cats' crying. For one glorious hour every day, I was showered with attention. Everyone wanted to hear what I had to say.

　　Between classes, I bent under the combined weight of my violin case and a backpack filled with books. My posture suffered, but my confidence grew. With my violin by my side, I found my voice. More and more, I contributed to class discussions and even made a couple of friends.

　　Today, I'm just an amateur violinist with a regular day job. As I sit in my community orchestra, sometimes I feel jealous (嫉妒的) of my fellow musicians' instruments with their elegant voices. I may not be the best violinist around, but at least I'm still the loudest.

　　语篇解读：本文是一篇记叙文。文章主要讲述了拉小提琴让作者变得自信的故事。

　　5．The underlined part "ran counter to" in Paragraph 2 probably means "________"．

　　A．was similar to

　　B．went along with

　　C．was the opposite of

　　D．had something in common with

　　解析：选C　词义猜测题。由画线部分前的"dragging a large violin case"和之后的"being invisible"可知，拖着一个巨大的小提琴箱与"我"在学校里不愿被注意到背道而驰，由此推断，ran counter to意为"违逆；违反；与......背道而驰"。

　　6．We know from Paragraph 2 that the author ________.

　　A．did not fit in at school

　　B．was an excellent student

　　C．was strong and confident

　　D．did not attend classes regularly

　　解析：选A　推理判断题。由第二段中的"When I spoke up in class ... I tried to be quiet and still."可知，作者在学校里格格不入。

　　7．What kind of feeling is expressed in Paragraph 3?

　　A．Disappointment. B．Anger.

　　C．Pride. D．Regret.

　　解析：选C　推理判断题。由第三段中的"For one glorious hour every day, I was showered with attention. Everyone wanted to hear what I had to say."可知，作者在拉小提琴时，总是受到大家的关注，每个人都想听他要说什么，由此可以推断作者感到非常自豪。

　　8．What can we infer from the text?

　　A．The violin changed the author in some way.

　　B．The author hated the loud voice of his violin.

C．The violin always made the author embarrassed.