阅读理解。

     Many people easily feel disappointed whenever they fail in their business. The failures may lead them to

pessimism (悲观主义). The following saying" Failure is the mother of success" has been used to encourage

these sorts of people.

     At first," everything is difficult at the beginning". When we start carrying out a certain plan, although it is

carefully planned, we still meet some unexpected difficulties. For example, a farmer tried to sow a new kind

of seeds. To his disappointment, the new seeds did not produce him a good crop as expected, while his

neighbor farmer sowed the same seeds but harvested better. Our unfortunate farmer did not lose hope and was

determined to find out the causes of his failure: he tried to better his soil and finally succeeded in collecting 5

tons of rice per hectare.

     If you lose one go, try another. The patience and persistence (坚持) are important. Drawing experience

from failures, finally we'll succeed. Our success comes from our determination after failures. Demosthenes,

the greatest Athenian orator (雄辩家 ), before becoming famous, had to suffer so many failures. The audience

paid little attention to his political speeches because of his weak voice. He determined to get rid of this defect.

Day after day, he went to the sea, shouting with very loud sounds of waves and in the end he got a convincing (令人信服的) voice.

     The above saying is quite right when used in pupils' lives. If you are weak at certain subjects, don't be

disappointed. Go on with your study. You should learn more from your friends, your teachers and others and

listen to their advice. In this way, you can get over your defects and weaknesses.

1. This passage is most probably written for ______.

A. parents

B. teachers

C. students

D. businessmen

2. We can learn from the passage that ______.

A. the value of failures is to get experience from them

B. he who laughs last laughs best

C. you can't judge a book by its cover

D. all successes are followed by failures

3. The underlined word" defect" in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to" ______ .

A. weakness

B. power

C. idea

D. thought

4. The saying "Failure is the mother of success" can serve as a guide for those who____.

A. dare not carry out a certain plan

B. show pessimism after their failures

C. don't know what the saying means

D. have never failed before in their lives