A man in his 60s working towards his master's

湖南江華縣第一中學 何高倫

題材人物 新聞報道體裁 篇幅 建議用時342詞 7分鐘

難詞探意

1.tuition /tju'??n/ n.學費

2.plant /plɑ?nt/ n.工廠

3.dedicated /'ded?ke?t?d/ adj.專注的；投入的

4.irrational /?'r???nl/ adj.不合理的

5.transcript /'tr?nskr?pt/ n.學生成績報告單

At 63, Jerry Valencia was determined to get his college degree—and his master's too.

The student arrived early and stood out in my classroom in many ways.He is 40 years older than his classmates in my undergraduate communications class at California State University, Los Angeles.He eagerly jumps into class discussions, with his humor and wisdom of experience.And he is alwaysrespectful of the other students'perspectives, as if each of them were a teacher.“These students gave me the confidence that I didn't need to feel bad about my age,” Valencia said.

A lot of Valencia's classmates apparently knew he couldn't afford that term'stuitionbut he was still doing the homework.“Here he is, willingly taking a class for the joy of it and benefit of learning,” said Jessica Espinosa, a 25-year-old junior.“You don't see that in our generation.” Valencia wanted to stay in school until he earned a master's degree, but he had a long way to go.Valencia lives, for the time being, in a mobile home park.He greeted me when I arrived and poured me a cup of coffee.He told me that his dad had worked at a brick-manufacturingplant.His mother worked at home.Most of his seven brothers and sisters didn't go to college, and none finished.Valencia is determined to be the first, despite his late start.He was not the youngest student, but he was the most motivated and the mostdedicatedstudent.

There is somethingirrationalabout Valencia's determination to get a four-year degree and then a master's.At his current pace, he'll be 90 when he finally hangs all the papers on the wall.But that doesn't seem especially relevant.He's found all the youthful energy and seized all academic opportunities.Valencia's grade in my class this semester will not show up on histranscripts.But I'm giving him an A because it counts in the most important ways.

Reading Check

1.What can we learn from paragraph 2?

A.Valencia cared much about his age.

B.Valencia was very active in the class.

C.Valencia got along badly with his classmates.

D.Valencia regarded his classmates as teachers.

2.Who's the author probably?

A.Valencia's sister.

B.Valencia's father.

C.Valencia's classmate.

D.Valencia's teacher.

3.What message is conveyed in the text?

A.Seeing is believing.

B.Bad news travels fast.

C.It is never too old to learn.

D.Experience is the mother of wisdom.

Language Study

Difficult sentence

And he is always respectful of the other students' perspectives, as if each of them were a teacher.

【翻譯】_____________________________________________________________________________

【點石成金】當說話人認為句子所述的事情是不真實的或不太可能發生或存在的情況時，as if從句用虛擬語氣。 從句虛擬語氣動詞時態的形式如下：

①如果從句表示與現在事實相反，謂語動詞用一般過去時，其中be動詞只用were；

②如果從句表示與過去事實相反，謂語動詞用過去完成時；

③如果從句表示與將來事實相反，謂語動詞用“would/could/might＋動詞原形”。