5．I lost my sight when I was four years old by falling off a box car in a freight yard in Atlantic City and landing on my head．Now I am thirty-two．I can slightly remember the brightness of sunshine and what color red is．It would be wonderful to see again，but a calamity（災難）can do strange things to people．It occurred to me the other day that I might not have come to love life as I do if I hadn't been blind．I believe in life now．I am not so sure that I would have believed in it so deeply，otherwise．I don't mean that I would prefer to go without my eyes．I simply mean that the loss of them made me appreciate the more what I had left．
Life，I believe，asks a continuous series of adjustments to reality．The more readily a person is able to make these adjustments，the more meaningful his own private world becomes．The adjustment is never easy．I was totally confused and afraid．But I was lucky．My parents and my teachers saw something in me-a potential to live，you might call it-which I didn't see，and they made me want to fight it out with blindness．
The hardest lesson I had to learn was to believe in myself．That was basic．If I hadn't been able to do that，I would have collapsed and become a chair rocker on the front porch for the rest of my life．When I say belief in myself I am not talking about simply the kind of self confidence that helps me down an unfamiliar staircase alone．That is part of it．But I mean something bigger than that：an assurance that I am，despite imperfections，a real，positive person； that somewhere in the sweeping，intricate（錯綜復雜的） pattern of people there is a special place where I can make myself fit．
It took me years to discover and strengthen this assurance．It had to start with the simplest things．Once a man gave me an indoor baseball．I thought he was making fun of me and I was hurt．"I can't use this．"I said．"Take it with you，"he urged me，"and roll it around．"The words stuck in my head．"Roll it around!"By rolling the ball I could hear where it went．This gave me an idea how to achieve a goal I had thought impossible：playing baseball．At Philadelphia's Overbrook School for the blind I invented a successful variation of baseball．We called it ground ball．
All my life I have set ahead of me a series of goals and then tried to reach them，one at a time．I had to learn my limitations．It was no good trying for something that I knew at the start was wildly out of reach because that only invited the bitterness of failure．I would fail sometimes anyway but on the average I made progress．
41．What can we learn from the first paragraph？C
A．The author lost his sight because of a car crash．
B．The author wouldn't love life if the disaster hadn't happened．
C．The disaster made the author appreciate what he had．
D．The disaster strengthened the author's desire to see．
42．What's the author's biggest difficulty？B
A．How to adjust himself to reality．
B．Building up assurance that he can fit in life．
C．Learning to manage his life alone．
D．How to invent a successful variation of baseball．
43．The underlined words"a chair rocker on the front porch"in Paragraph 3 means that the authorC．
A．would sit in a rocking chair and enjoy his life
B．would be unable to move and stay in a rocking chair
C．would lose his will to struggle against difficulties
D．would sit in a chair and stay at home
44．As can be seen from the passage，the baseball and encouragement offered by the manD．
A．hurt the author's feeling
B．gave the author a deep impression
C．directly led to the invention of ground ball
D．inspired the author
45．Which can be the best title for the passage？C
A．A Miserable Life
B．Struggle Against Difficulties
C．A Disaster Makes a Strong Person
D．An Unforgettable Experience．
分析 本文講述了災難挫折是如何成就一個人的．作者在年幼時失明，在經歷了多年的彷徨無助之后，終于在親人朋友的幫助下，找回了自信，學會了如何面對困難，并且在紛雜的社會中找到了自己的一席之地，實現了自己一個又一個的夢想．
解答 41．C 推理判斷題． 根據文章第一段的內容，尤其是"I simply mean that the loss of them made me appreciate the more what I had left．"可知，災難讓作者感激他所擁有的，故選C．
42．B 細節(jié)理解題．根據文章第三段的"The hardest lesson I had to learn was to believe in myself．"可知作者需要學會的是自信，和下文的"that somewhere in the sweeping，intricatepattern of people there is a special place where I can make myself fit．"可知，對作者來說在紛雜的社會找到適合自己的位置是最難的，故選B．
43．C 詞義猜測題．從上文可知作者是因為意外而失明，所以collapsed是指精神的崩潰，意志的消沉，從而失去與困難作斗爭的勇氣．故選C．
44．D 推理判斷題．根據文章倒數第二段的"Once a man gave me an indoor baseball．"有一次一個人給了我一個室內棒球．和"This gave me an idea how to achieve a goal I had thought impossible：playing baseball．"可知，作者在滾動球的時候想到了如何去實現一個自己認為是不可能的事情，所以他是受到了啟迪，因此棒球和鼓勵都是那個激勵作者的人提供的，故選D．
45．C主旨大意題．文章開頭講述了自己的遭遇，提出"a calamity can do strange things to people．"然后敘述自己是如何找到自信，如何克服困難一步一步取得成功的．這些都說明了一個道理：只要意志堅強，逆境挫折不會擊垮一個人，相反會成就一個人，故選C．
點評 本文是人物故事類閱讀，主要考查細節(jié)理解題和推理判斷題．在做事實細節(jié)題時，首先根據題目要求迅速在文章里找出相應的段落、句子或短語．認真比較選項和文中細節(jié)的區(qū)別，在做推理判斷題時不要以個人的主觀想象代替文章的事實，要根據文章事實進行合乎邏輯的推理判斷．
