"So?"he said."Er...so what?""So what do you really want to do?"he asked. My father was a lawyer,and I had always assumed he wanted me to go to law school,and follow his path through life."I want to travel,and I want to be a writer."I replied. This was not the answer he would expect."Interesting idea,"he said."I kind of wish I'd done that when I was your age."I wailed. "You have plenty of time.You need to find out what you really enjoy now.Look,it's late. Let's take the boat out tomorrow morning,just you and me. Maybe we can catch some crabs for dinner,and we can talk more." Early next morning we set off along the coast. We didn't talk much,but enjoyed the sound of the seagulls and the sight of the coastline and the sea beyond. There was no surf on the coastal waters at that time."Let's see if we get lucky,"he said,picked up a mesh basket with a rope attached and threw it into the sea. We waited a while,then my father stood up and said,"Give me a hand with this,"and we pulled up the crab cage onto the deck. The cage was filled with dozens of soft shell crabs."Why don't they try to escape?" "just watch them for a moment. Look at that one,there!He's trying to climb out,but every time the other crabs pull him back in,"said my father. After several times,not only did the crab give up its struggle to escape,but it actually began to help stop other crabs trying to escape.He'd finally chosen an easy way of life. Suddenly I understood why my father had suggested catching crabs that morning. He looked at me. "Don't get pulled back by the others,"he said."Spend some time figuring out who you are and what you want in life.Think about what's really important to you,what really interests you,what skills you have.If you can't answer these questions now,then take some time to find out. Because if you don't,you'll never be happy." My father started the motor and we set off back home. What did the father advise the son to do? A) To get to understand himself better. B) To watch what others do more carefully. C) To realize one cannot always get what one wants. D) To always follow his father.
A
I got your letter and was glad to find that you had not forgotten Jourdon, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again in Tennessee, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt. It would do me good to go back to the dear old home again and see Allen, Esther, Green, and Lee. Give my love to them all, and tell them I hope we will meet in the better world, if not in this. I want to know particularly what the good chance is you propose to give me. I am doing tolerably well here in Ohio. I get twenty-five dollars a month, with food and clothing; have a comfortable home for Mandy, the folks call her Mrs. Anderson; and the children--Milly, Jane, and Grundy--go to school and are learning well. The teacher says Grundy has a head for a preacher. We are kindly treated. Now, if you will write and say what wages you will give me, I will be better able to decide whether it would be to my advantage to move back again. We have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you. This will make us forget and forgive old scores and rely on your justice and friendship in the future. I served you faithfully for thirty-two years, and Mandy twenty years. At twenty-five dollars a month for me, and two dollars a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to eleven thousand six hundred and eighty dollars. Add to this the interest for the time our wages have been kept back, and deduct what you paid for our clothing, and three doctor's visits to me, and pulling a tooth for Mandy. If you fail to pay us for faithful labors in the past, we can have little faith in your promises in the future. In answering this letter, please state if there would be any safety for my Milly and Jane, who are now grown up, and both good-looking girls. I would rather stay here and starve--and die, if it should come to that--than have my girls brought to shame by the violence and wickedness of their young... According to the passage, the letter was written by Jourdon to his former _ . A) friend B) master C) neighbor D) relative
B
There are two basic ways to see growth: one as a product, the other as a process. People have generally viewed personal growth as a result or product that can easily be identified and measured. The worker who gets a rise, the student whose grades improve, the foreigner who learns a new language--all these are examples of people who have measurable results to show for their efforts. By contrast, the process of personal growth is much more difficult to determine, since it is a journey and not the specific signposts or landmarks along the way. The process is not the road itself, but rather the attitudes and feelings people have, their caution or courage, as they meet with new experiences and unexpected obstacles . In this process, the journey never really ends; there are always new ways to experience the world, new ideas to try, new challenges to accept. In order to grow, to travel new roads, people need to have a willingness to take risks, to face the unknown, and to accept the possibility that they may "fail" at first. How we see ourselves as we try a new way of being is extremely important to our ability to grow. Do we notice ourselves as quick and curious? If so, then we tend to take more chances and to be more open to unfamiliar experiences. Do we think we're shy and indecisive? Then our sense of fear can cause us to hesitate, to move slowly, and we think we're slow to adapt to change or that we're not smart enough to deal with a new challenge. Then we are likely to take a more passive role or not try at all. These feelings of insecurity and self-doubt are both unavoidable and necessary if we are to change and grow. If we protect ourselves too much, then we stop growing. We become trapped inside a shell of our own making. Which of the following can be viewed as the process of personal growing? A) Helen was always willing to accept challenges. B) Jane won the first prize in the speech competition. C) Jerry picked up French during his stay in Paris. D) Father's salary rose from 5,000 to 7,000.
A