大学英语-多媒体课件-大学英语Ⅲ-unit71.docVIP

Sam: the Boy behind the Mask （excerpt） Chapter 1 A movie flickers on the screen set up in front of the chalkboard, but almost none of the twenty-eight eighth-graders pay attention. Under cover of darkness, they talk about the plan for tonight, in restless teenage voices that bounce around the second-floor classroom at Gregory Heights Middle School in Portland, Oregon. Their teacher looks up and clears his throat as a warning. The conversations continue at a whisper. Only one student, sitting in the last row--at five feet and eighty-three pounds the smallest in the class--remains silent. Sam Lightner never draws undue attention to himself. He moves like smoke. Perhaps its because he didnt speak until he was four years old. He had to learn how to force air through the hole a doctor cut in his throat when he was born. All his life, people have assumed his silence meant he was retarded. Sams an excellent student, an honor student, already tackling high-school-level geometry. Hes a keen observer, listening to conversations but not joining in, letting people forget that hes there. Over the years, Sam has learned that people often dont listen to what hes saying because his face distracts them. He was three years old when he realized he was different. Hed been running in a hallway at home when he saw his reflection in a full-length mirror. He touched the left side of his face, almost to prove whether he was in fact that little boy. And then he sat down on the floor and cried. Sam stares at the screen from his one good eye, and takes notes on the making of the U.S. Constitution. He always takes accurate notes, and shares them willingly. Other students can count on him when they do projects together. Although the desk swallows his frail frame, Sam is in the best shape of his life. Yet whenever the bell rings and other boys stampede to the door, Sam stands to the side so he doesnt get trampled. Today, his class is consumed with the open house that Grant High School is holding