My friend Jim and I finally decided to spend our 14 days off in the eastern country.We were arranged to stay with a local family, which made it possible for us to share a real life experience with the locals and in return bring ourselves a richer experience of the native culture and tradition.
In the company of one of our well-informed local tour leaders, we started one of the trips to the nearby town . As we were passing elephants, we stopped , confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by a small rope tied to their front legs . No chains, no cages. It was obvious that these elephants could, at any time, break away from the ropes they were tied to but for some reason, they did not . My friend went up to the trainer and asked why these beautiful animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. “Well,”he said , “When they were young and much smaller we used the same size rope to tie them and at that age, it was enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are accustomed to believing that they can not break away. They believe that the rope can hold them, so they never try to break free. We were amazed . These animals could at any time break away from their ropes but just because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.
Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we can not do something , simply because we failed at it once before ? How many of us are being held by outdated belief that no longer serves us ? How many of us have avoided trying something new because of a limited belief? Worse still , how many of us are being held back by someone else’s limiting beliefs? Your attempt may fail but never fail to make an attempt.
小题1:What was the author most interested in during his visit?
A．The local people and elephants
B．The local culture and tradition
C．The history of the eastern country
D．The local food and scenery小题2:What amazed them was to see__________.
A．the trainer playing skillfully with the huge animals
B．the trainer attracting the visitors’s attention in such a way
C．the huge elephants tied only by a small rope
D．the elephants being trained with small ropes小题3:The elephants never tried to get away because_______.
A．they believed they couldn’t break away from the small ropes
B．they got used to being raised and controlled by human beings
C．they had a very close relationship with their trainers
D．it was hard to break away from the strong and powerful ropes小题4:The author holds the view that _______.
A．people should never fail to make an attempt or get held by false beliefs
B．people should travel around and try new things
C．animals should be trained to obey their masters
D．it’s necessary to train creatures when they are young