20.When I look back on my life,most memories have faded away.But the words of Carl Walter,my piano teacher,is still fresh in my mind.
During one of my lessons he asked how much practicing I was doing.I said three or four hours a day.
"Do you practice in long stretches,an hour at a time?"
"I try to."
"Well,don't,"he said loudly."When you grow up,time won't come in long stretches.Practice in minutes,whenever you can find them five or ten before school,after lunch,between household tasks.Spread the practice through the day,and piano-playing will become a part of your life."
When I was teaching at Columbia,I wanted to write,but class periods and committee meetings filled my days and evenings.For two years I got practically nothing down on paper,and my excuse was that I had no time.Then I remembered what Carl Walter had said.During the next week,whenever I had five minutes unoccupied,I sat down and wrote a hundred words or so.To my astonishment,at the end of the week I had a rather large manuscript.Later on I wrote novels by the same piecemeal (零碎的)method.
There is an important trick in this time-using principle:you must get into your work quickly.If you have but five minutes for writing,you can't afford to waste for chewing your pencil.You must make yor mental preparations beforehand,and concentrate on your task instantly when the time comes.
Carl Walter has had a significant influence on my life.To him I owe the discovery that even very short periods of time add up to all useful hours I need,if I throw myself into it without delay.
21.The underlined word"stretch"has the same meaning as that in sentence"A".
A.Bob worked as a government official for a stretch of over twenty years.
B.My family wasn't wealthy by any stretch of the imagination.
C.The dog woke up,had a good stretch and wandered off.
D.This material has a lot of stretch in it.
22.We can infer that the authorD.
A.has formed a bad habit of chewing a pencil while writing his novels
B.is tired of interruptions in life because he always has much work
C.has new books published each year however busy his teaching is
D.usually thinks about his writing before he can find time to do it
23.What is probably the best title for this text?B
A.Concentrate on Your Work
B.A Little at a Time
C.How I Became a Writer
D.Good Advice.