My name is Ben Mansury. I’m fifteen years old and study in a middle school. In school, I never join in any group discussion or stage (舞臺(tái)) program. So, I never knew what stage nervousness was.
Our community (社區(qū)) has a weekly “Students Ideas” program. About two years ago, I received a(n)   1   from the chairman of our community. He invited me to the “Students Ideas” talk the next morning to speak to the group.
The time between his call to the next morning was like several weeks for me. The whole night, I could not sleep. Many   2   were coming. One of them was to call the chairman, with regret, and tell him that I could not come. But finally, I thought, if I missed this   3  , the community would never invite me again to any of their programs. So, I decided to go.
I reached the hall in time. When my turn came and I started, my heartbeat increased and my mouth went dry. I wasn’t even able to   4   the words on the paper properly. I had no idea where I was standing and what I was talking. That was the day when I   5   my biggest weakness: public speaking.
After I finished, I met with the chairman and   6   what happened to me. He said that this happens to everyone. It is very   7  . He suggested that I should come again the next week.
I   8   a talk carefully. This time when I gave the talk, I was somewhat comfortable but not confident (自信的). Afterwards, I met with the chairman again and told him about the improvement I   9   I had made. He was kind enough to invite me again.
For around one month, I practiced a lot for my talk. This time I was feeling comfortable and both the chairman and my neighbors thought I did a good job.    
I learned that everything is   10   if we take the first step, as the saying goes: A journey of thousand miles begins with first step.

My teenage son Karl became withdrawn after his father died. As a single parent, I tried to do my best to talk to him. But the more I tried, the more he pulled away. When his report card arrived during his junior year, it said that he had been absent 95 times from classes and had six falling grades for the year. In this way he would never graduate. I sent him to the school adviser, and I even begged him. Nothing worked.
One night I felt so powerless that I got down on my knees and asked God for help. “Please God, I can’t do anything more for my son. I’m at the end of my rope. I’m giving the whole thing up to you.”
I was at work when I got a phone call. A man introduced himself as the headmaster. “I want to talk to you about Karl’s absences.” Before he could say another word, I choked up（哽咽）and all my disappointment and sadness over Karl came pouring out into the ears of this stranger. “I love my son, but I just don’t know what to do. I’ve tried everything to get Karl to go back to school and nothing has worked. It’s out of my hands. ” For a moment there was silence on the other and of the line. The headmaster seriously said, “Thank you for your time”, and hung up.
　　Karl’s next report card showed a marked improvement in his grades. Finally, he was even on the list of the best students at school. In his fourth year, I attended a parent –– teacher meeting with Karl. I noticed that his teachers were surprised at the way he had turned himself around. On our way home, he said, “Mum, remember that call from the headmaster last year?” I nodded. “That was me. I thought I’d play a joke but when I heard what you said, it really hit me how much I was hurting you. That’s when I knew I had to make you proud.”
【小題1】Which of the following has the similar meaning as the underlined word “withdrawn” in the  first paragraph?

My teenage son Karl became withdrawn after his father died. As a single parent, I tried to do my best to talk to him. But the more I tried , the more he pulled away. When his report card arrived during his junior year, it said that he had been absent 95 times from classes. In this way he would never graduate. I sent him to the school adviser, and I even begged him. Nothing worked.
◆ One night I was at work when I got a phone call. A man introduced himself as a head teacher. “ I want to talk to you about Karl’s absences(缺席).” Before he could say another word I choked up(哽咽). And said sadly, “ I love my son. I’ve tried everything to get Karl to go back to school and nothing has worked. It’s out of my hands.” For a moment there was silence on the other end of the line. The head teacher seriously said, “ Thank you for your time.”
◆ Karl’s next report card showed a marked improvement in his grades. He was even on the list of the best students at school. In his fourth year, I took part in a parent-teacher meeting.I noticed that his teachers were surprised at the way he had turened himself around. On our way home, he said, “ Mum, remember that call from the head teacher last year?” I nodded. “That was me. I thought I’d play a joke but I heard what you said, It really hit me how much I was hurting you.That’s when I knew I had to make you proud.”
閱讀短文內(nèi)容, 選擇正確答案。（5分）
【小題1】Which of the following has the similar meaning to the underlined word “withdrawn”?

My brother and I often fight with each other over small things. One day our father said to us, “Tomorrow we will take part in the Ray Home Sports Day. Both of you must go with me. Perhaps you can learn something from those children.” My brother laughed, “Dad, Ray is a home for physically disabled children. What can we learn from them?”

?? “You will see,” our father said.

?? Our father works as a volunteer at Ray. The children there have problems with their hands, speech, walking or hearing. Every day, he spends hours helping th em to move or exer cise their legs or arms.

?? The following day, he took us to Ray Home. When we got there, we found a nice place to sit down. Finally, the sports began. There was a 50-meter race to see who could run fastest. All the runners were physically disabled. As the race started, all the children moved as fast as they could. Just then, one of the girls fell over and hurt her leg. She began to cry at the top of her voice.

?? All the children stopped to help the poor girl. Then they? all held hands and finished the race together. My brother and I were surprised to see this: the children weren’t interested in winning the race－they were more interested in helping each other to finish the race.

1.Why did the father take the writer and his brother to Ray Home?

A. The father wanted them to do something at Ray.

B. The father asked them to help the children at Ray.

C. The father wanted them to take part in the Sports Day.

D. The father wanted them to learn something from the children.

2.What does the fat her often do in Ray Home?

A. He works as a teacher there.??????? B. He helps the children there.

C. He watches the games there.??????? D. He does sports with his sons.

3.Why did all the children stop in the 50-meter race stop?

A. All the children were disabled.?????? B. A little girl fell over and got hurt.

C. They stopped to laugh at the girl.???? D. They didn’t want to finish the race.

4.What can we learn from the passage?

A. The children there can help each other.

B. All the runners there can not run fast.

C. All the children don’t want to be winners.

D. The disabled children there were not smart enough.