Part B Reading
Learning from Failure
Everyone is eager for success and is afraid of failure. But in fact, failure is almost inevitable on the way to success. Sometimes it is the large number of failure that can guide us to success step by step.
The young need to learn that no one can be best at everything,no one can win all the time and that it’s possible to enjoy a game even when you don’t win. A child who is not invited to a birthday party,who doesn’t make the honor roll or the baseball team, feels terrible, of course. But parents should not offer a quick consolation prize or say,“It doesn’t matter” because it does. The young should be allowed to experience disappointment and be helped to overcome it.
Failure is never pleasurable. It hurts adults and children alike. But it can make a positive contribution to your life once you learn to use it. The first step is to ask, “Why did I fail?” You must resist the natural impulse to blame someone else. Ask yourself what you did wrong, how you can improve. If someone else can help you, don’t be shy about inquiring him.
Success, which encourages repetition of old behavior, is not nearly as a good teacher as failure. You can learn how to give a good one from a too bad party. Even a failure that seems definitive can prompt fresh thinking, a change of direction. After 12 years of studying ballet a friend of mine auditioned for a professional company. She was turned down. “Would further training help?” She asked. The ballet master shook his head. “You will never be a dancer, ” he said, “You haven’t the body for it. ”
In such cases, the way to use failure is to assess yourself courageously, asking “What else can I do” My friend put away her shoes and moved into dance therapy, a field where she’s both competent and useful. Finally she succeeded in doing it.
In a word, only those people who are strong enough to face the failure and learn successful methods from failure can achieve desired success.
(358 words)
Exercises
Task One Answer the following questions according to the text.
1. Why is it possible to enjoy a game even when you don’t win?
2. What will parents most probably say if their child doesn’t make the honor roll?
3. When they fail is it very natural for people to blame themselves?
4. In Paragraph 4, the writer used the example of his friend, what did the writer want to illustrate?
5. What is the writer’s purpose in writing this passage?
Task Two Match the words.
1. achieve A. to refuse to accept sth. and try to prevent sth.
2. competent B. a sudden desire to do something
3. definitive C. to think or say that sb./sth. is responsible for sth. bad
4. impulse D. ask for information about sth.
5. resist E. the act of doing or performing again
6. assess F. clearly defined or formulated(https://www.daowen.com)
7. blame G. to make sb. decide to do sth.
8. prompt H. to place a value on; to judge the worth of something
9. repetition I. properly or sufficiently qualified or capable
10. inquire J. to gain with effort
Task Three Fill in the blanks with the words given below. Change the word forms if necessary.
1. I regretted over my_______________.
2. More claims are_______________, and Alibaba has not yet offered how much it will have to pay out.
3. The next match will probably offer them the_______________of winning.
4. He depended on his mother to take care of the twins for him; she’s had plenty of_______________with them.
5. Is there anything I can do to make your stay more_______________?
6. I cannot_______________giving an advice.
7. Many people act on_______________without thinking about the result.
8. If it wasn’t Sam’s fault, why did I_______________him?
9. He was appointed to_______________into the affairs of the company.
10. He bought me records to_______________me to study music.
Task Four Fill in the blanks with the words given below.
Task Five Order the words to make a sentence.
Task Six Translate the following sentences into English and use the given words or phrases.
