The measure of a man’s real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.
— Thomas Macaulay
Some thirty years ago, I was studying in a public school in New York. One day, Mrs. Nantette O’Neill gave an arithmetic ___1___ to our class. When the papers were ___2___ she discovered that twelve boys had made exactly the ___3___ mistakes throughout the test.
There is nothing really new about ___4___ in exams. Perhaps that was why Mrs. O’Neill ___5___ even say a word about it. She only asked the twelve boys to ___6___ after class. I was one of the twelve.
Mrs. O’Neill asked ___7___ questions, and she did not ___8___ us either. Instead, she wrote on the blackboard the ___9___ words by Thomas Macaulay. She then ordered us to ___10___ these words into our exercise-books one hundred times.
I don’t ___11___ about the other eleven boys. Speaking for ___12___ I can say: it was the most important single ___13___ of my life. Thirty years after being ___14___ to Macaulay’s words, they ___15___ seem to me the best yardstick(准绳), because they give us a ___16___ to measure ourselves rather than others.
___17___ of us are asked to made ___18___ decisions about nations going to war or armies going to battle. But all of us are called ___19___ daily to make a great many personal decisions. ___20___ the wallet, found in the street, be put into a pocket ___21___ turned over to the policeman? Should the ___22___ change received at the store be forgotten or ___23___? Nobody will know except ___24___. But you have to live with yourself, and it is always ___25___ to live with someone you respect.
1. A. test B. problem     C. paper  D. lesson
2. A. examinedB. completed  C. marked      D. answered
3. A. easy       B. funny  C. same   D. serious
4. A. lying      B. cheating     C. guessing     D. discussing
5. A. didn’t    B. did     C. would D. wouldn’t
6. A. come     B. leave   C. remain       D. apologize
7. A. no  B. certain       C. many  D. more
8. A. excuse    B. reject  C. help    D. scold
9. A. above     B. common     C. following   D. unusual
10. A. repeat   B. get      C. put     D. copy
11. A. worry   B. know  C. hear    D. talk
12. A. myself  B. ourselves    C. themselves  D. herself
13. A. chance  B. incident      C. lesson D. memory
14. A. referred       B. shown C. brought      D. introduced
15. A. even     B. still     C. always       D. almost
16. A. way     B. sentence     C. choice D. reason
17. A. All       B. Few    C. Some  D. None
18. A. quick   B. wise    C. great   D. personal
19. A. out       B. for      C. up      D. upon
20. A. Should B. Must   C. Would D. Need
21. A. and      B. or       C. then    D. but
22. A. extra    B. small  C. some   D. necessary
23. A. paid     B. remembered      C. shared D. returned
24. A. me       B. you     C. us       D. them
25. A. easier   B. more natural      C. better  D. more peaceful