If there’s one place I hate going to, it’s the grocery store. Every time I’m there, I just want to get in and out as quickly as possible. Early in my marriage, I ran into a lot of problems at the grocery store. My wife would tell me to get four or five items. I’d commit them to memory and be on my way. However I always forgot something or came back with the wrong brand. It was a disaster. Eventually, I asked myself, “Why do I keep messing up?” But messing up a grocery list is small. Sometimes we can mess up bigger things. So again, we think, “Why do I keep messing up?” Here are some reasons.

1.     ▲     

I took a test once. One of the exercises had a bunch of small circles, but the circles had no letters in them. The goal was to put a dot in the center of as many circles as possible in one minute. I went fast, but made a ton of mistakes and got worse over time as my focus wavered(动摇). Cleaning up our mistakes takes intentional care. We need to slow down, process what we’re doing, and make sure we’re doing the right thing.

2. We don’t make changes.

I told three different sets of people a joke I thought was funny. Not a single laugh in all three groups. My wife couldn’t believe I told it the first time. Why did it take me three awkward experiences to finally abandon the joke? If we want to stop messing up, we have to change the way we do things. We can’t expect a different result if we keep carrying out the same strategies, taking the same approaches, or saying similar things.

3. We really don’t want to change.

Maybe the reason we don’t make any changes is because deep down, we don’t want to change. We are either filled with too much pride, thinking others should be different, or we’re fearful of moving forward in new ways. You are the constant in your recurring(反复出现的) problems. If it’s not working, do something different. Taking a risk on something new is better than failing over and over the old way.

1.Why did the writer mention the grocery store?

A To make the passage fun.

B To make a comparison.

C To put forward an argument.

D To bring up the topic.

解析：选D。D推理判断题。根据该段内容可知，作者在杂货店遇到了很多问题，但这都是小问题，有时我们会把更大的事情搞砸，从而引出作者问题“我为什么一直搞砸？”接下来介绍了搞砸事情的原因。由此可知，作者提到杂货店是为了引出本文要讨论的话题。故选D。

2.Which can be put back into the “ ▲ ”?

A We never take tests.

B We lack focus.

C We don’t learn from mistakes.

D We don’t learn from mistakes.

解析：选B。B推理判断题。根据该段的“I went fast, but made a ton of mistakes and got worse over time as my focus wavered. Cleaning up our mistakes takes intentional care.”可知，作者认为随着我们的注意力分散，我们犯的错误越多，因此本段大意为“我们缺乏专注”。故选B。

3.What does the underlined word “abandon” mean?

A Give up.

B Take on.

C Hold on.

D Look up.

解析：选A。A词义猜测题。根据划线部分后面的“If we want to stop messing up, we have to change the way we do things.”可知，作者有一次给三组不同的人讲了一个自认为有趣的笑话，结果都没有笑。接下来作者得出结论——如果我们想停止混乱，我们必须改变我们做事的方式，即停下原有的做事方式，做出改变。因此他的妻子问他为什么花了三次尴尬的经历才最终“放弃”这个笑话。故选A。

4.What does the writer advise us to do?

A To follow ourselves.

B To have self-confidence.

C To try something new.

D To speak in our usual tones.

解析：选C。C细节理解题。根据文章最后一句的“Taking a risk on something new is better than failing over and over the old way.”可知，作者认为在新事物上冒险总比在旧方法上失败要好，因此作者建议我们做出改变，尝试新事物。故选C。