Section IV: Reading Comprehension (40 points)
Part A
Directions: There are 4 passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are for choices marked A, B, C, and D. You should decide on the best choice and blacken the corresponding letter on the ANSWER SHEET 1 with a pencil.
Questions 51 to 54 are based on the following passage:
Rich or poor, we all have problems: that unfaithful mate, that irritating colleague, that persistent disease, the investment that is turning into a huge loss.
How do we remain calm, positive and even elegant in the face of all these difficulties of life ?
The following suggestions may help.
It comes with the pay. I have a friend who used to complain about her dead-end job and unreasonable boss. Sound familiar? One day I told her, “Look at it this way. You are getting paid for the annoyance as well as the work. It comes with the pay.”
This has become my favorite saying for work-related frustrations. “Take every day as a bonus.” When we learn to treasure every moment of what we have, we begin to see life in a whole new perspective.
It’s all in the mind. Sure, the psychologists tell us it is important we work at resolving problems. But they also say if you try to resolve a problem that would not go away, it would only compound the frustration.
If you tell yourself there isn’t a problem, there won’t be one. It’s all in the mind
Stop thinking about your own problem—help others instead. A lady who is combating a life-threatening disease revealed she coped with her illness by making herself useful, by offering help to others in a similar situation.
She has spoken to at least five other women with breast cancer. She says that the sharing has helped her to find fresh meaning in her own life.
Never give up on your dream. Why do we give in and give up when we meet difficulties? Is it because we have no confidence in our cause and no commitment for what we pursue?
It was said that Albert Einstein’s last request on his death bed was to be given his equations and his unfinished statement declining the presidency of Israel.
Einstein first picked up his equations and lamented to his son, “If only I had more mathematics!” What a great persistent spirit!
One strong-hearted lady was the late head of the tragic Kennedy family, Rose Kennedy. She said this on nationwide television one week after losing yet another son to an assassin’s bullet—Boddy Kennedy: “And we go on our way with no regrets not looking backwards to the past, but we shall carry on with courage.”
Not the end of the world. Do you know something else? I’ve learned that care as you might, love as you might, some people just don’t care back.
And it’s not the end of the world. After all, it’s not the event that makes a person, is it? It’s what we do about that happens to us.
