When I was 12 years old, my mother sent me to a Chinese school in California. I    11    spending my Saturdays in a three-hour Chinese class. I thought it was difficult and boring.
However, my mum thought that I should develop and improve(提高) my Chinese    12    skills. I seemed to know it would do me good in future, but at that time I couldn't realize the   13   of learning a second language.
Many years later, I had a   14   to work in Asia. I chose China mainly because I learned Chinese when I was   15   .However, I still wondered if I could   16   street signs, buy food and talk to people there.
Shortly after I arrived in China, my Chinese language   17   came back soon and improved   18   . A long time ago, I wanted to give up   19   Chinese. Luckily, my mum encouraged me and stopped that from happening. I’m   20   that the Chinese language has helped me a lot in different ways. My life is getting more and more colourful.
11．A．hated B．advised C．enjoyed D．forgot
12．A．business B．music C．language D．cooking
13．A．mistakes B．excuses C．fears D．advantages
14．A．habit B．chance C．skill D．suggestion
15．A．busy B．young C．successful D．experienced
16．A．read B．touch C．afford D．move
17．A．tool B．ability C．point D．difficulty
18．A．safely B．politely C．quickly D．privately
19．A．changing B．sharing C．learning D．protecting
20．A．sorry B．worried C．angry D．glad
本文講述了作者小時候曾很討厭學習漢語，長大后一次在中國工作的機會使他發現中文在不同方面給了他很大的幫助，并使他的生活越來越豐富多彩了。