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) 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.

1.                A．letter          B．call            C．card D．email

2.                A．topics          B．regrets         C．thoughts D．words

3.                A．man           B．group          C．stage D．chance

4.                A．read           B．spell           C．see  D．recite

5.                A．had            B．forgot          C．realized  D．improved

6.                A．a(chǎn)sked          B．checked        C．explained D．wondered

7.                A．useful          B．successful       C．difficult   D．common

8.                A．wrote          B．prepared        C．gave D．finished

9.                A．knew          B．felt            C．believed  D．hoped

10.               A．easy           B．great          C．helpful    D．possible

We had one class for computers when I was in school, which was also introduced new in school and all the students did not attend it. I took it because I had free period and was interested in taking it. In those days we could not image that computers will become so important in our lives otherwise most of the students would have joined the computer class.
Computers are beneficial for almost anyone and the present generation is growing in an atmosphere(氛圍) where you need the computers for doing almost everything .If they are not made computer literate(精通) they will lag behind in all the activities. Nowadays almost all schools have some kind of computer courses for the students so that they learn the fundamentals of the computer. It will not be possible to do it if they don’t have computer classes. Most of the homes have personal computers now and most children are already aware of the basics before they join school.
Computing courses are also good for adults who are not familiar with the computer as most of the jobs which are available today have the use of computer in some way or the other. Adults who have not used the computer before are generally quite anxious, but an easy computing course will be able to change the way they think in a few weeks.
If you are interested, you can join a computing course which is longer and teaches you more than the basics, but you may have to spend more time in the completing course. They are very useful courses as it teaches you ways to use the fundamental programs which are typically used in various jobs.
It is also possible you may like to do the computing course for enjoyment as some of the classes are also free .There are courses which charge a fee for skills like graphic design and photo editing . They are a lot of fun too and may also be useful when you do a job , depending on the kind of career ，someone you choose or have . You will find these courses in the colleges, as well as online, if you already are familiar with the use of computer.
【小題1】Most of the students didn’t attend the computer course probably because         .

We had one class for computers when I was in school, which was also introduced new in school and all the students did not attend it. I took it because I had free period and was interested in taking it. In those days we could not image that computers will become so important in our lives otherwise most of the students would have joined the computer class.

Computers are beneficial for almost anyone and the present generation is growing in an atmosphere(氛圍) where you need the computers for doing almost everything .If they are not made computer literate(精通) they will lag behind in all the activities. Nowadays almost all schools have some kind of computer courses for the students so that they learn the fundamentals of the computer. It will not be possible to do it if they don’t have computer classes. Most of the homes have personal computers now and most children are already aware of the basics before they join school.

Computing courses are also good for adults who are not familiar with the computer as most of the jobs which are available today have the use of computer in some way or the other. Adults who have not used the computer before are generally quite anxious, but an easy computing course will be able to change the way they think in a few weeks.

If you are interested, you can join a computing course which is longer and teaches you more than the basics, but you may have to spend more time in the completing course. They are very useful courses as it teaches you ways to use the fundamental programs which are typically used in various jobs.

It is also possible you may like to do the computing course for enjoyment as some of the classes are also free .There are courses which charge a fee for skills like graphic design and photo editing . They are a lot of fun too and may also be useful when you do a job , depending on the kind of career ，someone you choose or have . You will find these courses in the colleges, as well as online, if you already are familiar with the use of computer.

1.Most of the students didn’t attend the computer course probably because         .

A．they were not interested in computer

B．they were busy with their homework

C．they thought computers were useless

D．they didn’t have computers at all

2.Which of the following is the main idea of the second paragraph?

A．The number of the computers is larger than before.

B．The computers are very important in our daily life.

C．The students are forced to learn computer at school.

D．Everyone has a personal computer at home.

3.According to this passage most of the jobs can be done by    .

A．a(chǎn)ttending computing courses

B．changing the way people think

C．learning all aspects of the computer

D．using the computer

4.The underlined pronoun “it” (in paragraph 4) refers to        .

A．the computer course                    B．the usage of word

C．the basic program                       D．the word processing

5.Which of the following is TRUE according to the last paragraph?

A．It costs some money to learn skills of computer.

B．All the classes for enjoyment are free online.

C．Photo editing is always useful to your job.

D．It is difficult to look for computer courses.