Question

I used to be the shyest person in the world. I hid ______ my elder sister whenever I had to speak to a stranger. When asked to speak in class, I could hardly ______, much less speak. Even among the few friends I had, my high, timid (怯怯的) voice earned me jokes —about being a girl.

Then in the seventh grade, my sister suggested I ______ voice lessons. After considering it for a short time, I did. I began a series of vocal exercises.

After exercising a lot, I finally gained ______ in my voice.

A few months later, I was asked to sing for some retired people, I thought I would do better than before ______ the voice lessons. I opened my mouth and —nothing. I couldn’t remember the ______! My face turned hot. The kind pianist whispered a prompt (提示), and I remembered just enough to keep singing.

Then the thought struck me: I’ve already embarrassed (尷尬) myself enough. There’s really nothing else to ____. So in my second song, I just relaxed and felt the energy of the song lift me. And I did much better.

After that, I started singing to myself as ______ as I could in my own room. That’s something I would never have done before. One classmate even said that I ______ be in the school’s talent show.

I am not a shy person ______. Singing has made me more outgoing. Today, I can also stand in front of the whole class and give a big speech. I am proud of myself.

1.A. over B. under C. behind D. below

2.A. sit B. breathe C. smile D. say

3.A. pick B. accept C. attend D. receive

4.A. confidence B. courage C. pleasure D. fear

5.A. out of B. because of C. instead of D. in need of

6.A. music B. title C. words D. style

7.A. forget B. miss C. drop D. lose

8.A. highly B. loudly C. safely D. excitedly

9.A. should B. must C. shouldn’t D. mustn’t

10.A. at last B. at all C. any further D. any more

Answer 1