Task 1
Directions: After reading the following passage, you will find 5 questions or unfinished statements numbered 36 to 40. For each question or statement there are 4 choices marked A, B, C and D. You should make the correct choice and mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the center.
Young men and women, if you suffer from the same case, don’t despair. Here I’ll give you some examples to show that it is never too late for success.
Charles Darwin’s early life was a mess. In his well-educated family, he was considered to be rather dull. He was sent to Glasgow to study medicine, but he couldn’t stand the sight of blood. He was sent to a divinity school and barely managed to graduate. Therefore he quit the whole business and shipped to the South American coastline on the famous exploring ship Beagle. On that voyage, one of history’s greatest scientists was born. It was here that he collected the material for the book that would revolutionize biological science: The Origin of Species.
Edison’s inventions are beyond counting, and all of us are benefited from him. You may not know that Thomas Edison, in his early teens, was so dull that his teacher tried to get him out of the class. The teachers said that his brain was addled.
Tchaikovsky never showed any interest in music during his formative years. In fact he never showed gift in any direction whatever. It was not until he was 22 that he suddenly became fired with a great passion for music, and finally became a great musician with world fame.
So who’s to say what about youth? A young boy or girl who knows what he or she wants to do in life probably has a better future. No teenagers need despair of the future, for they have that one special advantage over that greatest man alive-time! If you don’t think time counts, look at Grandma Moses. She never sold a painting till she was 80.
