第三部分：阅读理解（共两节，40 分）
第一节：（共15小题；每小题2分，共30分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Before I started school, people felt that 1 was not going to be successful．At the age of four I started speech lessons because basically I could not speak well enough for anyone to understand me．The story goes downhill from here．
The first grade was a struggle．I not only had difficulty speaking, but also felt nervous about the fact that I was expected to learn to read and I just couldn't do it．The second grade was not much better．I still struggled with the inability to read．It was in the third grade that the school district built a new school close to my home．I remember going there with my parents and helping to get the school ready so that we could move to the new one．However, things were still not much better as far as my schooling was concerned and did not get better for the next two years．
It was in the fifth grade．Mi-s．Wakefield was my teacher, and if ever there was a teacher that deserved a gold star, it was her．She did not make me feel defeated．On the contrary, she did her best to let me know that I could be whatever I wanted to be．And that is just what I did．
For the past 22 years, I have been a fifth grade teacher．Because of Mrs．Wakefield's influence on my life, I am now encouraging students who have had difficulties in their lives to believe that they can overcome any difficulty and become someone．I have won numerous awards up to now, such as Teacher of the Year．I owe it all to one fifth grade teacher who believed in me and challenged me to be all that I could be．
56．The writer ______ when he was in the third grade．
A．did better in reading                      B．began speech lessons
C．went to a new school                D．received a high award
57．We can learn from the passage that the writer ______．
A．is a very successful teacher now
B．thinks teaching is a challenging job
C, has solved problems with his own effort
D．works in the same school with Mrs．Wakefield
58．What is the writer's purpose in writing the passage?
A．To express his devotion to his work．
B．To show his respect to a special teacher．
C．To share his leaching experience with us．
D．To tell us his story of overcoming difficulties．