In seventh grade, Brittany Blythe dreamed of being a cheerleader. Her school’s coaches were less than enthusiastic. “They said, ‘I don’t know how you’ll be able to do it,’ she recalls. “‘You won’t be able to do it. ’”
But Brittany, now a junior at Strath Haven High School near Philadelphia, persisted(堅持). And when the junior team cheerleaders won a tournament last year, she was right there, dancing and cheering with the rest of the team.
Not bad for someone whose legs were cut off below the knee when she was two years old.
Brittany, 18, was born without shinbones(脛骨)--“just blood and muscle tissue”, as she puts it. When she tried to walk, her legs twisted.
After the operation, she adapted quickly. “From day one, I basically jumped up and wanted to do everything,” she says. Prosthetic legs(假腿) allowed her to move around upright, but too slowly to keep up with her friends. Brittany’s solution: take the legs off and walk on her knees---sometimes she still does when safety and comfort permit.
She’s rarely daunted. Other children laughed at her through the years, especially in junior high school, but she says the challenge only made her stronger. Now she’s trying to convince her coaches to let her remove the prostheses and be a flyer, the cheerleader who’s thrown in the air and caught by her teammates.
Brittany doesn’t think her problems are more difficult than the next person’s. “My disability was the first thing I had to get through, and that’s going to prepare me for the future,” she says. “It’s all just a test: If someone throws you a curve ball(給你出難題), what are you going to do?”
【小題1】What was the school’s coaches’ attitude towards Brittany’s idea of being a cheerleader?

In seventh grade, Brittany Blythe dreamed of being a cheerleader. Her school’s coaches were less than enthusiastic. “They said, ‘I don’t know how you’ll be able to do it,’ she recalls. “‘You won’t be able to do it. ’”
But Brittany, now a junior at Strath Haven High School near Philadelphia, persisted(堅持). And when the junior team cheerleaders won a tournament last year, she was right there, dancing and cheering with the rest of the team.
Not bad for someone whose legs were cut off below the knee when she was two years old.
Brittany, 18, was born without shinbones(脛骨)--“just blood and muscle tissue”, as she puts it. When she tried to walk, her legs twisted.
After the operation, she adapted quickly. “From day one, I basically jumped up and wanted to do everything,” she says. Prosthetic legs(假腿) allowed her to move around upright, but too slowly to keep up with her friends. Brittany’s solution: take the legs off and walk on her knees---sometimes she still does when safety and comfort permit.
She’s rarely daunted. Other children laughed at her through the years, especially in junior high school, but she says the challenge only made her stronger. Now she’s trying to convince her coaches to let her remove the prostheses and be a flyer, the cheerleader who’s thrown in the air and caught by her teammates.
Brittany doesn’t think her problems are more difficult than the next person’s. “My disability was the first thing I had to get through, and that’s going to prepare me for the future,” she says. “It’s all just a test: If someone throws you a curve ball(給你出難題), what are you going to do?”

1. 1.

   What was the school’s coaches’ attitude towards Brittany’s idea of being a cheerleader?

   1. A.
      Supportive
   2. B.
      Doubtful
   3. C.
      Opposed
   4. D.
      Curious
2. 2.

   What did Brittany do to keep up with her friends?

   1. A.
      She used a pair of walking sticks.
   2. B.
      She practiced hard every day.
   3. C.
      She walked on her knees.
   4. D.
      She asked her friends for help
3. 3.

   The underlined word “daunted” in Paragraph 6 probably means _____________.

   1. A.
      discouraged
   2. B.
      angry
   3. C.
      confident
   4. D.
      fortunate
4. 4.

   We can learn from the last paragraph that Brittany __________.

   1. A.
      is not well prepared for the future
   2. B.
      takes a positive attitude towards life
   3. C.
      likes the challenge of learning new things
   4. D.
      thinks that her problems are more difficult than other’s.

One of the keys to being successful is persistence（堅持）．Once you have determined exactly what you want to achieve, you must take active action in order to succeed.
One of the things you'll notice on your journey towards your goal are roadblocks. That is, you will come across obstacles（障礙） to discourage your progress. Actually, they are a part of life. Everyone would have every success they ever wanted if there were no obstacles. Your job is to be persistent and work through those obstacles. If you find little or no obstacles along the way, chances are that you are not really challenging yourself. And when you do reach your goal, you won't experience the feeling of "sweet success". Make your goal a challenging one!
If you take the time to study any successful person, you will learn that the vast majority of them have had more "failures" than they have had "successes". This is because successful people are persistent; the more they stumble（絆倒）and fall, the more they get right back up and get going again. On the other hand, people that don't get back up and try again, never reach success. For example, Walt Disney was turned down 302 times before he got financing for his dream of creating the "Happiest Place on Earth". Today, due to his persistence, millions of people have shared "the joy of Disney".
Having known these facts, keep in mind that you must constantly reevaluate（再評估）your circumstances and the approach you are using to reach your goal. There is no sense in being persistent at something that you are doing incorrectly! Sometimes you have to modify（修改）your approach along the way. Every time you do something you learn from it, and
therefore find a better way to do it the next time.
Today is the day to begin your journey, using consistency and persistency, towards tomorrow's successes!
【小題1】The author seems to hold the belief that      .

閱讀下面短文，掌握其大意，然后從16~35各題所給的四個選項（A、B、C和D）中，選出最佳選項。

My friends and I had just finished lunch at a hotel when it started to pour heavily. When it became lighter. I decided to  16  the rain to get my car. which was parked at my office three streets away.

My friends  17  that I shouldn't go,  18  I was seven months pregnant (懷孕的) then. I told them that I'd be very  19 . One of them wanted to come with me but I  20  that she should stay with another friend who needed  21  with her baby.

I walked out of the hotel and started making my  22  to the car. At the traffic junction (交叉路口), a car  23  and the passenger got off with an umbrella.  24  I knew what was happening, he walked right beside me and told me he'd accompany me to my  25 . I was very embarrassed and  26 , but he was very persistent (堅持的).

During our walk, he kept telling me to walk  27 , as the ground was wet. When we got to the car park. I thanked him and we  28 . I did not get his name and may not even  29  him now. Did he purposely stop for me? I'll never know.

So how did I pay it  30 ? I was at home when I  31  two Indian construction workers walking in the heavy rain. They were probably on their way to the construction site near my home, which was a long walk. I went out and  32  them an umbrella. The two men were wet through. They were  33   by my gesture, and I told them they should take the umbrella and keep it. They were very  34  and like me, probably wondered why a stranger was  35  such kindness.