A lift is wonderful. It is really only a small room. Rooms usually stay in one place. Lifts travel up and down all day long.
Sometimes a worker stands in the lift. He or she operates it up and down. In modern lifts there is no worker. The people walk in. They know what floor they want. They push a button and the lift goes to that floor. It is all very fast and easy.
Lifts are very important to us. Why? Think about a tall building. Maybe it has twenty floors. Maybe it has fifty or more. Who can walk up all the stairs? Maybe people can climb them one time. Can someone climb thirty floors to an office every day? Can small children walk up to their room on the twenty-fourth floor? Can their mother and father carry food up all those stairs? Of course not.
We can have high buildings because we have lifts. We could not have all the beautiful tall buildings in the world without lifts. They are really wonderful.

1. 1.

   Which of the following is true?

   1. A.
      A modern lift has no buttons.
   2. B.
      A modern lift has a worker to operate it.
   3. C.
      A modern lift can go up and down with no worker in it.
   4. D.
      A modern lift knows what floor people want.
2. 2.

   If you want to go to the floor you want, you_______.

   1. A.
      ask for help
   2. B.
      open the door of the lift
   3. C.
      ring the bell
   4. D.
      push the right button
3. 3.

   Why do people have to use lifts? Because________.

   1. A.
      they have tall buildings
   2. B.
      they can't walk up and down
   3. C.
      old people and children need them
   4. D.
      lifts are wonderful

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 get the sense 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 are, 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 right this minute. 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—don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.
【小题1】Why does Barack Obama mention (提到) JK Rowling and Michael Jordan in the third paragraph?