英语六级考试阅读理解练习及答案（26）

　　Passage 26

　　Many a young person tells me he wants to be a writer. I always __1__ such people, but I also explain that there s a big difference between being a writer and writing. In most cases these individuals are dreaming of __2__ and fame, not the long hours alone at a typewriter. You ve got to want to write, I say to them, not want to be a writer.

　　The reality is that writing is a __3__, private and poorpaying affair. For every writer kissed by fortune there are thousands more whose longing is never __4__. When I left a 20-year career in the US. Coast Guard to become a freelance writer, I had no __5__ at all. What I did have was a friend who found me my room in a New York apartment building. It didn t even matter that it was __6__and had no bathroom. I immediately bought a used manual typewriter and felt like a __7__ writer.

　　After a year or so, however, I still hadn t gotten a break and began to __8__ myself. It was so hard to sell a story that __9__ made enough to eat. But I knew I wanted to write. I had dreamed about it for years. I wasn t going to be one of those people who die wondering, what if? I would keeo putting my dream to the test--even though it meant living with __10__and fear of failure. This is the Shadow land of hope, and anyone with a dream learn to live there.

　　A) barely B) genuine C) rewarded D) doubt

　　E) lonely F) poverty G) persuade H) prospects

　　I) uncertainty J)impossibly K) encourage L)awarded

　　M) alone N)wealth O)cold