Until the doctor told me that I might go blind, the future spread before me in all directions. My
paintings had been shown in New York galleries(艺术馆). I enjoyed the hours in my studio. But
now everything was shadowed with fear.
One day, after I showed photos of my paintings to Ron, who was an eye doctor and sculptor
(雕塑家), he asked me to go to his school and show slides(幻灯片) of my work to his students
with developmental disorders.
The next day, when I arrived at the school, I found one student was in the art room already waiting,
a young man in wheelchair. His head was held up by wires. His fingers were bent backward. When I
came in, his eyes met mine. A burst of voltage(电压) passed from him to me.
Two other students arrived, one of them wheeled in by Ron, who had invited me. This boy's arms
were lashed (扎捆) to his wheelchair.
"Tim is a professional artist," Ron told the group, " and is here to share his ideas. " Ideas? Getting free
of the limitations of the physical world-that was the point of my paintings. Was I supposed to share this
with people in the wheelchairs? Nervously I showed slides of my paintings. You make art to say
something you can't say with words, I explained. These paintings might be about being held down, and
getting free.
After I showed the last slide, Ron said, "Maybe Tim will come and visit again." " What do you say?"
he asked me. I looked at the man with the wired head. When our eyes met, he nodded with a slight
movement of his head.
The next few nights, I lay awake thinking about the million things these people could not do: climb a
tree, hold a spoon and turn the pages of a book. Yet there was that light in their eyes. What would they
tell us if they had the power?
Then I called the school and reached the director of the ars program. "I was there a week ago,
showing slides of my paintings in Ron's class. I was wondering if I could come back. " "To help with the
class?" she asked.
"No," I said. "To start a new one. "
1. Immediately he was diagnosed with the eye illness, the writer .
A. felt worried about his future
B. was doubtful about the diagnosis
C. was concerned with the disabled people
D. felt confident in recovering the illness
2. We can infer from the text that Ron invited the writer to meet his students because he _ .
A. had sympathy for the writer's illness
B. wanted to encourage the writer to overcome difficulties
C. thought his students needed some exercise and relaxation
D. found a determined person in the writer
3. The students that the writer showed slides of his work to were .
A. physically normal persons
B. disabled persons
C. mentally disordered persons
D. absolutely useless persons
4. The writer decided to start a new class because he wanted to .
A. gain some experience in teaching
B. convince Ron of his talent in teaching
C. share the students' sorrow
D. teach the students to paint
