Aunt Myrtle

The teacher who did the most to（1）_____ me was, as it happened, my aunt. She was Myrtle C．Manigault, the wife of my mother's brother Bill. She taught in second grade at all-black Summer School in Camden, New Jersey.

During my（2）_____ and youth, Aunt Myrtle encouraged me to develop every（3）_____ of my potential, without regard for what was considered practical or possible for black females. I liked to sing; she listened to my（4）_____ and pronounced it good. I couldn't dance; she taught me the basic dancing steps. She took me to the theatre—not just children's theatre（5）_____ adult comedies and dramas—and her faith that I could appreciate adult plays was not disappointed.

My aunt also took down books from her extensive（6）_____ and shared them with me. I had books at home, but they were all serious classics. Even as a child I had a strong liking for humor, and I'll never forget the joy of discovering Don Marquis's Archy & Mehitabel through her.

Most important, perhaps, Aunt Myrtle provided my first opportunity to write for publication. A writer herself for one of the black newspapers, she suggested my name to the editor as a "youth columnist". My column, begun when I was fourteen, was （7）_____ to cover teenage social activities—and it did—but it also gave me the freedom to write on many（8）_____ subjects as well as the habit of gathering material, the discipline of meeting（9）_____, and, after graduation from college six years later, a solid collection of published material that carried my name and was my passport to a series of writing jobs.

Today Aunt Myrtle is still an（10）_____ supporter of her "favourite niece". Like a diamond, she has reflected a bright, multifaceted（多面的）image of possibilities to every pupil who has crossed her path.

A. many
B. deadlines
C. but
D. while
E. other
F. library
G. supposed
H. voice
I. encourage
J. enthusiastic
K. childhood
L. aspect