《全新版21世纪大学英语快速阅读（第4册）/“十二五”普通高等教育本科国家级规划教材》以活页形式单独成册，建议由教师保管。过去笔者在执教大学英语期间，一直是以“抓紧精读，巧用速读”的方式来处理《快速阅读》教材的。《快速阅读》材料短小精悍，内容生动有趣，语言清新流畅。教师留在手头，似乎有某种“新式武器”在手的感觉。每次使用前，先将材料准备好，可放在上课前，作为课程的“开篇”；也可放在课程中间，作为活跃课堂气氛的一种教学手段；也可于某堂课结束前使用，作为这堂课程结束时的一个“小高潮”。

Practice Test 1 It's Easier than You Think
Practice Test 2 The Lessons I've Learned
Practice Test 3 Thank You, Mr. Chips
Practice Test 4 Running into Trouble
Practice Test 5 The Most Gifted Man Who Ever Lived
Practice Test 6 Your Defining Moments
Practice Test 7 Waking Up to Your Dreams
Practice Test 8 How Science and Technology Helped Shape 90s
Practice Test 9 Workplace 2020
Practice Test 10 The Sense That Shapes Our Future
Practice Test 11 Four Short Reading Passages
Practice Test 12 Four Short Reading Passages
Practice Test 13 Is Einstein the Last Great Genius?
Practice Test 14 The Body Shop
Practice Test 15 The Space-Age Ballpoint Pens
Practice Test 16 To Find a New Style of Aging
……

　　" But I only got second，" I said.
　　"I wouldn't care if you had come in fifth ! " he said. My time was good enough to get me into the finals later that day， and I was so motivated and energized that I took first place. Funny， no one ever talked much about that first-place medal. It was " crying and swimming all the way to second place" that they remembered.
　　I've been in plenty of seemingly unfair， come-from-behind situations in my life since that hot July day in Indiana. But I always know what to do: I just ask myself， "So what'll it be， Gail? Quit or swim?" And I can tell you， swimming always feels better. Even ifl come in second， I ask virtually everyone I work with - executives， entrepreneurs， people between careers， people between marriages， people who are just plain worried they don't have the right stuff to meet their next challenge - to make a list of the " defining moments" in their lives. A defining moment is an occasion when you found something in yourself you didn't know you had， or forgot you had， and pulled it out.
　　And as a result， you changed an outcome from negative to positive. A defining moment is when you said， "Yes， I will" or "No， I won't. " It's when you drew a line. Or erased one， if that was what needed to be done. It's a moment after which you never thought of yourself in quite the same way. We all have them. In fact， I bet if you took a good look， you'd come up with a ton of them.
　　A few years ago， when I asked a client named Ray to go home and make a list of the defining moments in his life， he balked . "I can't do that，" he said. "I don't have time， with my work and my family. And， anyway， I don't have any defining moments. "
　　"Just do it， Ray，" I said. And he did. He came back two weeks later with five pages of defining moments. Once he had started， he couldn't stop. "I'm just worried about all the ones I missed!" he said， "Don't worry，" I said. "There will be a whole lot more. " What kick-started the process for Ray was remembering when he ran for class president in the runth grade. He ran his heart out - and he lost， But he still had to go to school the next day. He still had to walk down the same halls. He still had to hold his head up. And he did it. What he found in himself was the courage and the will to keep his 13-year-old self going， It really was a good thing that Ray lost that election， because if he had won， he wouldn't have learned as much about himself. " You know，" he said， " when I think about it， just that one little memory reminds me that I'm strong， that I can handle whatever comes along. " Another person I coached， a wonderful woman named Valerie， discovered that her whole life has been a series of defining moments. A talented actress and singer， she used her defining moments to reignite her performing career at the age of 60. When she was a young girl growing up in the United Kingdom， Valerie worked on an assembly line in a paper mill. It was desperately hard and exhausting work. She actually strained her chest muscles in the process. One day， at the age of17， she
　　looked around the factory floor and said to herself， "This isn't who I am. This isn't what I'm about.
　　This isn't the life I want or was meant to live. " She didn't know it at the time， but that realization， that moment， would change her life more than once.
　　……