After my brother died in an accident, my mother was in deep sadness. I was only a four-year-old girl at the time, but I still understood the sudden shift in my mom’s attitude towards safety. Suddenly everything around us was potentially dangerous. Overnight, the world had gone from a playground to a dangerous zone. I grew up with a lot of limits and rules. I couldn’t walk home from school by myself, even though everyone I knew already did. I couldn’t go to summer camp because what if something happened to me?
As I got older, the list of things of fear got longer. My whole life was divided into “things you should avoid”, and “things you needed to do in order to have a good, long life.” I became a natural worrier. I worry about things like getting cancer, losing my wallet, car accidents, earthquakes, and losing my job — disasters big and small, real and imagined.
The funny part is that you’d never know it by looking at my life. In fact, I’ve developed a rule for myself: If it scares me, then I have to do it at least once. I’ve done lots of things that my mom would have worried about: I’ve ridden a motorcycle; I’ve traveled —a lot. I’ve performed stand-up comedy, and I’m planning my second wedding.
There’s something else I don’t usually talk about, but it’s a cornerstone in my belief: When I was 14, my mother died suddenly in a car accident. At my mom’s funeral I remember making a choice. I could either live out the rest of my life trying to be “safe” or I could be brave enough to live out a fulfilling, exciting and, yes, sometimes dangerous life.
I worry that I may have betrayed(背叛) my mother by writing her in this light, but she has been a driving force in my life and, in the end I think she would have been proud of me. Courage isn’t a natural character of human beings. I believe that using courage is like developing a muscle. The more often I do things that scare me or that make me uncomfortable, the more I realize that I can do a lot more than I originally thought I could do.
Even though I inherited (继承) my mother’s cautious nature. I’ve also come to believe that fear can be a good thing, if we face it. Believing that has made my world a less scary place.
【小题1】In the writer’s childhood, the limits and rules were used to ______.

But some day, all our hard work will_______; we will attend the university of our choice and go on to have a great career.?

A. turn out     B. pay off       C. work out    D. go out?

    When a close friend dies, it often forces you to consider your own death. The more you have in common with the friend, the more his death will make you wonder about your own. Sometimes you will naturally say to yourself, "It could just as easily have been me." Such a death has a way of reminding us how fragile life is, and it may cause you to reassess（重新评价） the direction of your own life.
Jack's story is a good example. A successful businessman making a lot of money, Jack didn't spend as much time with his family as he wanted. His job required him to work long hours. But three years ago one of his best friends, a man who worked in the same office, had a heart attack. He died while celebrating his daughter's eighteenth birthday in a restaurant. He was only fifty years old.
Not long after his friend's death, Jack started to have a chest pain. Finally he had a good physical check-up. He received a clean bill of health. But the chest pain continued. He kept thinking of the death of his friend. Jack thought about how much his friend missed in life and he saw how hard it was for his friend's family to manage after he passed away.
Jack realized that he didn't want to end up his life that way. He talked his feelings over with his wife and children, and decided to change his way of life. The family moved to a small town where he started a simple life. Now he is running a small art gallery（画廊）. He is relaxed, and says he has never been so happy in his life, and he has got no more chest pain.
63. Your close friend's death is __________________ to you.
A. a warning           B. common            C. a direction of life     D. an example
64. The underlined sentence in the third paragraph means "________________".
A. The doctor didn't write a word on his bill
B. The doctor didn't want Jack to pay for the bill
C. The doctor didn't find anything wrong with him
D. The doctor didn't want to treat his pain
65. His friend's death made Jack ________________.
A. lose much interest in life
B. realize that he missed the friend very much
C. doubt his way of life
D. ill for some time
66. While living in the small town Jack ________________.
A. earns less money    B. gets more time  K^S*5U.C#O%
C. has a happier life    D. does all these mentioned above

It’s 5:00 in the morning when the alarm (闹钟) rings in my ears. I roll out of bed and walk blindly through the dark into the bathroom. I turn on the light and put on my glasses. The house is still as I walk downstairs while my husband and three kids sleep peacefully. Usually I go for a long run, but today I choose my favorite exercise DVD, Insanity. Sweat pours down my face and into my eyes. My heart races as I face my body to finish each movement. As I near the end of the exercise ,I feel extremely tired, but a smile is of my face. It’s a smile because the DVD is over , but a smile of success from pushing my body to its extreme limit.
Some people enjoy shopping, smoking , food, work, or even chocolate. But I need exercise to get through each day. Some shake heads when they see me run through the town. Others get hurt when I refuse to try just one bite of their grandmother’s chocolate cake. They raise their eyebrows, surprised by my “no thank you,” or by my choice to have a salad. Over the years , I have learned it’s okay to just say “no.” I shouldn’t feel sorry for refusing food that I don’t want to eat.
So what drives me to roll out of bed at 5:00 a.m.? What gives me the reason to just say no to ice cream? Commitment. A commitment to change my life with a way that reduces daily anxiety, increases self –confidence and energy, extends life and above all improves my body shape. This is the point where a smile appears on my face as I look at myself in the mirror or try on my favorite pair of jeans that now fit just right. It’s through commitment and sweat that I can make a difference within myself inside and out.
【小题1】Why is there a smile on the author’s face in the morning?