20岁，这些事比你想的更重要

屠小平

对于每一位高中生来讲，20岁很快就要到来！那你知道哪些事情很重要吗？让我们一起来看看那些你在20岁的时候要直面的事情吧！

In my twenties， I had no idea what would matter in the long term. Im a smart person， but I didnt think much about my future.1Now， at 41， with the benefit of being wise after the event， I can see that some of my decisions mattered a lot. Here are some things that are more important in the long term than I realized.

For one thing， you should develop your marketable skills.2Getting the highest level of education you are able to and want to can give you an advantage. Having a tertiary education （高等教育） or specialized training makes it easier to face the fierce competition， and the jobs available to you are often more interesting， creative， and satisfying.

For another， you should spend your time wisely. I spent a lot of energy in my early 20s on relationships that were going nowhere. Most of my free time was taken up by my boyfriends. I knew early on I wasnt going to marry these guys.3Instead of keeping my boyfriends happy， I could have used that time to work on becoming the person I wanted to be.

4At 23， I got engaged after six months of dating. Looking back， I barely knew my former husband， but it didnt feel like it mattered. It felt romantic and intense. I didnt know about stages of love， how to deal with conflict well， or how to make a marriage work. I was very green and it mattered more than I realized. Who you choose to say “yes” to makes a huge impact on your life for many years. Back to the start， I would arm myself with knowledge to choose well.

The most important， I think， is to face your demons（惡魔）. Like many young people， I had issues left over from childhood that I didnt want to face. It wasnt until a few years ago that I realized how important it is to deal with and take responsibility for your own issues.   5

A. The time I invested in those relationships was mostly wasted.

B. Another thing is to deal with your problems at your early age.

C. Ignoring your past issues can leave you various consequences.

D. In my work and study， it meant I pushed myself to exhaustion.

E. I lived moment to moment， without much thought or planning.

F. Not everyone needs to get a degree， but the world is competitive.

G. Besides the above two， you should also learn to say yes or no to love.

Fill in each blank with a proper sentence below the text.

Sentences for writing

It wasnt until a few years ago that I realized how important it is to deal with and take responsibility for your own issues.

【信息提取】“it be +被强调部分+that +...”构成的是强调句式;take responsibility for意为“对……负责”。

【句式仿写】直到我看了这篇文章，我才了解到这些事情很重要。