I did very badly at school. My headmaster thought I was ___36___ and when I was 14 he said

I did very badly at school. My headmaster thought I was ___36___ and when I was 14 he said, “You’re never going to be ___37___ but a failure.”

After five years of ___38___ jobs, I fell in love with a very nice middle-class girl. It was the best ___39___ that could have happened to me. I ___40___ I wanted to do something positive (积极的) with my life because I wanted to prove to ___41___ that what people said about me was ___42___. Especially her mother, who had said to me, “Let’s ___43___ it, you’ve failed at everything you’ve ever done.” So I tried hard with my ___44___ and went to college. My first novel (小说) ___45___ while I was at college.

After college I taught during the ___46___ in high schools and attended evening classes at London University, where I got a ___47___ in history. I became a lecturer at a college and was thinking of ___48___ that job to write full time ___49___ I was offered a part-time job at Leeds University. I began to feel proud of myself—___50___ was a working-class boy who’d ___51___ school early, now teaching at the university.

My writing career (职业) took off when I discovered my own style. Now I’m rich and ___52___, have been on TV, and met lots of film stars. ___53___ what does it mean? I ___54___ wish all the people that have put me down had ___55___: “I believe in you. You’ll succeed.”

36. A. bright   B. useless       C. simple D. hopeful

37. A. anything      B. something  C. everything  D. nothing

38. A. low      B. poor   C. good   D. useful

39. A. support B. happiness   C. surprise      D. thing

40. A. admitted      B. decided      C. planned      D. told

41. A. me       B. them   C. her     D. it

42. A. wrong  B. right   C. stupid D. faulty

43. A. see       B. know  C. understand  D. face

44. A. experiment  B. practice      C. writing       D. composition

45. A. came on      B. came in      C. came out    D. came back

46. A. day      B. night   C. month D. year

47. A. graduation   B. pass    C. degree D. success

48. A. giving in     B. giving back       C. giving out  D. giving up

49. A. while   B. if C. when  D. or

50. A. there    B. here    C. it D. that

51. A. left      B. attended    C. changed     D. graduated

52. A. tired     B. calm   C. nervous      D. famous

53. A. And     B. But     C. However    D. Well

54. A. just      B. exactly       C. so       D. very

55. A. praised B. said    C. answered    D. advised

36---55           BABDB   CADCC   ACDCB   ADBAB     

本文主要讲我们即便身处劣境，也不要气馁，而应保持积极的心态，努力进取。同时作者也希望人们能给那些表现不很出色的人多一些鼓励。

36. B。前句说“我”在学校表现不好，故此处用useless表示校长认为“我”是一个“无用”的人。

37. A。anything but 是习语，意为“决不”“根本不”，与其前的否定词never构成双重否定，表示强调的肯定，即校长认为我肯定是一个失败的人。

38. B。从下文来看，情况一直都不好，故用poor。

39. D。对“我”这样一个境况如此糟糕的人来说，能与 a very nice middle-class girl谈恋爱，当然是一件最好的事了。

40. B。此处指作者下决心(decide)要做一些积极的事情以改变自己的境况。

41. C。此处指作者要向其女朋友证明不像别人所说的那样不行。

42. A。指作者想证明，人们认为他不行的看法是错误的(wrong)。

43. D。Let’s face it 意为“咱们面对现实吧”。

44. C。根据下一句提到的 my first novel 可知此处应填空C。

45. C。come out 在此指“出版”。

46. A。与下文的evening class 相对，处指用 during the day。

47. C。get a degree 指获得学位。degree 意为“学位”。

48. D。此处指作者想辞掉工作做一个专职作家，故用give up。

49. C。指就在那时作者得到了一份在大学兼职的工作，when意为“就在那时”。

50. B。此处here表示一种自豪的心态。

51. A。leave school 指“退学”。

52. D。下文中说作者出现在电视上，并且与rich 并列，因此填famous。

53. B。but 表转折，即有钱和有名又能意味什么呢?

54. A。/ 55. B。此句的意思是：“我”只是想，要是那些曾经瞧不起我的人能说“我想信你，你会成功的”该是多好啊。