There have been many difficulties for me in learning English during the past few years, but I tried to   31.   them and had made much progress.

   The spelling of words and the meanings of them were the first difficulties I met   32.   a beginner, but I have found my own ways to    33.  with them. As for the spelling, I never        34 .  a word again and again to remember it, but I try to practice its   35.   . Now, I can write a word out when I can read it out. As for the meaning, I hardly ever recite(背诵) a word’s Chinese meaning, but I put it into a    36.    to learn its meaning. So, if you use a word quite     37.   , its spelling and meaning will not be difficult. After all, Learning English is to   38.   it.

Grammar may be    39.    difficulty. But I have also dealt with it. I haven’t read lots of grammar books, but I often   40.  much time reading the articles written by native English speakers. By doing so, I have got a good sense(感觉) of the English language.

Finally, I want to say that getting over all these difficulties needs perseverance(毅力).

31. A. look after        B. look at               C. get over

32. A. with            B. to                   C.  as

33. A. spend           B. deal                 C. keep

34. A. write            B. read                C. think

35. A. writing          B. difference          C. pronunciation

36. A. letter           B. movie                C. sentence

37. A. always          B. hardly               C. often

38. A. remember        B. use                 C. listen to

39. A. another           B. other               C. others

40. A. have            B. spend                C. give

My name is Ben Mansury. I’m fifteen years old and study in a middle school. In school, I never join in any group discussion or stage (舞台) program. So, I never knew what stage nervousness was.

Our community (社区) has a weekly “Students Ideas” program. About two years ago, I received a(n)   1   from the chairman of our community. He invited me to the “Students Ideas” talk the next morning to speak to the group.

The time between his call to the next morning was like several weeks for me. The whole night, I could not sleep. Many   2   were coming. One of them was to call the chairman, with regret, and tell him that I could not come. But finally, I thought, if I missed this   3  , the community would never invite me again to any of their programs. So, I decided to go.

I reached the hall in time. When my turn came and I started, my heartbeat increased and my mouth went dry. I wasn’t even able to   4   the words on the paper properly. I had no idea where I was standing and what I was talking. That was the day when I   5   my biggest weakness: public speaking.

After I finished, I met with the chairman and   6   what happened to me. He said that this happens to everyone. It is very   7  . He suggested that I should come again the next week.

I   8   a talk carefully. This time when I gave the talk, I was somewhat comfortable but not confident (自信的). Afterwards, I met with the chairman again and told him about the improvement I   9   I had made. He was kind enough to invite me again.

For around one month, I practiced a lot for my talk. This time I was feeling comfortable and both the chairman and my neighbors thought I did a good job.    

I learned that everything is   10   if we take the first step, as the saying goes: A journey of thousand miles begins with first step.

1.                A．letter          B．call            C．card D．email

2.                A．topics          B．regrets         C．thoughts D．words

3.                A．man           B．group          C．stage D．chance

4.                A．read           B．spell           C．see  D．recite

5.                A．had            B．forgot          C．realized  D．improved

6.                A．asked          B．checked        C．explained D．wondered

7.                A．useful          B．successful       C．difficult   D．common

8.                A．wrote          B．prepared        C．gave D．finished

9.                A．knew          B．felt            C．believed  D．hoped

10.               A．easy           B．great          C．helpful    D．possible