母親的鼓舞

薛瑞

湯姆的功課不好，而在紐約，高中生只有規(guī)定的科目都及格才可以畢業(yè)。于是，湯姆的母親想盡一切辦法使兒子相信他可以做到……

1 My cellphone rang while I was working on my computer. I looked at the phone and saw it was my 17？鄄year？鄄old son， Tom. I quickly picked it up. “Mom， I got a 71 on the test. I did it.” With those few words， I could feel my heart start to beat wildly.

2 Living in New York， students cannot graduate from high school unless they pass at least five exams： one in English， one in science， two in history and one in math. For most students， who work hard， attend classes， and do their homework， it isn？蒺t that hard. But for Tom， who is dyslexic （誦讀困難的）， it is so challenging that some teachers have feared he would never be able to even attempt， let alone achieve.

3 We were honest with him about his trouble， letting him know that there was nothing to be ashamed of. Some people learn differently. If he was willing （樂意的） to work， we would help him find a way to do as much as he could in his academic career. All that was standing in his way was this math test. He had taken it three times and did better each time， but he continued to fail. He was starting to get a bit tired of me saying this was a marathon， not a sprint （沖刺）. My heart broke each time we got the failing results.

4 “Mom， thanks. I love you. Thanks for believing I could do this.”

5 For one of the few times in my life， I really had nothing left to say. For that one brief moment， I knew that everything we did to help our son achieve what he wanted was worth it.

1. What can we know about high school in New York？

A. It is very hard for most students to graduate.

B. Students must pass four exams before graduation.

C. Math is an unnecessary subject for students.

D. It is a challenge for students like Tom to graduate.

2. Which of the following is Tom？蒺s weak subject？

A. English. B. Science. C. Math. D. History.

3. How did the mother feel when writing this text？

A. Grateful. B. Proud. C. Angry. D. Worried.

Difficult sentence

But for Tom， who is dyslexic， it is so challenging that some teachers have feared he would never be able to even attempt， let alone achieve. 但對于有閱讀障礙的湯姆來說，這是具有挑戰(zhàn)性的，以至于一些老師擔(dān)心他甚至永遠(yuǎn)無法嘗試，更不用說通過了。

【點(diǎn)石成金】該句中，who引導(dǎo)一個非限制性定語從句，先行詞為Tom;so...that...意為“如此……以至于……”。

【句式仿寫】他變得很激動，以至于說不出話來。

He became? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? he couldn？蒺t speak.