The wheelchair-bound young man, a patient of mine, was pushed to the lectern at the high school to deliver his commencement address. His face still partially paralyzed, he spoke in a soft voice. But Mark Orsini delivered a powerful speech and received a thunderous applause from his fellow students, who had wondered if he’d live to graduate.

The 18-year-old had developed Guillain-Barre syndrome, which can cause paralysis. Soon he was almost completely paralyzed.

His parents insisted that he was a fighter. He’d get through this and go on to attend Dartmouth. But meanwhile, immobile and on a ventilator (呼吸器), how was he going to ask questions or be involved in his care?

The solution was remarkable: The Orsinis would sit at Mark’s side and recite the alphabet. When they got to a letter Mark needed to spell a word, he’d nod “yes”. They’d write it down, then start over and wait for him to nod again. They never lost patience and Mark was involved with every decision. Standard treatment hadn’t helped, so I proposed a risky procedure to filter (过滤) his blood. After treatment he showed improvement and soon he could move his toes, his legs and then his arms.

Mark has graduated from Dartmouth. I saw him in my office some time ago, and he was feeling great. But there was a lot left unsaid. I wanted to say I was in awe of him, and that his parents were some of the most amazing people I’d ever met, sitting by his bed for hours, patiently listening to their child speak letter by letter. I wanted to tell him of my shame when my children tried to talk to me and I brushed them off because I didn’t have time to listen. I wanted to say I’d never forget him or his parents. But words failed me.

【小题1】The underlined word “commencement” in Paragraph 1 means ________.

A．graduation

B．promise

C．birthday

D．acceptance

【小题2】What did Mark’s parents do for him when he was learning in class?

A．They did everything for Mark.	B．They assisted Mark in learning.
C．They lost patience sometimes.	D．They made decisions for him.

【小题3】According to the last paragraph, how did the writer feel about the way he treated his children?

A．He felt proud of it.	B．He felt confident of it.
C．He felt guilty of it.	D．He felt doubtful about it.