First gear on a honda civic high...Rough gas pedal

Hi,
I just bought a Standard 98 Honda Civic with 72,000km. The first gear
seems to run high. It's not a smooth and gradual acceleration. It seems to
engage at high rpm's immediately. Is this normal on Honda
Civic's? I used to have a Standard Toyota
Corrolla and I remember the first gear being very smooth with a gradual
acceleration.

I also, have a problem with the gas pedal. It's very rough. Initially I need
to press hard on the pedal to accelerate. I read somewhere that it might be
a dirty throttle rod .

Thanks in advance for any help
Mark