Complete the text with the words from the box. Then press "Check" to mark your answers.
patient enlarges fine discouragement he reply slow discouraged to it not with hard
Anyone who attempts a task of any magnitude may be beset by two temptations, namely, impatience and discouragement. He starts hope and enthusiasm, but upon finding that the task he has set himself will take much longer than he thought, becomes impatient and scamps the work to get finished. Or, when he realises the difficulties to be overcome, he becomes , relaxes his efforts, or abandons the work as hopeless. As a check to impatience and a word of cheer to comes this old proverb: "Rome was not built in a day." Many days, nay, years and even centuries, were necessary build a great city like Rome. And no task that is worth doing can be done either quickly or easily. progress must not make us impatient, and difficulties must not discourage us.
A youth has the ambition to become a athlete. He thinks a little practice will soon make him a first-class bat or centre forward. But when he finds will take many months of practice and hard training, he becomes impatient and discouraged. To him, the proverb says, "Be , for Rome was not built in a day."
Another young man decides to become a scholar and devotes his life his studies in earnest. But the more he learns, the more he realises there is to be learnt. The subject as he progresses, the difficulties become more formidable, and at last, he realises that it will take him years of mental toil before he can reach his goal. And he becomes disheartened. To him comes this word of cheer: "Be discouraged, for Rome was not built in a day."
But this proverb, meant to encourage, must not be used, as sometimes is, as an excuse for laziness and procrastination. When remonstrated with his lack of progress, the idler may gaily , "Ah well! What can you expect? Rome was not built in a day."