Many a young person tells me he wants to be a writer. I always __1__ such people, but I also explain that there’sa big difference between "being a writer" and writing. In most cases these individuals are dreaming of __2__ 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 __3__, private and poor-paying affair. For every writer kissed by fortune there are thousands more whose longing is never __4__.
When I left a 20-year career in the US. Coast Guard to become a freelance writer(自由撰稿人), I had no __5__ at all. What I did have was a friend who found me my room in a New York apartment building. It didn't even matter that it was __6__and had no bathroom. I immediately bought a used manual typewriter and felt like a __7__ writer. After a year or so, however, I still hadn't gotten a break and began to __8__ myself. It was so hard to sell a story that __9__ 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 ofthose people who die wondering, what if? I would keeo putting my dream to the test — even though it meant living with __10__and fear of failure. This is the Shadow land of hope, and anyone with a dream learn to live there.

[A] barely
[B] genuine
[C] rewarded
[D] doubt
[E] lonely
[F] poverty
[G] persuade
[H] prospects
[I] uncertainty
[J] impossibly
[K] encourage
[L] awarded
[M] alone
[N] wealth
[O] cold

參考答案：

1. 選K
2. 選N
3. 選E
4. 選C
5. 選H
6. 選O
7. 選B
8. 選D
9. 選A
10. 選I