Vocabulary Idioms & Phrases Reading~ Paragraphs 5-6 Post-reading

Listen to paragraphs 5-6. Skip

Now, answer the following questions.

( ) Marshae Ohms has inspired Reeve that he can. (A) walk again some day (B) help the disabled (C) act and direct movies one day (D) breathe on his own soon A

Reading

Truly, the terrible injury has not stopped this incredible man. For months after the accident, Reeve was out in public with Robin Williams. Together they appeared at a dinner meeting of the Creative Coalition, a group of celebrities who do good work. The Creative Coalition 藝術家聯盟 Reeve has been interviewed on television as well.

He talks about the challenge of being different, of working to get back some of his abilities, and of how his life has changed. He also talks about how he is going to walk again. A twenty-four-year-old woman, named Marshae Ohms, learned to walk again after a similar injury.

It took her two years of hard work to overcome the consequences of the injury to her spine. Christopher Reeve’s goal is like hers: to walk again. 原句 = → She spent two years working hard to overcome the effects of the injury to the spinal cord.

Reeve’s physician reports that, one step at a time, Reeve has conquered every obstacle on the way to being independent of the machines. on the way to... 在進行中，快要 … They are well on their way to getting married. 原句 = →...while trying to be free from the machines, Reeve gradually overcomes all the difficulties.

Although a full recovery from such a serious injury is not thought to be possible, he is recovering muscle movement and will likely be free of the breathing device one day. 原句 = → Even though, people think it impossible for him to completely recover from such a severe/grave injury, Reeve is regaining movement in his fingers, arms and legs. And it is likely that one day he will be independent of the breathing machine.

His ambition, before the accident, was to direct a movie. Actually, despite being confined to a wheelchair, the former Superman has directed and even starred in several projects. 原句 = → In fact, although he was confined to a wheelchair, the one-time Superman star has directed and even acted in several projects.

Moreover, his efforts in both raising money and calling attention to the needs of the disabled have met with considerable success. meet with 得到 ( 某種結果或反應 ) meet with success/failure/approval/ disapproval/opposition Their attempts at negotiation eventually met with some success. My proposal has met with a great deal of resistance. Next

Moreover, his efforts in both raising money and calling attention to the needs of the disabled have met with considerable success. 原句 = → Further/Besides, Reeve has been considerably successful/quite succeeded in his efforts to collect money for people with disabilities and bring their needs to people’s attention/draw people’s attention to their needs. Back

Reading for the Main Idea □ 1. No pain, no gain. □ 2. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. □ 3. A friend in need is a friend indeed. □ 4. Not everything you see is what it appears to be.

Topics for Discussion

Discussion 1: Have you ever seen Superman movies or the Superman TV series, or read Superman comics? If yes, share what you have seen or read with your classmates. If no, find out a Superman story to tell.

Reference answer : Yes, I have seen the new Superman series. The story is about an event that occurred in the town where Superman spent his youth. Some meteors, which fell to the town with baby Superman, had mysterious effects on all the living things there. One day, after being bitten by a spider, one of Superman’s senior high classmates was changed. The genes of the spider had been changed by the meteors, and the spider bite changed the genes of Superman’s classmate. From that time on, the

Reference answer : young man acted and thought like a spider though he still looked like a human being. The “spiderman” even harmed his family members as well as his classmates. More and more mysterious accidents and deaths occurred in the town. Finally, Superman found out what had happened. He fought valiantly against the “spiderman” to save others. It was not an easy fight because the “spiderman” was very powerful. Besides, the place where they fought was surrounded by mysterious meteors, which

Reference answer : weakened Superman’s physical strength. During the fight, the weakened Superman was buried under heavy rocks, but he didn’t give up. He exerted his extraordinary will to overcome this obstacle. At the end of the story, Superman killed the “spiderman” though he didn’t want to. Once again, he overcame difficulty to save lives.

Discussion 2: What have you learned from this story about Christopher Reeve?

Reference answer : I have learned from the story of Christopher Reeve that we should never give up. Although life is full of uncertainty and difficulty, we should never give up. Christopher Reeve is a perfect model of courage and resolve not only for the disabled but for ordinary people like you and me. It seems that nothing is impossible to him. No matter what happens to him, he always lives his life to its fullest. Before the terrible accident, he was an outstanding actor, an accomplished pianist, a

Reference answer : superb athlete, and an active outdoorsman. He set goals for himself and enjoyed his challenging life. However, the accident changed all of that. He was left paralyzed from the neck down. Compared with what happened to Reeve, our daily troubles are mere trifles. Failing a test or losing a basketball game is really not a big deal. The point is that we should never give up. Just because Reeve doesn’t give up, his recovery has been miraculous. Similarly, I believe that

Reference answer : just so long as we don’t quit, we can do whatever we want to do. Nothing is impossible. Back