What’s your idea about success? Some people say that beginners have all the luck, while others believe that success ______ only with practice. In fact, I feel both of these statements(陈述)are not true all the time. Each is true in some ways ______ not in others.

For example, I went to a drawing competition many years ago and ______ surprisingly. As a prize, I got a film ticket to see “Titanic”. I was really ______ because it was the first time I had taken part in any competition. Thinking that I might be lucky again, I ______ joining in other art competitions. But the result was that I ______ won again. I accepted the fact that the other people had a ______ artistic ability than I did. Art was not something I was especially interested in and I had never practiced the different art skills. So, the ______ I produced were not of a very high standard.

These experiences taught me a lot. Though I might have been lucky ______ . I also need to put in hard work. As we know, ______ makes perfect. So I believe success builds on less luck and chance.

【小题7】

A．greater

B．more natural

C．lower

D．more common

Never give up! That is one lesson I learned when I was very young. At the age of four, not knowing a single word of _________, I started school. I felt _________ because I couldn’t talk to other kids. Maybe I was _________ because I never got used to talking with others. I only know Spanish, and English is just a mixture of _________. When the teacher spoke English, the _________ became faster and faster and then became a tornado (龙卷风) ripping through my mind. I was unable to _________. I got so confused and I didn’t know what to do. I sometimes felt like crying, but I kept telling myself never to _________.

I started to learn English hard. At the end of the year, I could understand, read, speak and write English. The next year I _________ my friend Jack. It was his first year of school and he didn’t _________ English like me in the beginning, so I started to ____________ him this difficult language. At first it was very ____________, but at last he got used to English and picked it up quickly. We ____________ learning more and more every year, and now we are both very good English ____________.

I also began to teach my younger sisters since I didn’t want them to feel isolated (孤立的) and shy as I did.

This year I am in the eighth grade and have got straight A’s in every class since kindergarten. My ____________? I never give up. Now I am learning Japanese. It may be a little ____________, but I will keep on learning it. No matter how hard something is, I never give up. I keep trying until I do it right. Nothing is difficult in the world if you put your heart into it.

Nothing is impossible to a willing heart. In history many people were thought of by others as king ________, but they took on challenges and became great people in the end.

“We don’t like their ________ or guitar music.” Decca Recording Company refused the Beatles in 1962. They couldn’t imagine the band (乐队) would be ________ around the world. Its albums (专辑) created new records in ________ after it stopped recording or even putting on shows. Why? Because members of the Beatles ________ that t hey had the ability to make a name for them and worked with confidence all the time.

“Your son Tommy is ________ stupid (愚蠢的) to learn. Get him out of school.” This was the ________ that the teacher put in a little boy’s pocket ________ he walked home one day. The boy’s mother decided to teach the little boy ________ from then on. At that time the mother didn’t ________ that her son would achieve so much, but she kept cheering him up. The little boy is ________ today for his great inventions. He is Thomas Edison.

Michael Phelps, the former American ________, started swimming as a child after the doctor said he had Attention—Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (多动症). His hard work saw him break many world records and become one of the most ________ athletes in the world.

Those people set a good ________ to us. If we have a strong will like them, we can overcome my difficulty, and finally find a way to ________ our dreams.