Skim the following passage to find out the following information: a. the main
idea of the passage, b. the solution to the problem mentioned in the passage.
Then write the answers below.
Over
lunch recently, an old friend and I talked about life. She admitted that she'd
been lonely since her husband died. "Yet I can't complain," she said. "I had
a good marriage. The kids are on their own. My job isn't exactly thrilling,
but it's secure, and I retire in 15 years. So what else is there?"
What else indeed! a woman of 50 － able, experienced, attractive － assuming,
in effect, that her life is over. I've seen this often, and in much younger
people － the resigned conviction that change is impossible. What many of us
fail to realize is that it's possible at any age to improve the quality of
our life.
But we have to initiate the process ourselves. By taking a new job or moving
to a new locale we can propel ourselves, forcibly and excitingly, into the
stream of life. It's like pruning an overgrown tree: the result is new growth
and more fruit. A widow I know sold her house and bought a van so she could
travel the country showing her silverwork at craft fairs. She has made friends
from Maine to Florida; she winters in the south and summers in the north,
and looks ten years younger. "There's so much I haven't seen yet," she said.
"It's not too late."
It's almost never too late to do, on some scale, what you've always wanted
to do. The key is to move forward, to make changes.
1. What is the main idea of the passage?
.
(
It's possible at
any age to improve the quality of our life. )
2. What is the solution offered in the passage?
.
(
We have to initiate
the improving process ourselves . )
