16. Mr. Hope, the doorman at our school, walks with a limp (跛脚). Sometimes people make fun of his limp. It always (1)
(make) me angry to hear them laughing at him.
Watching him make his way slowly around our school with the cleaning tools in hand, I often wondered why he limped.
One day while I (2)
(stand) in the hall, I saw two boys laughing at Mr. Hope's limp. The headmaster saw this and he was very mad. He took all of us down to the basement. He showed us a picture of a young man standing by a long, thin boat. "This is Mr. Hope when he (3)
(be) a young man," said the headmaster. I was shocked (4)
(learn) that our doorman was once a great rower (划船运动员). In the 1968 Olympics, after the final race started, Mr. Hope's boat and another one were soon far ahead of the other boats, racing neck and neck towards the finish line The race was going well when suddenly, Mr. Hope heard a huge cracking (爆裂) sound. He saw his opponent's (对手) boat (5)
(go) down fast. The man was in trouble because the boat had broken right in the middle. He (6)
(stick) inside, unable to escape.
Without (7)
(stop) to think, Mr. Hope jumped into the water and pulled the man up from underneath the water. The other boats (8)
(pass) them on their way to the finish line, leaving the two men alone in the water. The other man had a broken leg and Mr. Hope's leg was cut badly by the sharp wood splinters.
Mr. Hope never finished the race. He never got a gold medal at the Olympics. He did end up getting a special medal for sportsmanship. And ever since then he (9)
(be) unable to walk properly.
As we stood there listening, the boys felt ashamed of what they had done. "Mr. Hope is a hero. His bravery and selfless actions make him an Olympic champion (冠军) forever. We (10)
(not laugh) at him anymore," said the boys.