Many a young person tells me he wants to be a writer. I always encourage such people, but I also explain that there’s a big difference between “being a writer” and writing. In most cases individuals are dreaming of wealth 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 lonely, private and poor-paying affair. For every writer kissed by fortune there are thousands more whose longing is never rewarded. When I left a 20-year career in the US Coast Guard to become a freelance writer(自由撰稿者), I had no prospects at all. What I did have was a friend who found me a room in a New York apartment building. It didn’t even matter that it was cold and had no bathroom. I immediately bought used manual typewriter and felt like a genuine writer.
After a year or so, however, I still hadn’t got a break and began to doubt myself. It was so hard to sell a story that barely 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 keep putting my dream to the test-even though it meant living with uncertainly and fear of failure. This is the shadowland of hope, and any one with a dream must learn to live there.
1. The passage is meant to                 .
warn young people of the hardships that a successful writer has to experience
advise young people to give up their idea of becoming a professional writer
show young people it’s unrealistic for a writer to pursue wealth and fame
encourage young people to pursue a writing career
2. What can be concluded from the passage?
Genuine writers often find their work interesting and rewarding.
A writer’s success depends on luck rather than on effort.
Famous writers usually live in poverty and isolation.
The chances for a writer to become successful are small
3. Why did the author begin to doubt himself after the first year of his writing career?
He wasn’t able to produce a single look.
He hadn’t seen a change for the better
He wasn’t able to have a rest for a whole year.
He found his dream would never come true.
4. “I wasn’t going to be one of those people who die wondering. What if?” refers to “those               .”
who think too much of the dark side of life
who regret giving up their career halfway
who think a lot without making a decision
who are full of imagination even upon death
5. “Shadowland” in the last paragraph refers to              .
the wonderland one often dream about
the bright future that one is looking forward to
the state of uncertainty before one’s final goal is reached
a world that exists only in one’s imagination