A wise man once said, “A man who makes no mistakes usually does not make anything.” It took me a long time to gather the   36  to admit that I had been making mistakes since my earliest days.   37  , many of the things that I had learned were   38  .
As a child from a poor family, I learned that when you had money, you were   39   to spend it on whatever brought you happiness   40  . I didn’t understand that even though putting money in the bank would not   41   me that quick joy, it could provide a sense of   42  — I still had that money.
One problem is that I never had an opportunity to   43   any money of my own until late in my teen years. All of my gift money   44   to my parents for “saving”, which actually   45   to be an emergency fund(风险基金) for things such as food.
On rare   46  , some relatives would give me some money, but they would   47   in my ear not to tell my mother and to spend it quickly on something fun. Their   48   was good — they wanted to bring joy to the life of a “  49  ”boy, but it didn’t teach me any   50   skills. Soon I would go back to having no money.
Another thing is that I believed that   51   help from others was bad. My parents were strict, and in many ways I   52   their philosophy (处事原则), but their personal beliefs prevented them from ever accepting any help.   53   we often had to live on a single part-time income, we never asked   54   anything. In this way, I was led to believe that accepting a helping hand, even in   55   of great need, was a sign of weakness.
36. A. time                          B. power                      C. courage                    D. chance
37. A. Otherwise                  B. Also                         C. Instead                        D. However
38. A. different                    B. common                   C. big                          D. wrong
39. A. supposed                    B. determined               C. ordered                    D. left
40. A. naturally                    B. immediately             C. probably                  D. eventually
41. A. buy                           B. prove                       C. sell                          D. show
42. A. direction                    B. guilty                       C. safety                       D. difference
43. A. receive                  B. lend                         C. manage                    D. earn
44. A. gave                          B. went                        C. borrowed                 D. left
45. A. added up                    B. came up                   C. gave out                   D. turned out
46. A. states                         B. occasions                  C. situations                  D. moments
47. A. shout                         B. explain                     C. whisper                    D. insist
48. A. plan                          B. information                     C. look                         D. intention
49. A. naughty                         B. poor                       C. hopeless                   D. lovely
50. A. financial                    B. imaginative                     C. popular                    D. formal
51. A. offering                         B. accepting                C. begging                    D. demanding
52. A. disobeyed                  B. ignored                    C. respected                  D. agreed
53. A. Even if                   B. Now that                C. Unless                      D. Until
54. A. about                         B. around                            C. against                            D. for
55. A. groups                    B. terms                            C. ways                        D. times