Another person’s enthusiasm was what set me moving toward the success I have achieved. That person was my stepmother.
I was nine years old when she entered our home in rural Virginia. My father introduced me to her with these words: “I would like you to meet the fellow who is ___1 for being the worst boy in this county and will probably start throwing rocks at you no ___2 than tomorrow morning.”
My stepmother walked over to me, ___3 my head slightly upward, and looked me right in the eye. Then she looked at my father and replied, “You are ___4 . This is not the worst boy at all, but the smartest one who hasn’t yet found an outlet（释放的途径）for his enthusiasm.”
That statement began a(n) ___5 between us. No one had ever called me smart. My family and neighbors had built me up in my ___6 as a bad boy. My stepmother changed all that.
She changed many things. She ___7 my father to go to a dental school, from which he graduated with honors. She moved our family into the county seat, where my father’s career could be more ___8 and my brother and I could be better___9 .
When I turned fourteen, she bought me a secondhand___10 and told me that she believed that I could become a writer. I knew her enthusiasm, I___11 it, and I saw how it had already improved our lives. I accepted her ___12 and began to write for local newspapers. I was doing the same kind of writing that great day I went to interview Andrew Carnegie and received the task which became my life’s work later. I wasn’t the only beneficiary (受益者). My father became the ___13 man in town. My brother and stepbrothers became a physician, a dentist, a lawyer, and a college president.
What power enthusiasm has! When that power is released to support the certainty of one’s purpose and is ___14 strengthened by faith, it becomes an irresistible force which poverty and temporary defeat can never ___15 .
You can communicate that power to anyone who needs it. This is probably the greatest work you can do with your enthusiasm.
1. A. distinguished B. favored C. mistaken D. rewarded
2. A. sooner B. later C. longer D. earlier
3. A. dragged B. shook C. raised D. bent
4. A. perfect B. right C. wrong D. impolite
5. A. agreement B. friendship C. gap D. relationship
6. A. opinion B. image C. expectation D. mind
7. A. begged B. persuaded C. ordered D. invited
8. A. successful B. meaningful C. helpful D. useful
9. A. treated B. entertained C. educated D. respected
10. A. camera B. radio C. bicycle D. typewriter
11. A. considered B. suspected C. ignored D. appreciated
12. A. belief B. request C. criticism D. description
13. A. cleverest B. strongest C. wealthiest D. healthiest
14. A. deliberately B. happily C. traditionally D. constantly
15. A. win B. match C. reach D. doubt