Old age，I decided，is a gift．The other day a young person asked me how l felt about being old．I was taken aback．for I do not think of myself as old．Upon seeing my reaction．he was immediately embarrassed（尴尬的），but I explained that it was an interesting question，and I would think it over，and let him know．

      Old age is a gift．I am now，probably for the first time in my life，the person I have always wanted to be．As I’ve aged．I’ve become kinder to myself, and less critical of myself．I don’t scold myself for eating that extra cookie，or for not making my bed…I am entitled to overeat，to be messy．I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging．

      I will walk along the beach in a swimming suit that is stretched over my fat body．and will dive into the waves freely if I choose to，in spite of the pitying glances from the bikini sets．They，too，will get old．

      Sure，over the years my heart has been broken．How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one，or when a child suffers，or even when a beloved pet is hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give us strength，understanding and sympathy．A heart never broken will never know the joy of being imperfect．

      So，to answer your question, I like being old．It has set me flee．I like the person I have become．I am not going to live forever．but while I am still here．1 will not waste time feeling sorry for what could have been，or worrying about what will be．And I shall eat dessert every single day．

1．Which of the following may be the title of the text?

      A．The Aged．                                            B．Old age is a gift．

      C．Are you getting older?                                 D．Don’t be afraid of aging．

2．Why did the author like being old?

      A．Because he is actually not old．

      B．Because he becomes the person he really wanted to be．

      C．Because he can do everything now．

      D．Because being old can make him enjoy many special rights．

3．According to the text，he likes to do the following except __________．

      A．eat extra cookie if he likes                         B．dive into the waves freely

      C．leave things as he likes                                D．do what others like him to do

4．According to the text，we know that ___________．

      A．imperfection is never a good thing

      B．being forgetful will always cause trouble

      C．becoming aging is miserable

      D．aging sometimes means freedom

5．What does the underlined phrase refer to in the third paragraph?

    A．beautiful swimming suits                          B．short clothes used for swimming

    C．some younger persons                                D．couples of swimming lovers

B
He is a lesson to every boy who ever picked up a basketball and dreamed that it would change his life.
The lights were never brighter and the crowds were never bigger for a homegrown sports hero than they were a quarter-century ago for Ray Hall. But his athletic achievements, as impressive as they are, are to my mind not what is most admirable about the man.
Known as “Sugar Ray” in his teens, Hall was rated among the country’s top 25 high school basketball players. An inner-city kid from a solid family, Hall took on the challenge of lifting Canisius College — still recovering from its failure — back to respectability, rejecting more favorable offers. His status of a savior (救世主) brought more pressure than any 18-year-old should have to handle. However, I watched him mature into the player who led Canisius back to daylight.
After college Hall played professionally in Italy and Greece for over 10 years until a car accident at 32 ended his basketball career. The news that he would never play again shocked Hall but unlike so many others he was ready for life after basketball. When I met Hall — still fit at 46 — for lunch Monday, he wore a cut-sharp gray suit, designer tie and blazing white shirt that screamed Success. “That was always the question — when the cheers end, where do you go? Who do you turn to?” he said. “It starts and ends with that person in the mirror.”
Hall got the concept of academics-first from his parents. He graduated from Canisius a semester early. “No matter how good of an athlete you are, you are just one injury away from losing it all,” he said. “But if you take care of things academically, you are prepared until you leave this earth.”
For the past 14 years, he has been in a computer sales job at Ingram Micro. He married his college sweetheart. They have three kids and a nice house in the suburbs. He figured out early what others learn too late: Athletics is part of a journey, not the destination.
Congratulations, Ray, you made it. In more ways than one.          
【小题1】Ray was regarded as a savior because ________.

He is a lesson to every boy who ever picked up a basketball and dreamed that it would change his life.
The lights were never brighter and the crowds were never bigger for a homegrown sports hero than they were a quarter-century ago for Ray Hall. But his athletic achievements, as impressive as they are, are to my mind not what is most admirable about the man.
Known as “Sugar Ray” in his teens, Hall was rated among the country’s top 25 high school basketball players. An inner-city kid from a solid family, Hall took on the challenge of lifting Canisius College — still recovering from its failure — back to respectability, rejecting more favorable offers. His status of a savior (救世主) brought more pressure than any 18-year-old should have to handle. However, I watched him mature into the player who led Canisius back to daylight.
After college Hall played professionally in Italy and Greece for over 10 years until a car accident at 32 ended his basketball career. The news that he would never play again shocked Hall but unlike so many others he was ready for life after basketball. When I met Hall — still fit at 46 — for lunch Monday, he wore a cut-sharp gray suit, designer tie and blazing white shirt that screamed Success. “That was always the question — when the cheers end, where do you go? Who do you turn to?” he said. “It starts and ends with that person in the mirror.”
Hall got the concept of academics-first from his parents. He graduated from Canisius a semester early. “No matter how good of an athlete you are, you are just one injury away from losing it all,” he said. “But if you take care of things academically, you are prepared until you leave this earth.”
For the past 14 years, he has been in a computer sales job at Ingram Micro. He married his college sweetheart. They have three kids and a nice house in the suburbs. He figured out early what others learn too late: Athletics is part of a journey, not the destination.
Congratulations, Ray, you made it. In more ways than one

1. 1.

   Ray was regarded as a savior because ________

   1. A.
      he liked to take on challenges
   2. B.
      he helped his team to regain its glory
   3. C.
      he was faithful to his hometown city
   4. D.
      he fought hard against failure at a young age
2. 2.

   According to the writer, which of the following best describes Ray’s success?

   1. A.
      Unlike other athletes, he was academically superior
   2. B.
      He defeated his injury and returned to the playground
   3. C.
      He enjoys a successful job and a happy family
   4. D.
      He has gained impressive athletic achievements
3. 3.

   What’s the right order of the events related to Ray?
   a. He was rated among the best high school basketball players.
   b. He was in a car accident.
   c. He graduated from Canisius College.
   d. He started his computer sales job.
   e. He gave up his athletic career

   1. A.
      a, c, b, e, d
   2. B.
      a, c, e, b, d
   3. C.
      c, a, b, d, e
   4. D.
      c, a, e, b, d
4. 4.

   We can learn from the passage that ________

   1. A.
      Ray was from an academic family
   2. B.
      Ray was very mature in his teens
   3. C.
      Ray was once desperate facing the cruel reality
   4. D.
      athletics was not Ray’s final goal in life
5. 5.

   What was the writer’s intention in writing this passage?

   1. A.
      To describe the difficulties of being a professional athlete
   2. B.
      To explain the importance of choosing the right college
   3. C.
      To emphasize the need for a good education
   4. D.
      To warn against playing professional basketball

I lost my sight when I was four years old by falling off a car and landing on my head. Now I am thirty-two. I can vaguely remember the brightness of __36____ and what color red is. It would be ___37____ to see again, but a(n) __38____ can do strange things to people. I don’t mean I would __39___ to go without my eyes. I simply mean that the loss of them made me appreciate more what I had _40_____.
My parents and my teachers saw something in me ----- a __41____ to live ---- which I didn’t see, and they made me want to fight in out with _42____.
The __43___ lesson I had to learn was to believe in myself. I am not talking about simply the kind of __44____ that helps me down so unfamiliar staircase alone. I __45___ something bigger than that: a confidence that I am, despite being __46____, a real, positive person; that there is a special place where I can make myself fit.
It took me years to discover and strengthen this confidence. It had to start with the easy and simple things. __47____ a man gave me an indoor baseball. I thought he was laughing at me and I was __48____. “I can’t use this,” I said. “Take with you,” he urged me, “and roll it around.” The words __49___ in my head. “Roll it around!” By rolling the ball I could _50_____ where it went. This gave me an idea how to achieve a goal I had thought _51____ before playing baseball. At Philadelphia’s Overbrook School for the Blind I _52___ a successful variation of baseball. We called it ground ball.
I have set ahead of me a series of goals and then tried to reach them, one at a time. I had to be clear about my _53____. It was no good crying for something that I knew at the start was __54___ out of reach because that only invited bitterness of failure. I would fail something anyway, __55___ on the average I made progress.

I lost my sight when I was four years old by falling off a car and landing on my head. Now I am thirty-two. I can vaguely remember the brightness of _____ and what color red is. It would be _____ to see again, but a (n) ____ can do strange things to people. I don’t mean I would ____ to go without my eyes. I simply mean that the loss of them made me appreciate more what I had ____.                                                

My parents and my teachers saw something in me ----- a ____ to live ---- which I didn’t see, and they made me want to fight in out with ___.

The ____ lesson I had to learn was to believe in myself. I am not talking about simply the kind of ____ that helps me down so unfamiliar staircase alone. I _____ something bigger than that: a confidence that I am, despite being ____, a real, positive person; that there is a special place where I can make myself fit.

It took me years to discover and strengthen this confidence. It had to start with the easy and simple things. _____ a man gave me an indoor baseball. I thought he was laughing at me and I was ____. “I can’t use this,” I said. “Take with you,” he urged me, “and roll it around.” The words _____ in my head. “Roll it around!” By rolling the ball I could ____ where it went. This gave me an idea how to achieve a goal I had thought ___ before; playing baseball. At Philadelphia’s Overbrook School for the Blind I ___ a successful variation of baseball. We called it ground ball.

I have set ahead of me a series of goals and then tried to reach them, one at a time. I had to be clear about my  ___. It was no good crying for something that I knew at the start was ____ out of reach because that only invited bitterness of failure. I would fail something anyway, _____ on the average I made progress.

1.A. sky     B. cloud   C. sunshine        D. mist

2.A. helpful       B. wonderful     C. hopeful          D. successful

3.A. disaster      B. environment          C. incident         D. wonder

4.A. manage     B. try         C. want     D. prefer

5.A. lost   B. left        C. used     D. cared

6.A. purpose     B. potential       C. pressure       D. preparation

7.A. energy       B. happiness      C. luck       D. blindness

8.A. hardest      B. dullest           C. simplest         D. easiest

9.A. self-respect    B. self-control         C. self-confidence         D. self-defence

10.A. think        B. consider       C. guess    D. mean

11.A. imperfect         B. perfect C. unfair    D. fair

12.A. Later       B. Soon    C. Once     D. Then

13.A. worried B. encouraged          C. shocked        D. hurt

14.A. stuck       B. impressed    C. occupied      D. held

15.A. see          B. hear     C. notice D. observe

16.A. important        B. unimportant          C. possible        D. impossible

17.A. invented          B. discovered   C. instructed    D. directed

18.A. experience     B. advantages    C. knowledge    D. limitation

19.A. hardly      B. wildly    C. highly    D. deeply

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