I used to watch her from my kitchen window. She seemed so small as she muscled her way through the crowd of boys on the playground. The school was across the street from our home and I would often watch the kids as they played during break. I remember the first day I saw her playing basketball. I watched in wonder as she ran circles around the other kids. She managed to shoot jump shots just over their heads and into the net. The boys always tried to stop her but no one could. I began to notice her at other times, basketball in hand, playing alone.

One day I asked her why she practiced so much. Without a moment of hesitation she said, “I want to go to college. The only way I can go is to get a scholarship. I am going to play college basketball. I want to be the best. My Daddy told me if the dream is big enough, the facts don’t count.” Well, I had to give it to her—she was determined. I watched her through those junior high years and into high school. Every week, she led her school team to victory.

One day in her senior year, I saw her sitting in the grass, head in her arms. I walked across the street and sat down in the cool grass beside her. Quietly I asked what was wrong. “Oh, nothing,” came a soft reply, “I am just too short.” The coach told her that at 5’5” she would probably never get to play for a top ranked team—much less offered a scholarship—so she should stop dreaming about college. She was heartbroken and I felt my own throat tighten as I sensed her disappointment. I asked her if she had talked to her dad about it yet. She told me that her father said those coaches were wrong. They just did not understand the power of a dream. He told her that if she truly wanted a scholarship and that nothing could stop her except one thing — her own attitude.

The next year, as she and her team went to the Northern California Championship game, she was offered a scholarship and on the college team. She was going to get the college education that she had dreamed of.

小题1:The author was probably the girl’s        .

A．neighbor

B．friend

C．mother

D．teacher小题2:Why was the girl heartbroken?

A．She was considered too short to be a top player.

B．Her coach stopped her training because of her height.

C．She couldn’t be on a college basketball team.

D．She wouldn’t be admitted by an ideal college.小题3:We can learn from the passage that        .

A．her family wouldn’t like to pay her college fee

B．her father forced her to play basketball in collage

C．being a top basketball player can win you a scholarship for college

D．she wouldn’t like to turn to his father for help when in difficulty小题4:Which word can best describe her father?

A．Encouraging.

B．Optimistic.

C．Stubborn.

D．Cruel.小题5:Which proverb best matches the story?

A．Practice makes perfect.

B．Rome was not built in a day.

C．Where there is a will, there is a way.

D．Pride comes before a fall.