(2017·全國甲卷)
話題:Freddy的故事 詞數:273W 難度:★★★★
In 1973, I was teaching elementary school. Each day, 27 kids entered“The Thinking Laboratory”. That was the name( students voted for after deciding that“Room 104”was too dull).
Freddy was an average student , but not an average person. He had the rare balance of fun and compassion(同情). He would laugh the loudest over fun and be the saddest over anyone’s misfortune .
Before the school year ended , I gave the kids a special gift , T-shirts with the words“Verbs Are Your Friends ”on them. I had advised the kids that while verbs(動詞)may seem dull, most of the fun things( they do throughout their lives) will be verbs.
Through the years, I’d run into former students (who would provide updates on old classmates). I learned that Freddy did several jobs after his graduation from high school and remained the same caring person( I met forty years before). Once, while working overnight at a store, he let a homeless man sleep in his truck. Another time, he lent a friend money to buy a house.
Just last year, I was conducting a workshop when someone knocked at the classroom door. A woman excused the interruption and handed me an envelope. I stopped teaching and opened it up. Inside were the“Verbs”shirt and a note from Freddy’s mother. “Freddy passed away on Thanksgiving. He wanted you to have this. ”
I told the story to the class. As sad as it was, I couldn’t help smiling. Although Freddy was taken from us, we all took something from Freddy.
1973年，我在一所小學裡教書。每天有27個孩子進入“思考實驗室”，學生們覺得這個房間太沉悶了，所以投票決定給它取名“104室”。
Freddy是一個平常的學生，但他並不是一個普通的人。他有著難得的樂趣與同情心的平衡，他會對好笑的事“笑”得最響亮，也會對別人的“不幸”感到悲傷。
在學期結束前，我送給了孩子們一份特別的禮物，每人一件T恤衫，上面寫著“動詞是你的朋友”。我曾告訴他們，儘管動詞看起來可能很枯燥，但是他們一生中大部分有趣的事情都是動詞。
這些年，我遇到以前的學生，他們常常會告訴我有關老同學的“最新情況”。我聽說Freddy高中畢業後，做過好幾份工作，但他仍然是我過去四十年中遇到的最有愛心的人。有一次，當他在一家商店通宵工作時，他讓一位無家可歸的人睡在他的卡車上。還有一次，他借錢給他的朋友買房子。
去年，我正在舉辦一個研討會時，有人敲門。一位女士為自己打斷了我的工作而請求原諒，然後遞給我一個信封。我停下來，然後打開了信封。裡面裝的是那件T恤衫還有Freddy母親寫的一張便條。“Freddy在感恩節去世了。他想把這個給您。”
我把這個故事講給同學們聽。雖然心裡很難過的，但我不禁微微一笑。儘管Freddy離開了我們，我們從他的身上學到了一些東西。
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