There is an old Chinese tale about a woman whose only son died. Sadly, she went to the holy man and asked, “What magical things do you have to bring my son back to life?”

Instead of sending her away or reasoning with her, he said to her, “Fetch me a mustard (芥菜) seed from a home that has never known sadness. We will use it to drive the sadness out of your life.” The woman happily went off at once in search of that magical mustard seed.

She first came to a splendid house, knocked at the door and said, “I am looking for a home that has never known sadness. Is it such a place? It is very important to me.”

They told her “You’ve certainly come to the wrong place” and began to describe all the tragic things that had happened to them recently.

The woman said to herself, “I have had misfortune of my own. Who is able to help these poor, unfortunate people?” She stayed to comfort them, and then went on in search of a home that had never known sadness. But wherever she went, she found one tale after another of sadness and misfortune. She became so involved in other people’s sorrow that finally she forgot about her search for the magical mustard seed, never realizing that it had, in fact, driven the sadness out of her life.

1.Which of the following does the story lead us to believe?

A．Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.

B．Time passed cannot be called back again.

C．You can’t feel happy unless compared with others.

D．You can’t expect to know the result until you have tried.

2.Instead of sending the woman away, the holy man      .

A．asked her to help him first

B．tried to comfort her with kind words

C．asked her to look for a thing that didn’t exist at all

D．tried to encourage her by talking with her

3.Leaving the holy man, the woman      .

A．was full of hope                        B．was filled with sadness

C．was determined to try again               D．became discouraged

4.The best title for the text would be “     ”.

A．A woman’s misfortune                  B．A nice surprise

C．The holy man’s faith                    D．Cure for sadness

You can’t expect yourself to        his trust over the night because it takes time for the damage you have done to him to heal.

A．wipe out          B．turn up           C．depend on        D．win back

You can’t expect yourself to        his trust over the night because it takes time for the damage you have done to him to heal.

Sometimes you’ll hear people say that you can’t love others until you love yourself. Sometimes you’ll hear people say that you can’t expect someone else to love you until you love yourself. Either way, you’ve got to love yourself first and this can be tricky(棘手的). Sure we all know that we’re the apple of our parents’ eyes, and that our Grandmas think we’re great talents and our Uncle Roberts think that we will go to the Olympics, but sometimes it’s a lot harder to think such nice thoughts about ourselves. If you find that believing in yourself is a challenge, it is time you build a positive self-image and learn to love yourself.
Self-image is your own mind’s picture of yourself. This image includes the way you look, the way you act, the way you talk and the way you think. Interestingly, our self-images are often quite different from the images others hold about us. Unfortunately, most of these images are more negative than they should be. Thus changing the way you think about yourself is the key to changing your self-image and your whole world.
The best way to defeat a passive self-image is to step back and decide to stress your successes. That is, make a list if you need to, but write down all of the great things you do every day. Don’t allow doubts to occur in it.
It very well might be that you are experiencing a negative self-image because you can’t move past one flaw or weakness that you see about yourself. Well, roll up your sleeves（袖子） and make a change of it as your primary task. If you think you’re silly because you aren’t good at math, find a tutor. If you think you’re weak because you can’t run a mile, get to the track and practice. If you think you’re dull because you don’t wear the latest trends（潮流）, buy a few new clothes. But remember, just because you think it doesn’t mean it’s true.
The best way to get rid of a negative self-image is to realize that your image is far from objective（客观的）, and to actively convince（使确信） yourself of your positive qualities. Changing the way you think and working on those you need to improve will go a long way towards promoting（促进，晋升） a positive self-image. When you can pat (拍) yourself on the back, you’ll know you’re well on your way. Good luck!
【小题1】You need to build a positive self-image when you _________.

Be ___________ ---you can’t expect me to finish all this work in so little time.