TEXT B Many a young person tells
me he wants to be a writer. I always encourage such people, but I also explain
that there’s a big difference between "being a writer" and writing. In most
cases these individuals are dreaming of wealth and fame, not the long hours
alone at a typewriter. "You’ve got to want to write," I say to them, "not want
to be a writer." The reality is that writing is a lonely,
private and poor-paying affair. For every writer kissed by fortune there are
thousands more whose longing is never rewarded. When I left a 20-year career in
the U. S. Coast Guard to become a freelance writer, I had no prospects at all.
What I did have was a friend who found me my room in a New York apartment
building. It didn’t even matter that it was cold and had no bathroom. I
immediately bought a used manual typewriter and felt like a genuine
writer. After a year or so, however, I still hadn’t gotten a
break and began to doubt myself. It was so hard to sell a story that barely made
enough to eat. But I knew I wanted to write. I had dreamed about it for years. I
wasn’t going to be one of those people who die wondering "What if" I would keep
putting my dream to the test—even though it meant living with uncertainty and
fear of failure. This is the Shadowland of hope, and anyone with a dream must
learn to live there. "Shadowland’ in the last sentence refers to ______.
A．the wonderland one often dreams about B．the bright future that one is looking forward to C．the state of uncertainty before one’s final goal is reached D．a world that exist only in one’s imagination