Not long ago, I faced an enjoyable yet formidable(难以对付的) challenge. I was returning to my old neighborhood in the South Bronx to speak the students of my old school, Morris High. As we drove down streets where my friend Gene Norman and I used to race bicycles, I thought of the problems awaiting the kids living here, the drugs, the temptations, and the crime. What could I say to encourage them?
As we passed the hamburger place that I used to haunt, I remembered my growing-up years here, the joys, the sorrows, and the choices. Even then kids faced choices. There were drugs in my neighbourhood and a youngster could gain easy access to them if tempted. But in my family, the decision was simple: You just didn’t do it. We knew it was stupid and the most self-destructive thing you could do with the life God had given you.
At age of 17 I found a summer job in a local soft-drink bottling plant at 90 cents an hour. I was thrilled. On my first day of work, having joined the ranks of other newly hired teenagers, I was full of enthusiasm. The bottling machines caught my eye, but only the white boys worked there. I was hired as a porter and the foreman handed me a mop(拖把). I decided to be the best mop user there ever was. Right to left, left to right. [
As our car rolled on, our driver’s voice broke my thought . “We are here, General.” I looked up at my old school; it hadn’t changed much. As I walked up its familiar stone steps I remembered racing up them to beat the bell. The setting for my talk to the student body was the gymnasium.
“I remember this place”, I told the students. “I remember it all. I remember running through Van Cortland Park with the track team, the victory I used to take each day from my home to Kelly Street to school.”
“I also remember, upon occasions, experiencing the feeling ‘you can’t make it’”, I continued. “But you can. When I was coming up, opportunities were limited. But now the opportunities are there to be anything you want to be. But wanting to be isn’t enough, dreaming about it isn’t enough. You’ve got to study for it, work for it, fight for it with all your heart energy and soul so that nothing will be denied you.
I wanted them to make the right choices, to work hard and not lose sight of a dream. And I wanted them to know that someone is always watching.
41.Why does the author say that he faced an enjoyable yet formidale challenge?Because__________
A.he was very much afraid of returning to his old neighborhood
B. his old neighborhood is problematic with drugs, temptation and crimes
C. he was going to make a speech to schoolboys and schoolgirls of Morris High
D. there are problems on the road his car was driven on and this worried him
42.The author thinks it was __________for kids to face choices when he was young.
A. very exciting B. only natural
C. very easy D. really a sad thing
43.According to the author, the stupid and the most self-destructive thing you could do with the life God
had given you is __________.
A. to get easy access to choices B. to hang around the hamburger place
C. to get addicted to drugs D. to resist the temptation of drugs
44.Which statement is TRUE according to the article?
A. The author went back to his old school as a general
B. The author was the best mop user there ever was
C. The author was very excited about his first job
D.The author believed that you can become anything you want