When I was 15, I had an enemy, a girl who liked to
point out my short-comings(缺點(diǎn)). Week by week her list
grew. I was skinny(瘦的), I talked too loud, I was too proud, and
so on. I put up with(忍受)her as long as I could. At last, I ran to
my father in tears and anger. He listened to my outburst quietly. They he
asked, “Are the things she says the true or not?”True? I wanted to know how to
strike back. What did truth have to do with it?
“Mary, didn’t you ever wonder what you are really
like? Well, you now have that girl’s opinion. ”Go and make a list of every
thing she said and mark the points that are true. You needn’t pay attention to
the other things she said.
I did as he told me and discovered to my surprise that
about half the things are true. Some of them I couldn’t change(like being
skinny), but a good number I could and suddenly wanted to change. For the time
in my life I began to get a quiet clear picture of myself.
I brought the list back to Daddy, but he wouldn’t take
it.“That’s just for you,”he said.“You know better than any else the truth about
yourself, once you hear it. But you’ve got to learn to listen, not close your
ears in anger or hurt. When someone says something about you, you’ll know if
it’s true or not. If it is ,you’ll find it will echo(共鳴)inside you.”
“I still don’t think it very nice of her to talk about
me in front of everybody.”
“Mary, there is one way you could stop others talking
about you ever again, and criticizing(批評(píng)) you—just
say nothing and do nothing. But then, if you do that, you’d find you were
nothing. You wouldn’t like that now, would you?”“No, I admitted(承認(rèn))”
1.One day the writer ran to her father in tears and
anger because__________.
A．she found she
talked too much. B．she found she
was too proud.
C．her
classmates were not friendly to her. D．a(chǎn) girl pointed out many
of her shortcomings.
2.The writer’s father asked her ____________.
A．to pay
attention to all that her“enemy”said about
her.
B．not to pay
attention to what her“enemy”said about
her.
C．to pay
attention only to the points that were true about her.
D．to pay
attention only to the points that were not true about her.
3.The writer found that___________.
A．a(chǎn)bout half
the things her“enemy”said were
true.
B．most of the
things her“enemy”said were
true.
C．few of the
things her“enemy”said were
true.
D．none of the
things her“enemy”said were
true.
4.The writer’s father thinks__________.
A．if one says
nothing and does nothing, people will praise him.
B．one should
not do anything because others will talk about him.
C．it is not
good to talk about others.
D．everyone is
talked about by others.
