When I was learning calligraphy my teacher told me a story.
A calligrapher taught handwriting. One of his students who often practised handwriting with old sheets of newspapers complained that he made very little progress though he had learned it with the calligrapher for a long time. His teacher said to him, “Try to use the best paper. Maybe you’ll write better. ”
The student did as he was told. It really worked. He made headway not long afterwards and felt curious. He asked his teacher about the reason. The calligrapher answered, “When you used old newspapers to practice handwriting，you would think you were writing a draft（草稿）. It didn’t matter if you wrote badly as old newspapers were plenty in supply. In that case you wouldn’t pay much attention to it. Now you use the best paper you’ll treasure it. Each time you write you feel strongly about the rarity (稀少) of chances and you’ll devote to it with all your heart and soul; you’ll do the handwriting much more attentively than otherwise practising it. Of course you’ve made rapid progress.”
Indeed，we spend our ordinary days just as they are worthless “old newspapers”. We don’t care if we scrawl and waste them, thinking that they will come endlessly --- those “old newspapers” are inexhaustible. In such a mood we may each day pass by opportunities but fail to catch any of them.
Life is not a military exercise but an actual war in which real weapons are used. In everyday life there’s no chance for us to draw a draft. That’s because what we call “draft” actually is the answer sheet we write that cannot be changed. Every day of our life is something new. Let us take every day as a sheet of best paper.
小题1:The calligrapher in the story told the student to write on the best paper because he thought _______.
A．the student would practice more carefully on the best paper
B．it was comfortable to write on the bet paper
C．the student had enough money to buy the best paper.
D．the student could write more on the best paper.小题2:The student didn’t make much progress at first because _________.
A．he regarded his writing on old newspaper just as a draft
B．he was too poor to buy better paper to write
C．he didn’t follow his teacher’s advice
D．he was not used to the calligrapher’s teaching manner小题3:We learn from the passage that _________.
A．the student finally gave up
B．the student made rapid progress by persisting more carefully
C．the calligrapher was strict with his students
D．old newspaper is not useful小题4:Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A．What teachers say is always true.
B．Success calls for attentiveness.
C．Handwriting is easy to practice.
D．New things are always better than old ones.小题5:The writer wants to tell us that _________.
A．there are some good ways to practice handwriting
B．life is like old newspaper
C．we should learn from the student in the story
D．life will not give us a chance to draw a draft
