孫繼艷

成功與努力是密不可分的，努力是成功的基礎(chǔ)。努力了不一定會(huì)成功，但不努力一定不會(huì)成功。同時(shí)我們也要認(rèn)識(shí)到成功也不是都那么重要，只要盡力而為就好！盡力了就問(wèn)心無(wú)愧！

This high school term was supposed to be easier. That is the thought in my mind—after all， this is the first term that Im taking less than 20 credits（學(xué)分）， and Im enjoying all of my classes. However， this term has felt the most difficult and my grades are much worse than they were when I was taking two more classes.

I could blame（怪罪） it on the fact that Ive been busy working in several school clubs and practicing for a school musical several times a week. Actually， it is important that I dont overlook（忽視） that because it wouldnt be fair to myself to say it doesnt play a part in my low grades. However， its clearly not the only reason. In fact， study has never been easy for me.

I thought that putting in more effort would change things， but it hasnt. The exam I studied for hours on comes back a failure. I fall asleep while working on homework and forget to hand it in. I sit in class taking lots of notes， and when I look back at them to do my homework， it all reads as gibberish. I start to realize that maybe some of the work I do is just hard.

Im learning that its okay not to be the best at the work that you do. When youre used to being naturally good， its hard to realize that throwing the same amount（數(shù)量） of effort at something that is more difficult wont just automatically（自動(dòng)地） work. However， we shouldnt feel bad about that. Even though were here for learning， there are so many things to spend our time on. I think of the things I want as all having a price， and the amount that I would like to pay at any given time changes， as does the price. Its not to say that you should stop working hard， but its good to keep in mind that sometimes the price just might be too high for you at a given time.

You dont have to do everything perfectly， even if it looks easy， and youre allowed to deal with knowledge that just doesnt make sense to you. This is the time to learn how to keep on keeping on. We will be the best of ourselves once we learn that being our best isnt a precondition to learning.

鞏固提高

1. What was probably the writers expectation for her term？

A. To take more classes and be able to enjoy them.

B. To live an easy school life and get good grades.

C. To give up some clubs to have more time to study.

D. To experience a challenging term and get perfect marks.

2. What can we learn from Paragraph 4？

A. People will pay a higher price if they stop working.

B. People have to ask for help if they want to learn well.

C. People shouldnt give up their goals even though they feel bad.

D. People cant always make something possible by working hard.

3. The writer would probably agree ________.

A. we should know how to keep going in the face of challenges

B. we shouldnt study things that dont make sense to us

C. we should perform perfectly when our work is easy

D. we shouldnt take part in school activities

Keys：1-3 BDA