In 1812, in a village near Paris, France, a little boy had a terrible accident. He hit himself in the eye with one of his father's sharp tools, and became blind. His name was Louis Braille, and he was only four years old. He was a clever little boy, and he soon learned to "see" without his eyes. He touched things, or smelled them, or tasted them. His family described things to him. Although he couldn't see people's faces, he learned to recognize their voices. After his seventh birthday, Louis went to the little school in the village. But there weren't any books for him. His classmates read his lessons to him and his sisters helped him with his homework. He learned his lessons well, but he couldn't learn to read or write. In 1819, the village priest   told Louis Braille's story to the director of a famous school for blind boys. At this school, boys learned math, grammar, geography, history, and music. And they learned to read! Louis went to the school in Paris in February, 1819. He loved his classes and received high grades. He learned to play the piano and to knit   hats and sweaters. And he learned to read -- with his fingers! The raised-print letters in the books at school stood up from the surface of the paper. Louis could feel them with his fingers. He was able to recognize some of them easily, but some of them were difficult. The letters had to be very large, and sometimes there were only a few letters on a page. The books were huge and heavy. And they were expensive. There were only fourteen books in the school library! Louis read the three or four books for his class again and again. He tried to think of a better way to make books for blind people. He experimented with new alphabets. After about three years, Louis invented a system of raised dots. The other students thought Louis's system was wonderful. They were able to read it easily, and they learned to write, too. Today, there are thousands of Braille books for blind people. Louis Braille was only fifteen years old when he invented his wonderful system! Without his eyes, he could also "see" by   _   . A) touching things B) smelling or tasting things C) trying to recognize people's voices D) all the above ways
D

The latest research suggests that the key factor separating geniuses from the merely accomplished is not I.Q., a generally bad predictor of success. Instead, it's purposeful practice. Top performers spend more hours practising their craft. If you wanted to picture how a typical genius might develop, you'd take a girl who possessed a slightly above average language ability. It wouldn't have to be a big talent, just enough so that she might gain some sense of distinction. Then you would want her to meet, say, a novelist, who coincidentally shared some similar qualities. Maybe the writer was from the same town, had the same family background, or shared the same birthday.  This contact would give the girl a vision of her future self. It would give her some idea of a fascinating circle who might someday join. It would also help if one of her parents died when she was 12, giving her a strong sense of insecurity and fuelling a desperate need for success. Armed with this ambition, she would read novels and life stories of writers without end. This would give her a primary knowledge of her field. She would be able to see new writing in deeper ways and quickly understand its inner workings.  Then she would practise writing. Her practice would be slow, painstaking and error-focused. By practising in this way, she delays the automating process. Her mind wants to turn conscious, newly learned skills into unconscious, automatically performed skills. By practising slowly, by breaking skills down into tiny parts and repeating, she forces the brain to internalize a better pattern of performance. Then she would find an adviser who would provide a constant stream of feedback, viewing her performance form the outside, correcting the smallest errors, pushing her to take on tougher challenges. By now she is redoing problems--how do I get characters into a room--dozens and dozens of times. She is establishing habits of thought she can call upon in order to understand or solve future problems.  The primary quality our young writer... The passage mainly deals with_. A) the function of I.Q. in cultivating a writer B) the relationship between genius and success C) the decisive factor in making a genius D) the way of gaining some sense of distinction
C

I guess I always knew about the little fish treat, but this past summer it was all I could see. Pipin and Nemo were balancing on one front flipper , flying through hoops, dancing with the trainer, and we were all applauding -- the little kids screaming with delight. That's when the trainer, who wore a little treat bag on her belt, slipped Pipin and Nemo a fish. Each time they successfully performed a trick, they'd get an immediate reward. These creatures weren't really dancing, of course. They were performing a series of movements that they knew would produce a fish. It's such a good show because the sea lions look like they're having such fun. These talented performers who love to be in front of an audience seem almost human. Somewhere in our faith journey, _ . You see how you've spent years jumping through hoops, balancing a ball on your nose, not because it's really who you are, but because you've always done it and the system rewarded you for your performance. But when you've done that for ten or twenty years, you start to ask yourself, "Whose approval am I working for? What do I really believe?" Suddenly you see it: you've spent most all your life taking direction from other people. They've told you what to believe in, what to work for, what to value, how to live your life. You don't want to end your life like Sinclair Lewis's George Babbitt, the middle-aged real-estate broker  who has everything and reached the top. But on the last page of Babbitt, George is speaking to his son Ted, who cannot follow in his father's steps. He wants to leave college and head off on his own way. "Dad, I can't stand it any more," the boy says. "Maybe it's all right for some fellows. Maybe I'll want to go back some day, but now, I want to get into mechanics." Babbitt, seeming old and subdued, says, "I've never done a single thing I've wanted to in my whole life!" The Good-Bye Gate brings us naturally to a second passage, leading from dependency to self-possession. As you start separating from the whole worn-out system, you... By saying "we all have a sea lion moment", the author means that   _  . A) anyone can make it so long as they work hard B) sometimes we don't act following our own will C) we can also get rewarded if we do something well D) every human being also has his happy moment

B