高考试题中的经典励志文章.doc

Evelyn Glennie was the first lady of solo percussion in Scotland. In an interview, she recalled how she became a percussion soloist (打击乐器独奏演员) in spite of her disability.“Early on I decided not to allow the opinions of others to stop me from becoming a musician. I grew up on a farm in northeast Scotland and began taking piano lessons when I was eight. The older I got, the more my passion (酷爱) for music grew. But I also began to gradually lose my hearing. Doctors concluded that the nerve damage was the cause and by age twelve, I was completely deaf. But my love for music never left me.“My goal was to become a percussion soloist, even though there were none at that time. To perform, I learned to hear music differently from others. I play in my stocking feet and can tell the pitch of a note (音调高低) by the vibrations (振动). I feel through my body and through my imagination. My entire sound world exists by making use of almost every sense that I have.“I was determined to be assessed as a musician, not as a deaf musician, and I applied to the famous Royal Academy of Music in London. No other deaf student had done this before and some teachers opposed my admission. Based on my performance, I was finally admitted and went to graduate with the academys highest honours.“After that, I established myself as the first full-time solo percussionist. I wrote and arranged a lot of musical compositions since few had been written specially for solo percussionists.“I have been a soloist for over ten years. Although the doctor thought a was totally deaf, it didnt mean that my passion couldnt be realized. I would encourage people not to allow themselves to be limited by others. Follow your passion; follow your heart, they will lead you to the place you want to go.” （08江苏完型填空）It was the summer of 1965. DeLuca, then 17, visited Peter Buck, a family friend. Buck asked DeLuca about his plans for the future. “Im going to college, but I need a way to pay for it,” DeLuca recalls saying. “Buck said, You should open a sandwich shop.”That afternoon, they agreed to be partners. And they set a goal: to open 32 stores in ten years. After doing some research, buck wrote a check for $1000. DeLuca rented a storefront (店面) in Connecticut, and when they couldnt cover their start-up costs, Buck kicked in another $1000.But business didnt go smoothly as they expected. DeLuca says, “After six months, we were doing poorly, but we didnt know how badly, because we didnt have any financial controls.” All he and Buck knew was that their sales were lower than their costs.DeLuca was managing the store and going to the University of Bridgeport at the same time. Buck was working at his day job as a nuclear physicist in New York. Theyd meet Monday evenings and brainstorm ideas for keeping the business running. “We convinced ourselves to open a second store. We figured we could tell the public, We are so successful, we are opening a second store.” And they didin the spring of 1966. Still, it was a lot of learning by trial and error.But the partners learn-as-you-go approach turned out to be their greatest strength. Every Friday, DeLuca would drive around and hand-deliver the checks to pay their suppliers. “It probably took me two and a half hours and it wasnt necessary, but as a result, the suppliers got to know me very well, and the personal relationships established really helped out,” DeLuca says.And having a goal was also important. “There are so many problems that can get you down. You just have to keep working toward your goal,” DeLuca adds. (08山东高考卷阅读C)She is a British athlete by the name of Tanni Grey-Thormpson. Born with spine hifida (脊椎裂) which left her paralysed from the waist down. Tanni used a wheelchair from the age of 7. at first, she was not keen on sport, apart from horse-riding, which gave her a sense of freedom. But in her teens, she started taking sports more seriously. She tried swimming, basketball and tennis. Eventually she found athletics, and never looked back. Indeed, Tannis athletic career took off. In 1984, when she was 15, she pulled off a surprise victory in the 100metres at the Junior National Wheelchair Games. In 1988, Tanni went to her first Paralympic Games in Seoul. She won bronze in the 400 metres. Even greater success followed at the 1992 Barcelona. Paralympics. Tanni won gold in the 100, 200, 400 and 800 metres relay, setting two world records in the process. In the same year she achieved she first of her six London Wheelchair Marathon victories. Tannis enduring success had been part motivation(动机), part preparation, “The training I do that enables me to be a good sprinter(短跑运动员) enables me to be good at a marathon too. I train 50 weeks of the year and that keeps me prepared for whatever distance I want to race. I am still competing at a very high level but as I get older things get harder and I want to retire before I fall apart.” Indeed Tanni retired finally after the Visa Paralympic World Cup in 2007. Her wish is to coach young athletes for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. In spite of ups and downs, she never take her fate lying down. In her splendid life, she has won an amazing eleven gold medals, four silvers and one bronze in series of Paralympics- a top lever athletic career covering two decades. She has won the London Wheelchair Marathon six times, more than any other competitor, and she has set over thirty world records. What advice does she have for young athletes? “Work hard at your studies, and then train, train and train again.” 08福建高考卷阅读A篇Adrians “Amazing Race” started early when his parents realized that he, as a baby, couldnt hear a thing, not even loud noises. In a special school for the hearing-impaired (听觉受损的)，he learned sign language and got to mix with other disabled children. However, the sight of all the disabled children communicating with one another upset his mother. She wanted him to lead a normal life. So after speaking to an advisor, she sent him to private classes where he learned to read lips and pronounce words. Later , Adrians parents decided to send him to a regular school. But the headmaster tried to prevent them from doing so, saying regular schools couldnt take care of a special needs student. His parents were determined to take the risk and pushed him hard to go through his work every day because they wanted to prove that, given the opportunity, he could do anything. Adrian made the grade and got accepted. It was a big challenge. The pace（节奏）was faster so he had to sit at the front of the class and really pay attention to the teacher, which wasnt always easy. But he stuck to it and did a lot of extra work after school. The efforts made by Adrian and his parents paid off. Adrian graduated with good grades and got into a top high school. He also achieved a lot in life outside school. He developed a love for the outdoors and went to Nepal to climb mountains. He even entered the World Yacht Race 05/06being the first hearing-impaired Asian to do so. But none of these achievements would have been possible without one of the most important lessons from his mother.“If you believe in yourself and work hard, you can achieve great results,”she often said。 （08浙江高考卷阅读A） Jamess New BicycleJames shook his money box again. Nothing! He carefully counted the coins that lay on the bed. $24.52 was all that he had. The bicycle he wanted was at least $90! How on earth was he going to get the rest of the money?He knew that his friends all had bicycles. It was hard to hang around with people when you were the only one without wheels. He thought about what he could do. There was no point asking his parents, for he knew they had no money to spare.There was only one way to get money, and that was to earn it. He would have to find a job. But who would hire him and what could he do? He decided to ask Mr. Clay for advice, who usually had opinions on most things.“Well, you can start right here,” said Mr. Clay. “My windows need cleaning and my car needs washing.” Tha