It was the first day of school. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned around to find a little old lady smiling at me. She said, “Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I’m eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?”
I laughed and said, “Of course!” And she gave me a big hug. “Why are you in college at such an age?” I asked.
She jokingly replied, “I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have kids and then retire and travel.”
“No seriously.”
“I always dreamed of having a college education and now I’m getting one!”
We became friends at once. Over the course of the year, Rose easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she was happy with the attention given to her from the other students. At the end of the term we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet（宴会）. I’ll never forget what she taught us in her speech.
“We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You’ve got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around who are dead and don’t even know it! There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don’t do one useful thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything, I will turn eighty-eight. Anybody can grow older. That doesn’t take any ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity to do productive things. Have no regrets（遗憾；后悔）. The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but we regret for things we did not do.”
At the year’s end Rose finished the college degree. One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep. Over two thousand college students attended her funeral to honor the wonderful woman!
【小题1】While meeting Rose at the college for the first time, the author was curious about .A．her ageB．her lifeC．her purposeD．her dream【小题2】By saying “I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have kids and then retire and travel”, Rose was trying to be . A．humorousB．amazingC．confidentD．smart【小题3】What else did Rose most probably say at the football banquet?A．“It seems that my young days are over.”B．“Don’t do much in order to stay young.”C．“The people who fear death are those with regrets.”D．“When we are old, we can do nothing.”【小题4】The story of Rose in the text shows that .A．it is good to make friends with old peopleB．it is necessary to have a college education for old peopleC．it is important to have a healthy body when people are getting oldD．it is never too late to be what you can possibly beC
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(答案→)C
解析：
【小题1】细节题。结合作者的问话“Why are you in college at such an age?” 可知作者的疑问。
【小题2】推断题。结合Rose的回答和作者的反应可知Rose在开玩笑。
【小题3】推断题。结合Rose的演讲内容可知她讲的都是鼓励人积极向上的内容，所以只有C相符。“不要留有遗憾。老年人通常不会为做过的事遗憾，而是为还没有做过的事情感到遗憾。只有那些有遗憾的人才会怕死。”
【小题4】主旨大意题。文章讲述了87岁的Rose上大学的故事，作者一再告诉人们只要有梦想，只要坚持，梦想终有成真时。