(2017·全国甲卷)
话题:Freddy的故事 词数:273W 难度:★★★★
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(动词)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，我在一所小学里教书。每天有27个孩子进入“思考实验室”，学生们觉得这个房间太沉闷了，所以投票决定给它取名“104室”。
Freddy是一个平常的学生，但他并不是一个普通的人。他有着难得的乐趣与同情心的平衡，他会对好笑的事“笑”得最响亮，也会对别人的“不幸”感到悲伤。
在学期结束前，我送给了孩子们一份特别的礼物，每人一件T恤衫，上面写着“动词是你的朋友”。我曾告诉他们，尽管动词看起来可能很枯燥，但是他们一生中大部分有趣的事情都是动词。
这些年，我遇到以前的学生，他们常常会告诉我有关老同学的“最新情况”。我听说Freddy高中毕业后，做过好几份工作，但他仍然是我过去四十年中遇到的最有爱心的人。有一次，当他在一家商店通宵工作时，他让一位无家可归的人睡在他的卡车上。还有一次，他借钱给他的朋友买房子。
去年，我正在举办一个研讨会时，有人敲门。一位女士为自己打断了我的工作而请求原谅，然后递给我一个信封。我停下来，然后打开了信封。里面装的是那件T恤衫还有Freddy母亲写的一张便条。“Freddy在感恩节去世了。他想把这个给您。”
我把这个故事讲给同学们听。虽然心里很难过的，但我不禁微微一笑。尽管Freddy离开了我们，我们从他的身上学到了一些东西。
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