母亲的鼓舞

薛瑞

汤姆的功课不好，而在纽约，高中生只有规定的科目都及格才可以毕业。于是，汤姆的母亲想尽一切办法使儿子相信他可以做到……

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 （诵读困难的）， 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 （乐意的） 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 （冲刺）. 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. 但對于有阅读障碍的汤姆来说，这是具有挑战性的，以至于一些老师担心他甚至永远无法尝试，更不用说通过了。

【点石成金】该句中，who引导一个非限制性定语从句，先行词为Tom;so...that...意为“如此……以至于……”。

【句式仿写】他变得很激动，以至于说不出话来。

He became                he couldn？蒺t speak.