Have you ever heard the story of the four-minute miles? Many years ago, people believed that it was impossible for a human being to run a mile in less than four minutes until Roger Banister proved it wrong in 1954.
What happens if you put an animal in a pond? Any animal, big or small, will swim its way through. What happens when someone, who doesn’t know how to swim, falls in deep water? They drown. If an animal who has not learnt swimming could escape by swimming, why not you? Because you believe you will drown while the animal doesn’t.
Have you ever wondered why the letters are organized in a particular order on your keyboard? You might have thought it is to increase the typing speed. Most people never questioned it. But the fact is that this system was developed to reduce the typing speed at a time when typewriter parts you jam if the operator typed too fast.
These three cases show the power of our beliefs. There is no other more powerful force in human behavior than belief. Your beliefs have the power to create and to destroy. A belief delivers command to your nervous system.
I used a snake in my workshop for children to show them how unrealistic some of their beliefs are. Students of a school in India said snakes are slippery and slimy and poisonous. After doing an exercise for changing beliefs, they took my snake and found it to be dry and clean. They also remembered that only three types of poisonous snakes exist in India.
Did this story end the way you thought? Review your beliefs now and find out which ones you need to change.
60．In the author’s opinion, if a person in deep water doesn’t know how to swim, he will drown because_________.
A．he is afraid of water B．he believes he will drown
C．he hasn’t learnt to swim before D．he doesn’t want to live in the world
61．The author thinks that the letters are organized in a particular order on your keyboard in order to _________.
A．save more space B．satisfy the operator
C．reduce one’s typing speed D．increase one’s typing speed
62．The author’s experiment shows that________.
A．snakes are dry and clean B．snakes can be caught easily
C．snakes are slimy and poisonous D．snakes in India aren’t poisonous
63．According to the passage, we know that_________
A．students from India have unrealistic beliefs on how to live a better life
B．an animal who hasn’t learnt how to swim will drown if you put it in pond
C．most people don’t like the order the letters are arranged on the keyboard
D．Roger Banister was the first person who ran a mile in less than four minutes
64. The main idea of this passage should be that________.
A. beliefs are very powerful
B. beliefs make us seem stupid
C. changing your beliefs now is necessary
D. people should always believe in themselves