阅读理解 Many a young person tells me he wants to be a writer. I always encourage such people, but I also explain that there''s a big difference between "being a writer" and writing. In most cases these individuals are dreaming of wealth and fame, not the long hour alone at a typewriter. "You''ve got to want to write," I say to them, "not want to be a writer". The reality is that writing is a lonely, private and poor-paying affair. For every writer kissed by fortune there are thousands more whose longing is never rewarded. When I left a 20-year career in the U.S. Coast Guard to become a freelance(自由栏目 )writer, I had no prospects at all. What I did have was a friend who found me my room in a New York apartment building. It didn''t even matter that it was cold and had no bathroom. I immediately bought a used manual typewriter and felt like a genuine writer. After a year or so, however, I still hadn''t gotten a break and began to doubt myself. It was so hard to sell a story that I barely made enough to eat. But I knew I wanted to write, I had dreamed about it for years. I wasn''t going to be one of those people who die wondering: What if ? I would keep putting my dream to the test even though it meant living with uncertainty and fear of failure. This is the shadowland of hope, and anyone with a dream must learn to live there.
单选题 The passage is meant to______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】这道题考察考生对文章的整体把握能力。作者在开头便点明写作和成为作家是不同的,指出 很多年轻人的想法是不成熟的。接下来又以亲身经历说明成为作家的艰辛。
单选题 What can be concluded from the passage?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】一个作家成功的比率是非常小的。在文章的第二段中提到For every writer kissed by fortune there are thousands more whose longing is never rewarded.虽然有一些可以得到财富,但上千的作家的努力却得不到回报。说明作家成功是非常困难的。
单选题 Why did the author begin to doubt himself after the first year of his writing career?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】作者在从事写作的第一年怀疑自己是应为他没有看到情况比一开始有所好转。
单选题 …people who die wondering: What if ?(Para-3) refers to "those_____".
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】因为这些人总去问what if,说明他们总是犹豫不决,对自己的未来举棋不定,做不出最终决定。
单选题 Shadowland in the last sentence refers to_____.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】这道题考察对词汇的理解。shadowland是指一种在目标实现前的不确定状态。