Have you ever heard the story of the four-minute mile? For years people believed that it is impossible for a human being to  1  a mile in less than four minutes until Roger Banister proved it  2  in 1954．Within one year, 37 runners  3  the belief barrier．And the year after that, 300 other runners did the same thing．

What happens if you put an animal in a  4 ? Any animal, big or small, will swim its way through．What happens when someone, who does not know how to swim, falls in deep waters? You  5 ．If an animal who has not learned swimming could  6  by swimming, why not you? Because you believe you will drown while the animal does not．

These  7  show the power of beliefs．There is no other more  8  force in directing human behavior than belief．Our beliefs have the power to  9  and to destroy．

In a way it is our beliefs that determine how much we’ll be able to  10  our potential．So pay attention to some of your  11 ．Do you believe you are weak in mathematics? Do you believe that other people dislike you？Do you believe life is full of  12 ？

Belief is not  13 , however．It’s nothing but the generalization of a past incident．As a kid, if a dog bit you, you believed all dogs to be  14 ．To change certain behavior, identify the beliefs associated with it．Change those beliefs and a new pattern is  15  created．

1．A．run                       B．walk                   C．swim                  D．jog

2．A．right                    B．wrong                 C．fake                   D．true

3．A．broke                    B．built                  C．faced                 D．lowered

4．A．cage                       B．desert                    C．forest                D．pond

5．A．drown                   B．swim                  C．float                     D．sink

6．A．struggle                B．escape                C．drown                 D．leave

7．A．samples                B．cases                      C．situations         D．periods

8．A．terrible                    B．reasonable             C．considerable      D．powerful

9．A．damage                 B．provide              C．create                D．withdraw

10．A．discover              B．realize               C．show                   D．perform

11．A．problems             B．beliefs               C．possibilities         D．subjects

12．A．surprises                B．choices               C．problems            D．possibilities

13．A．beautiful                B．changeable         C．strong                D．mysterious

14．A．safe                    B．rude                   C．merciless         D．dangerous

15．A．occasionally       B．immediately       C．accidentally           D．automatically