Passage 46
学霸导读 “苔花如米小，也学牡丹开。”关于成功的定义，古诗词中的苔花或许能给我们启示。
What do you think a successful person is？ Someone who makes a lot of money？ Someone who is remembered by future generations？ Someone who changes the world？ Not long ago， a volunteer teacher and his students came to r 1 us of our more humble measures of success. Liang Jun sang the poem alongside a group of his students from the incredibly poor Wumeng Mountain region in southwest China. The poem， by the famous poet Yuan Mei， is titled Moss （ 苔 ）. The message goes something like this： Despite being tiny， s 2 insignif icant and having worse conditions for growth， moss is able to grow and f lourish just like the peony （ 牡丹 ）.
In the modern world， more and more individuals from rural areas are f 3 into the cities to f ind success. With this wave of urbanization （ 城市化 ）， competition for jobs and everything else is f 4 . Ordinary people who may lack connections， a desirable appearance or other desired qualities can often feel disillusioned （ 理想破灭的 ） with their circumstances. The poem serves as a reminder for everyone that we don’t have to be the peony.
When we study human history， we c 5 across names like Genghis Khan （ 成吉思汗 ） and Neil Armstrong. We credit these individuals with tremendous feats （ 功绩 ）， but we tend to forget the c 6 individuals who helped them achieve greatness. Genghis Khan wouldn’t have been able to conquer half of Europe and Asia without his incredible army or trusted advisors. American astronaut Neil Armstrong couldn’t have made it to the moon without NASA， nor could any famous entrepreneurs have p 7 run on companies only on their own. So， is it truly n 8 for our names to be written down in history books？ Or can we be satisf ied with just knowing that we played our part？
In a few months， most of China will likely have forgotten about Liang Jun and his brief appearance on CCTV； however， his students and everyone he has i 9 will remember his message. They will take heart from his inspiring words， and forge （ 艰苦干成 ） their own paths in life. The poem Moss may live longer in our memories and inspire many future generations to achieve their m 10 of success.
1.__________2.__________3.__________4.__________5.__________
6.__________7.__________8.__________9.__________10.__________
高频词汇
humble /'hʌmbl/ adj. 谦虚的，谦逊的；普通的，不起眼的
message /'mesɪdʒ/ n. （书、电影或戏剧的） 要旨，寓意，中心思想
f lourish /'f lʌrɪʃ/ v. 茁壮成长；繁荣
credit /'kredɪt/ v. 把……归功于
tend /tend/ v. 倾向；往往会
tremendous /trɪ'mendəs/ adj. 巨大的；极好的