry Mendes, a fifteen-year-old schoolboy from Birmingham, it was something quite different.

His hiccups began one Sunday lunch time and continued day and night for two weeks. After the first week, Harry's parents took him to hospital, but it took another week for the doctors to cure his attack.

Harry, who is now back at school, described what happened to him.

“When I began to hiccup, I drank a glass of water but that didn't do any good. That evening I had hiccups every four seconds. We tried everything to stop them. I held my breath and drank cold drinks. My father even tried to give me a shock but that didn't work either.”

After a week of sleepless nights, he went to hospital. The doctors took an X-ray of his chest but they couldn't find anything wrong.

“They gave me some medicine and my hiccups slowed down, but it was another week before the medicine worked completely and my hiccups stopped.”

Harry was very lucky. The world record holder is the American farmer Charles Osborne, who hiccupped for sixty-eight years. He stopped in 1990 at last, but nobody knows why.

1.Harry's hiccups lasted ____.

  A. a week              B. fourteen days          C. twenty-eight days           D. one month

2.His hiccups started after he ____.

  A. drank a glass of water                              B. went to hospital

C. ate an Indian meal                                 D. finished his homework

3.His parents decided to take him to hospital when he ____.

  A. hiccupped for four seconds                    B. held his breath

  C. hiccupped at night                           D. couldn't stop hiccupping

4.His hiccups completely stopped one week after the doctor ____.

   A. gave him some medicine                      B. took an X-ray of his chest

   C.gave him a shock                            D. let him drink cold drinks

5.What does “shock” in this passage mean?

A.震惊            B.休克            C.喷嚏             D.哈欠

 

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