2018年6月大学英语六级听力常考时文：An Exhausting Struggle

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　　1.Why was Balzac angry with his friend? Because his friend did not ...
        　　2.What did Balzac like best while he was writing? ...
        　　3.What could coffee help Balzac? ...
        　　Balzac once said artistic creation was “an exhausting strug-gle”.He
believed that only by tenacious work and fearing notafraid of difficulties could
you show your talent.It was just likethe soldiers charging the fortress，not
relaxing your effort foreven a moment.
        　　Once Balzac wrote for hours on end， he was so tired that hecould not hold
out any longer.He ran to a friend's home andplunged headlong on the sofa.He
wanted to sleep，but he told hisfriend he must be woken up within an hour.His
friend，seeinghim so tired，did not wake him up on time.After he woke up，Balzac
got very angry at his friend.Fortunately his friend had anintimate understanding
of him and did not quarrel with him.
        　　Balzac did not smoke cigarettes，nor did he drink any alco-hol. But he got
one habit：while he was writing he always drankvery strong coffee that could
almost anaesthetize his stomach.Hedidn't add milk，nor did he add sugar in his
coffee.It would notsatisfy him until it was made bitter.People generally did not
liketo drink such bitter coffee.That had strange stimulus effect tohim，and could
help him drive the sleepiness away，according to himself.