Complete the text with the words from the box. Then press "Check" to mark your answers.
of goes achieve success fame become but even great man suffer reach their which climbing
We humble people, lost among the obscure millions, often envy famous men whose names are handed down by history and household words. But, when we envy, we forget two things; first, that such men must have been endowed with genius, is a rare gift; and second, that before even they could reach such eminence, they had to toil and to the degree that most of us would be unwilling to face.
The verse calls up the picture of mountain climbing. No man can the summit of a mountain without a long, laborious, and often dangerous climb. And no man has become and achieved fame without much toil, effort and sacrifice. We see a great achievement; we forget the long years labour that made it possible. The concluding lines of the verse at the head of the essay make this clear: "But they, while companions slept. We're toiling upward in the night. "
Think of the years of hard study a has to pass through before he can become a great scholar; the monotonous and tiring practice and drudgery that to the production of a famous singer or actor; the struggles, defeats, humiliations and downright hard work that is behind the of a statesman; the drudgery of the parade ground, the weary campaigns, the hardships, dangers and wounds, that must precede as a soldier and general.
No man has become suddenly great. Fame, or public recognition of greatness, may come suddenly; long years of work and struggle generally come before it. We shall probably never become famous, but we shall never any success without toil, effort, and sacrifice. Whatever the height we should like to reach and keep, we shall never come near it by sitting down and looking at it and sighing for it. We can attain it only by .