When I was at university, I studied very hard. But a lot of my friends did very little work. Some did just enough to pass exams. Others didn’t do quite enough. Fred Baines was one of them. He spent more time drinking in the Students’ Union than working in the library.

　　Once at the end of the term, we had to take an important test in chemistry. The test had a hundred questions. In my room the night before the test, Fred was watching TV. Fred usually worried a lot the night before a test. But on that night he looked perfectly calm. Then he told me of his plan. “It’s very simple. There are a hundred questions and I have to get fifty correct to pass the test. I’ll take a coin into the examination room. I haven’t studied a chemistry book for months, so I’ll just toss the coin. That way, I’m sure I’ll get half the questions right.”

　　The next day, Fred came happily into the exam room. As he sat tossing a coin for half an hour he marked down his answers. Then he left, half an hour before the rest of us.

　　The next day, he saw the chemistry professor in the corridor. “Oh, good,” he said, “Have you got the result of the test?” The professor looked at him and smiled, “Ah, it’s you, Baines. Just a minute.” Then he reached into his pocket and took out a coin. He threw it into the air, caught it in his hand and looked at it.

　　“I’m terribly sorry, Baines,” he said, “You failed!”

51. This story mainly wants to tell us ________.

A. chemistry is really hard to learn

B. there were too many questions for students to prepare for

C. good exam results needs hard study

D. tossing a coin can not always decide the result

52. Fred Baines was one of those who ________.

A. did just enough to pass the exam

B. didn’t work hard enough for their studies

C. had too much other work for the Students’ Union

D. were quite good at passing exams

53. Fred came happily into the exam room because ________.

A. he had got ready for the exam

B. he knew the answers already

C. the other students would be behind him

D. he had his way to finish the exam

54. The chemistry exam in fact ________.

A. was not very hard

B. took the other students an hour to finish

C. had more than one hundred questions

D. needed to be done by tossing a coin

55. The professor tossed the coin to tell Baines that ________.

A. he was satisfied with his way for the exam

B. he wanted to make friends with him

C. his way for the exam would never work

D. the exam result depended on the coin

Top student Lin Yijian had a problem recently. The 14-year-old boy from Xiamen used to get marks of over 110 points (out of 120 possible points) on his math tests. But during last semester's final exams, his math score was only 90 points.
It was a shock. "I didn't know what happened," said Lin, who kept feeling nervous and frustrated about math during the following month.
Like Lin, many of us have setbacks (挫折) in life. What would you do to deal with these setbacks? Would you just let them be and give up?
Lin chose to face his problem. His parents and teacher also gave him help. After some hard work he now gets marks between 100 and110 points on his math tests. Although he still isn't at his original (原来的) level, Lin doesn't panic anymore.
"Don't be scared by setbacks," he said. "You will beat it."
Chen Xingzhu in Shenzhen also has a story to tell. The 15-year-old girl is not good at doing sit-ups (仰卧起坐), which is necessary for the coming high school PE entrance exam. One has to do at least 35 sit-ups in a minute to pass the test. Most of Chen's classmates can do 40. However, Chen could only do 20.
Feeling worried, Chen decided to do something. She did sit-ups for half an hour every day after school. Now, after a month, she can do 30 sit-ups a minute.
"I finally found what made me slow through continuous practice and then improved little by little," said Chen. "I believe next month I will be able to do 40!"
【小题1】 What problem did Lin Yijian have recently?