Part I Reading Comprehension (30%)

Directions: There are three passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the center.

Passage 1

Many a young person tells me he wants to be a writer.(76) 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(自由欄目)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 ? (77 ) 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.

1. The passage is meant to ______.

A. warn young people of the hardships that a successful writer has to experience

B. advise young people to give up their idea of becoming a professional writer

C. show young people it’s unrealistic for a writer to pursue wealth and fame

D. encourage young people to pursue a writing career

2. What can be concluded from the passage?

A. Genuine writers often find their work interesting and rewarding.

B. A writer’s success depends on luck rather than on efforts.

C. Famous writers usually live in poverty and isolation.

D. The chances for writer to become successful are small

3. Why did the author begin to doubt himself after the first year of his writing career?

A. He wasn’t able to produce a single book.

B. He hadn’t seen aching for the better.

C. He wasn’t able to have a rest for a whole year.

D. He though that he lacked imagination.

4. “…people who die wondering: What if ?”(Lin4-5, Para-3) refers to “those _____”.

A. who think too much of the dark side of life

B. who regret giving up their career halfway

C. who think a lot without making a decision

D. who are full of imagination even upon death

5. “Shadowland” in the last sentence refers to _____.

A. the wonderland on often dreams about

B. the bright future that one is looking forward to

C. the state of uncertainty before one’s final goal is reached

D. a world that exists only in one’s imagination