In modern society there is a great deal of argument about petition. Some value it highly, believing that it is responsible for social progress and prosperity. Others say that petition is bad, for it sets one person against another and it leads to unfriendly relationship between people.
I have taught many children who held the belief that their self-worth relied on how well they performed at tennis and other skills. For them, playing well and winning are often life-and-death affairs. In their single-minded pursuit （追求） of success, the development of many other human qualities is sadly forgotten.
However, while some seem to be lost in the desire to succeed, others take an opposite attitude. In a culture which values only the winner and pays no attention to the ordinary players, they strongly blame petition. Among the most vocal are youngsters who have suffered under petitive pressures from their parents or society.
Teaching these young people, I often observe in them a desire to fail. They seem to seek failure by not trying to win or achieve success. By not trying, they always have an excuse: “I may have lost, but it doesn’t matter because I really didn’t try.” What is not usually admitted by them is the belief that if they had really tried and lost, that would mean a lot. Such a loss would be a measure of their worth.
Clearly, this belief is the same as that of the true petitors who try to prove themselves. Both are based on the mistaken belief that one’s self-respect relies on how well one performs in parison with others. Both are afraid of not being valued. Only as this basic and often troublesome fear begins to dissolve （缓解） can we discover a new meaning in petition.
【小题1】The underlined phrase “the most vocal” in Paragraph 3 refers to those who .A．are against petition most strongly.B．are fond of petition very much.C．are satisfied with petition.D．are interested in petition【小题2】According to the passage, why do some people support petition?A．Because they think friendly relationship needs it. k+s-5#uB．Because they think social progress and prosperity need it.C．Because they think it can make us bee cleverer.D．Because they think it can deal with many personal problems.【小题3】We can learn from the passage that .A．all the people have the same opinion about petitionB．Failure can make most people feel downC．Both the true petitors and those with a desire to fail believe one’s worth lies in his performance pared with othersD．Competition can make every petitor successful【小题4】The passage manly talks about different opinions about .A．petitionB．successC．failureD．friendshipA
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(答案→)A
解析：
【小题1】（解析：根据“the most vocal”前后语境中的“blame petition”及“who have suffered
under petitive pressures from their parents or society.”可知A是正确选项。）
【小题2】（解析：根据第一段中的“Some value it highly, believing that it is responsible for social
progress and prosperity.”可知，选项B是正确答案。）
【小题3】（解析：综合第三、四段有关信息可知C是正确选项。）
【小题4】（解析：全文主要谈论了人们对petition的各种观点。）