One summer day my father sent me to buy wire for our farm. At 16, I liked   1    better than driving our truck,   2     this time I was not happy. My father had told me I’d have to ask for credit(赊账)at the store.

Sixteen is a   3    age, when a young man wants respect, not charity. It was 1976, and the ugly   4    of racial discrimination was   5    a fact of life. I’d seen my friends ask for credit and then stand, head down, while the store owner   6    whether they were “good for it.” I knew black youths just like me who were   7    like thieves by the store clerk each time they went into a grocery.

My family was   8     . We paid our debts. But before harvest, cash was short. Would the store owner   9    us?

At David’s store, Buck Davis stood behind the cash desk, talking to a farmer. I nodded   10    I passed him on my way to the hardware shelves. When I brought my   11    to the cash desk, I said   12    , “I need to put this on credit.”

The farmer gave me an amused, distrustful   13   . But Buck’s face didn’t change. “Sure,” he said   14  . “Your daddy is   15   good for it.” He   16    to the other man. “This here is one of James Williams’s sons.”

The farmer nodded in a neighborly   17  . I was filled with pride. James Williams’s son. Those three words had opened a door to an adult’s respect and trust.

That day I discovered that the good name my parents had   18   brought our whole family the respect of our neighbors. Everyone knew what to   19    from a Williams: a decent person who kept his word and respected himself   20    much to do wrong.

1.A.something            B.nothing               C.anything             D.everything

2.A.and                      B.so                       C.but                     D.for

2,4,6

 
3.A.prideful                 B.wonderful            C.respectful            D.colorful

4.A.intention                B.shadow               C.habit                   D.faith

5.A.thus                      B.just                     C.still                     D.ever

6.A.guessed                B.suspected            C.questioned           D.figured

7.A.watched                B.caught                 C.dismissed            D.accused

8.A.generous               B.honest                 C.friendly               D.modest

9.A.blame                   B.excuse                C.charge                D.trust

10.A.until                    B.as                       C.once                   D.since

11.A.purchases            B.sales                   C.orders                 D.favorites

12.A.casually               B.confidently          C.cheerfully            D.carefully

13.A.look                    B.stare                   C.response             D.comment

14.A.patiently              B.eagerly                C.easily                  D.proudly

15.A.generally             B.never                  C.sometimes           D.always

16.A.pointed                B.replied                 C.turned                 D.introduced

17.A.sense                  B.way                    C.degree                 D.mood

18.A.earned                 B.deserved              C.given                  D.used

19.A.receive                B.expect                 C.collect                 D.require

20.A.very            B.so              C.how            D.too

If I had known then what I know now I would have taken my father’s advice when I was 18 and I had to choose my major at university. He told me to study outside Italy where there were more possibilities to find a job once I finished university. But I said no, scared of living alone in a different country with a different culture, with a different language, and above all, far from my family and friends. So I decided to go to university in Italy and I chose the one in Rome, my city, which is one of the most ancient universities in the world, studying Communication Science because it was the most common and the most fashionable major six years ago (and still is now…). At that age I wanted to become a sports journalist, but with the passing time, my opinions and my ideas started changing and I understood that I didn’t like my choice. At that time, I understood that at 18 years old, everyone feels mature to decide about his own future. Everyone thinks that the advice that parents try to give is wrong and we are able to decide alone, maybe just with the help of our friends who are in the same situation. This is the worst thought that we can think. However, I graduated last December with the pride of my parents and I decided, with their help, to come to Toronto and study English. Here I am living the best experience I have ever lived. I often think, “If I had known that living alone in a different country and studying something I like were so nice and interesting when I was 18, I would have listened to what my father told me six years ago.” I try to regret nothing about my choices I have made in the past, but I just think that now I am mature to ask my parents and to listen to them because they have more experience and they know better than me what is right and what is wrong.

1.What can we learn about the writer from the passage?

A.He went to Toronto in order to become a sports journalist.

B.He studied English when he was in a university in Rome.

C.He followed his parents’ advice when choosing a university.

D.He is enjoying his stay in Toronto and his study of English.

2.The underlined word “mature” in the passage means ______.

       A.good and ripe                                       B.having a developed mind

       C.carefully decided                                 D.confident enough

3.All the following are the reasons why the writer chose a university at home EXCEPT that ______.

       A.he might meet cultural shock

       B.he couldn’t speak a second language

       C.he wanted to study Communication Science

       D.he didn’t want to be separated from his family and friends

4.From his own experience the writer tries to tell us that ______.

       A.parents’ advice is worth taking

       B.he still prefers to ask his friend for help

       C.he doesn’t regret about the choices he made

D.Communication Science is still fashionable now

The way people hold to the belief that a fun-filled, painfree life equals happiness actually reduces their chances of ever gaining real happiness. If fun and pleasure are equal to happiness, then pain must be equal to unhappiness. But in fact, the opposite is true — more often than not things that lead to happiness involve some pain.

       As a result, many people avoid the very source of true happiness. They fear the pain unavoidably brought by such things — marriage, raising children, professional achievements and self-improvement.

       Ask a bachelor why he resists marriage even though he finds dating to be less and less satisfying. If he is honest, he will tell you that he is afraid of making a promise. For a promise is in fact quite painful. The single life is filled with fun, adventure and excitement. Marriage has moments, but they are not its most distinguished features.

       Couples with babies are lucky to get a whole night’s sleep or three-day vacation. I don’t know parents who would choose the word fun to describe raising children. But couples who decide not to have children never know the joys of watching a child grow up or of playing with a grandchild.

       Understanding and accepting that true happiness has nothing to do with fun is one of the most liberating realizations. It liberates time: now we can devote more hours to activities that truly increase our happiness. It liberates money: buying that expensive mobile phone or those fancy clothes that will do nothing to increase our happiness now seems pointless. And it liberates us from envy: we now understand that all those who are always having so much fun actually may not be happy at all.

1.What the author is mainly trying to tell us is        .

       A.a happy life means life full of fun and without pain

       B.happiness often goes hand in hand with pain

       C.it is important to avoid pain in order to be happy

       D.one must know how to gain happiness

2.According to the author, the bachelor resists marriage mainly because       .

       A.he is unwilling to take on family responsibilities

       B.he fears it will put an end to all his fun and adventure

       C.he believes that dating will be more cheerful

       D.he finds more fun in dating than in marriage

3.Raising children, in the author’s opinion, is        .

       A.a desperate attempt                              B.a thankless job

       C.a rewarding task                                  D.a painfree life

4.To understand what true happiness is, one must         .

       A.have as much fun as possible during one’s lifetime

       B.make every effort to liberate oneself from time and money

       C.put up with pain under all circumstances

       D.be able to distinguish happiness from fun

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