北京三年高考完形填空

When I entered Berkeley, I hoped to earn a scholarship. Having been a Straight-A student, I believed I could take tough subjects and really learn something. One such course was World Literature given by Professor Jayne. I was extremely interested in the ideas he presented in class.When I took the first exam, I was shocked to find a 77, C-plus, on my test paper, for English was my best subject. I went to Professor Jayne, who listened to my arguments but remained unmoved.I decided to try harder, although I didn’t know what that meant because school had always been easy for me. I read the books more carefully, but got another 77. Again, I reasoned with Professor Jayne. Again, he listened patiently but wouldn’t change his mind.One more test before the final exam. One more chance to improve my grade. So I redoubled my efforts and, for the first time, learned the meaning of the word “thorough”. But my effort did no good and everything went as before.The last hurdle was the final. No matter what grade I got, it wouldn’t cancel three C-pluses. I might as well kiss the scholarship goodbye.I stopped working head. I felt I knew the course material as well as I ever would. The night before the final, I even treated myself to a movie. The next day I decided for once I’d have fun with a test.A week later, I was surprised to find I got an A. I hurried into P rofessor Jayne’s office. He seemed to be expecting me. “If I gave you the As you expected, you wouldn’t continue to work as hard.”I stared at him, realizing that his analysis and strategy were correct. I had worked my head off, as I had never done before.I was speechless when my course grade arrived: A-plus. It was the only A-plus given. The next year I received my scholarship. I’ve always remembered Professor Jayne’s lesson: you alone must set your own standard of excellence.Ban the Band?Every year, our school has a dance for all the students. It’s a little funny seeing friends in clean shoes and trousers or colorful dressed, instead of the usual school uniform.Most of us think the dance is great fun -- even the teachers enjoy being there. However, two weeks ago someone said that there would be no live band this year -- only CDs.“I don’t believe it!” Amy cried out during the lunch break.“Someone said the school couldn’t afford a band, and they think it’s too noisy anyway,” added Daniel.“Well,I don’t think it’s good enough without a band!” declared Angela, “and I’m going to see what can be done.”Angela was as good as her word. In the afternoon she went to see the school headmaster who agreed to give the situation some more thought. And he suggested that one possibility for having a band was to increase the price of each ticket from $5 to $10. Angela had to find out whether the students would like to do that.“I need all of you to help me,” she announced to our group before school the next day. “Mr. Berry gave me a list of all the names, and suggested we ask each one their opinion about the band and the extra cost.”During the day we asked around as Angela suggested, and wrote down people’s feelings about the band and the cost. We were amazed how much support there was for the band and everyone agreed to pay the extra $5.“I’m surprised,”smiled Mr. Berry, when we gave him the results. “I really thought that only a few people wanted their band and that the cost would be too high. OK. Angela, your next task is to find a good band and line them up for the dance.”Angela was all smiles and broke the news to Amy and Daniel. “You’re amazing,”smiled Daniel to Angela as he thought how close they came to having a less than perfect dance.James’s New BicycleJames shook his money box again. Nothing! He carefully counted the coins that lay on the bed. $24.52 was all that he had. The bicycle he wanted was at least $90! How on earth was he going to get the rest of the money?He knew that his friends all had bicycles. It was hard to hang around with people when you were the only one without wheels. He thought about what he could do. There was no point asking his parents, for he knew they had no money to spare.There was only one way to get money, and that was to earn it. He would have to find a job. But who would hire him and what could he do? He decided to ask Mr. Clay for advice, who usually had opinions on most things.“Well, you can start right here,” said Mr. C lay. “My windows need cleaning and my car needs washing.”That was the beginning of James’s odd-job business. For three months he worked every day after finishing his homework. He was amazed by the variety of jobs that people found for him to do. He took dogs and babies for walks, cleared out cupboards, and mended books. He lost count of the number of cars he washed and windows he cleaned, but the money increased and he knew that he would soon have enough for the bicycle he longed for.The day finally came when James counted his money and found $94. 32. He wasted no time and went down to the shop to pick up the bicycle he wanted. He rode proudly home, looking forward to showing his new bicycle to his friends. It had been hard working for the money, but James knew that he valued his bicycle far more than he had bought it with his own money. He had achieved what he thought was impossible, and that was worth even than the bicycle.。