He’s a man of his word他是个言出必行的人

丁黎明

馬里兰州的单身妈妈卡洛琳想取得学士学位，却总是遇到阻碍。最终她能完成学业并拿到她的学士学位证书吗？

主题语境：做人与做事 篇幅：341词 建议用时：7分钟

1 Education has always been important to Carolyn Patton， but life always seemed to“get in theway”every time she tried to finish her bachelor’sdegree.

2 The Maryland single mom was so busy workingto support her two children that she repeatedlyput her own education goals on hold， abandoningher college program on two separate occasions overthe years. When her son Immanuel Patton was just 5 years old， he noticed her struggling toget her degree， and he made a vow to help her.

3“I remember I just told my mom， one day， we’re going to get our degrees at the sametime，”Immanuel said. Those words proved to be prophetic （预言的） for the mom andson， who recently walked across the stage at the University of Maryland to collect theirbachelor’s degrees together！

4“That promise， he never allowed it to die，”said Carolyn.“It was continuously，‘Youknow， Mom， we’re going to do this.’.”Their path to graduation wasn’t easy， but Immanuelstayed true to his promise and helped his mother along the way. The two held two associate’sdegrees each， so in fall of 2020 they enrolled together in bachelorlevelonline coursesthrough the University of Maryland Global Campus. They both found the classes challeng ing， but Immanuel stepped up as the cheerleader his mother needed.

5“I said，‘Mom， you’ve got to keep it going. I know you want to stop. We’ve got to keepgoing.’，”Immanuel recalled.“The main thing was just trying to get everything lined upand stay on top of her as well as stay on top of myself.”

6 It took the Pattons two years to finish their bachelor’s degrees， Carolyn’s in Humanitiesand Immanuel’s in Public Safety Administration. Carolyn planned to stay at her job asa coordinator at Anne Arundel Community College， and Immanuel accepted a job at Universityof Maryland Global Campus to help other students succeed in college， too.

7 Carolyn said she was incredibly proud of Immanuel’s achievement， and she personallycouldn’t have reached her lifelong goal without the support of her family， especiallyhim.“He’s a man of his word，”Carolyn said.

Reading Check

Detail

1. What made Carolyn drop her college program？

A. Challenging courses.

B. Raising her children.

C. Too much housework.

D. Expensive college tuition.

Vocabulary

2. Which of the following best explains“made a vow”underlined in paragraph 2？

A. Tried one’s best.

B. Took a degree.

C. Had a promise.

D. Overcame difficulties.

Detail

3. What can we learn about Immanuel from the text？

A. He learned the same courses as his mother.

B. He supported her mother in getting a bachelor’s degree.

C. He spent four years getting a bachelor’s degree.

D. He also helped other mothers finish their education.

Inference

4. What is the purpose of this text？

A. To introduce a responsible teen.

B. To tell us that persistence is important.

C. To call on people not to give up their dreams.

D. To explain it is difficult to get a bachelor’s degree.

Language Study

Ⅰ. Difficult sentence in the text

Those words proved to be prophetic for the mom and son， who recently walked  across the stage at the University of Maryland to collect their bachelor’s degrees  together！ 事實证明，这句话对这对母子来说是预言性的，他们最近在马里兰大学走上讲台一起领取学士学位！

【点石成金】本句是一个主从复合句，who 引导的是定语从句，修饰先行词the mom and son，且who在从句中作主语。

Ⅱ. Fill in the blanks with the vocabulary in the box in proper forms.

collect incredibly prove to be enroll in line up succeed

1. Mike had a job________ when he finished his college education.

2. The promotion________a turning point in his career.

3. She had just________her pension from the post office.

4. It seemed________that she had been there a week already.

5. Before you________online classes， take a few minutes to interview the school of your choice.

6. We congratulated them on the________completion of the project.