三、完形填空
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   21  to admit that I had been making mistakes since my earliest days.   22  , many of the things that I had learned were   23  .
As a child from a poor family, I learned that when you had money, you were   24   to spend it on whatever brought you happiness   25  . I didn’t understand that even though putting money in the bank would not   26   me that quick joy, it could provide a sense of   27  — I still had that money.
One problem is that I never had an opportunity to   28   any money of my own until late in my teen years. All of my gift money   29   to my parents for “saving”, which actually   30   to be an emergency fund(风险基金) for things such as food.
On rare   31  , some relatives would give me some money, but they would   32   in my ear not to tell my mother and to spend it quickly on something fun. Their   33   was good — they wanted to bring joy to the life of a “  34  ”boy, but it didn’t teach me any   35   skills. Soon I would go back to having no money.
Another thing is that I believed that   36   help from others was bad. My parents were strict, and in many ways I   37   their philosophy (处事原则), but their personal beliefs prevented them from ever accepting any help.   38   we often had to live on a single part-time income, we never asked   39   anything. In this way, I was led to believe that accepting a helping hand, even in   40   of great need, was a sign of weakness.
21. A. time                          B. power                      C. courage                    D. chance
22. A. Otherwise              B. Also                         C. Instead                     D. However
23. A. different                    B. common                   C. big                          D. wrong
24. A. supposed                    B. determined           C. ordered                    D. left
25. A. naturally                    B. immediately             C. probably                  D. eventually
26. A. buy                           B. prove                       C. sell                          D. show
27. A. direction                    B. guilty                       C. safety                       D. difference
28. A. receive                  B. lend                         C. manage                    D. earn
29. A. gave                          B. went                        C. borrowed                 D. left
30. A. added up                    B. came up                   C. gave out                   D. turned out
31. A. states                     B. occasions                  C. situations                  D. moments
32. A. shout                     B. explain                     C. whisper                    D. insist
33. A. plan                          B. information                 C. look                         D. intention
34. A. naughty                        B. poor                        C. hopeless                   D. lovely
35. A. financial                    B. imaginative             C. popular                    D. formal
36. A. offering                        B. accepting                  C. begging                    D. demanding
37. A. disobeyed                  B. ignored                    C. respected                  D. agreed
38. A. Even if                  B. Now that                  C. Unless                  D. Until
39. A. about                     B. around                        C. against                        D. for
40. A. groups                   B. terms                       C. ways                        D. times