Question

“Cleverness is a gift while kindness is a choice. Gifts are easy – they’re given after all. Choices can be hard.” –– Jeff Bezos.

I got the idea to start Amazon 16 years ago. I came across the fact that the Internet usage was growing at 2,300 percent per year. I’d never seen or heard of anything that grew that fast, and the idea of building an online bookstore with millions of titles was very exciting to me. I had just turned 30 years old, and I’d been married for a year. I told my wife MacKenzie that I wanted to quit my job and go to do this crazy thing that probably wouldn’t work since most start-ups don’t, and I wasn’t sure what to expect. MacKenzie told me I should go for it. As a young boy, I’d been a garage inventor. I’d always wanted to be an inventor, and she wanted me to follow my passion.

I was working at a financial firm in New York City with a bunch of very smart people, and I had a brilliant boss that I much admired. I went to my boss and told him I wanted to start a company selling books on the Internet. He took me on a long walk in Central Park, listened carefully to me, and finally said, “That sounds like a really good idea, but it would be an even better idea for someone who didn’t already have a good job.” That logic made some sense to me, and he convinced me to think about it for 48 hours before making a final decision. Seen in that light, it really was a difficult choice, but ultimately (最后), I decided I had to give it a shot. I didn’t think I’d regret trying and failing. And I suspected I would always be haunted by a decision to not try at all.

After much consideration, I took the less safe path to follow my passion, and I’m proud of that choice. For all of us, in the end, we are our choices.

1.What inspired the author with the idea of building an online bookstore?

A. His dream of being an inventor.

B. The support of his wife.

C. The greatly increasing usage of the Internet.

D. Millions of exciting titles.

2.Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined sentence?

A. The idea of not trying would keep coming to his mind and disturb him.

B. He would be very excited if he tried it out.

C. He would be always having a doubt if he didn’t try.

D. The decision to not try the online bookstore would terrify him.

3.We can know from the passage that _______.

A. the boss thought the idea was suitable for the author

B. the author wanted someone else to try the idea

C. the author might not regret if he failed the idea

D. the author might go back to his boss if he failed

4.Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

A. Cleverness and KindnessB. The Starting of Amazon

C. Following My PassionD. We Are What We Choose

 

Answer 1

1.C

2.A

3.C

4.D

【解析】

試題分析：文章講述的是亞馬遜網(wǎng)站創(chuàng)始人的故事。才智是與生俱來的，而善良是后天可以選擇的。天賦易得，選擇難做。在貝佐斯16歲的時候，他驚嘆于互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的迅速發(fā)展，于是萌發(fā)了建立網(wǎng)上書店的想法。在得到妻子的支持以后，他辭去了待遇很好的工作，雖然老板曾試圖留住他，但貝佐斯最終決定把自己的想法付諸實踐。

1.根據(jù)第二段“I came across the fact that the Internet usage was growing at 2,300 percent per year. I’d never seen or heard of anything that grew that fast, and the idea of building an online bookstore with millions of titles was very exciting to me.”可知，互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的迅速發(fā)展讓作者感到吃驚，也讓作者萌生了創(chuàng)建一個網(wǎng)絡(luò)書店的想法，故選C。

2.根據(jù)第三段段意和“I didn’t think I’d regret trying and failing. And I suspected I would always be haunted by a decision to not try at all.”可知，老板想說服作者留下來，作者有些動搖，但經(jīng)過思考之后，作者決定辭職建網(wǎng)站，作者不害怕嘗試和失敗，但會因為想法沒有付諸實踐而愧疚。故選A。

3.根據(jù)第三段“I decided I had to give it a shot. I didn’t think I’d regret trying and failing.”可知，作者認為自己將不會為嘗試和失敗感到后悔。故選C。

4.根據(jù)最后一段“After much consideration, I took the less safe path to follow my passion, and I’m proud of that choice. For all of us, in the end, we are our choices.”可知，作者把自己的熱情付諸了實踐，并且獲得了成功。是我們的選擇才成就了我們每一個人。故選D。

考點：人物類短文閱讀