Frankly, I very much appreciate myself. Yes, I admit I'm in many respects not as good as other people, but I don't think I'm always not good. When I find what I've done or written is okay, I'll remain pleased with myself for quite a few days, and in case I receive praise for it, I'll even become so excited as to add a few words to glorify myself. True, I'm not modest at all. People may call me conceited  . But I think otherwise. I also appreciate other people. I appreciate anything good. Isn't it unfair to forget appreciating myself while appreciating others? We Chinese generally tend to be modest, and we take pride in being so. For example, a Chinese will call his own wife zhuojing, meaning "my humble wife", and his own writings zhuozuo, meaning "my poor writings". But if you should call his wife a "rustic   woman" or his writings "trash", he would, I'm sure, slap the table in a rage and declare he would make a clean break with you. As a matter of fact, there is probably no difference at all between what is said by him and you respectively. I don't think it's wrong for you to freely praise yourself if you're really worthy of praise. As we know, there is an old Chinese saying disparaging   a melon peddler , named Lao Wang, who keeps praising his own goods. Well, why can't he praise his melons if they are really sweet and juicy? Friends, Lao Wang sells melons for a living. How could he carry on business if he, by imitating the affectations of us intellectuals, were to show false modesty about his melons? He would sure enough die of starvation. Self-appreciation is therefore key to professional dedication   and enjoyment of work. One will lose confidence in continuing with writing when he pauses to admire his own essays. Needless to say, the same is true of those who make a living with their pen. The writer points out with an example about an old Chinese saying that   _  . A) self-appreciation is also an active way of attitude to life and work B) a false modesty will lose confidence in continuing with writing C) one person pauses to admire his own essays without self-appreciation D) one doesn't praise his melons if his melons are really sweet and juicy
A

The son of a Lutheran pastor, Albert Schweitzer was born in a small village in Alsace, then part of Germany.By age 29, Schweitzer had already authored three books and made landmark scholarly contributions in the fields of music, religion, and philosophy.He was an acclaimed organist, a world authority on Bach, a church pastor, a head of a theological seminary , and a university professor with two doctoral degrees.  At the age of 30, aware of the desperate medical needs of Africans, he decided to become a doctor and devote the rest of his life to direct service in Africa. In 1913, at the age of 38, Dr.Schweitzer and his wife, Helene, opened a hospital in Lambarene, Gabon- then a province of French Equatorial Africa.Not even serious setbacks of World War I, part of which he and Helene spent as prisoners of war in France,  _ him from continuing commitment to his job. In 1915,troubled daily by the vast numbers of suffering patients coming to his hospital for help, he experienced as a revelation the idea of "Reverence  for Life" as the elementary and universal principle of ethics that he had been seeking for so long. By stressing the interdependence and unity of all life, he was a forerunner of the environmental and animal welfare movements - Rachel Carson dedicated Silent Spring to him. In 1952, at the age of 77, Schweitzer was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. During the last twelve years of his life, his speeches and writings emphasized the dangers of atmospheric nuclear test explosions and the suicidal nuclear arms race between the superpowers.  After retiring as a practicing doctor, Albert Schweitzer continued to oversee the hospital until his death at the age of 90. To the end, his one frustration was that he had not succeeded in convincing the world to abolish nuclear weapons. He and his wife are buried on the Hospital grounds in Lambarene. Which following statement about Albert Schweitzeris TRUE? A) He began to write books when he was at the age of 29. B) He stopped writing and making speeches after his retirement. C) He and his wife opened a hospital in Alsace D) He was born in 1875 in a village in Alsace.
D

Everyone seems to be in favor of progress. But "progress" is a funny word. It doesn't necessarily mean that something has become stronger, wiser or better. It simply means changing it from being one thing to another and sometimes it turns out to be worse than before.   Consider medicine, for instance. No one can deny  that medical progress has enriched our lives greatly. Because of medical advancements, we eat better, live easier and are able to take care of ourselves more efficiently. We can cure disease with no more than one injection  or a pill. If we have a serious accident, doctors can put us back together again. If we are born with something defective  , they can repair it. They can ease our pain, replace worn parts and give us children. They can even bring us back from death. These are wonderful achievements, but there is a price we have to pay.    Because medicine has reduced death, the population has been rising steadily, in spite of serious efforts to reduce the rate of population growth. A child born in the United States today has better than a 90% chance of survival . Furthermore, medical advances have ensured that most of those new-born children will live to be seventy years of age or more. The result of this progress is a great population increase that threatens  the quality of life, brought about by progress in the medical profession . This passage implies  that population increase is not   _  . A) helpful B) threatening C) possible D) dangerous

A