Robby was 11 when his mother dropped him off for his first piano lesson. I prefer students to begin at an earlier age. Robby insisted that it had always been his mother’s dream to hear him play the piano, so I took him in as a student.
Robby tried and tried while I listened, then I encouraged him and gave him more instructions. But he just did not have any inborn ability.
I only saw his mother from a distance. She always waved and smiled, but never came in. Then one day Robby stopped coming to our lessons. I thought about calling him but I guessed he had decided to try something else.
I was also glad that he stopped coming for the sake of my career. However, several weeks before the recital（演奏会）of my students, Robby came，telling me that he never stopped practicing and begged me to allow him to take part. I agreed but I made him perform last in the program, so I could always save his poor performance through my “curtain close”.
I was surprised when he announced that he had chosen one piece of Mozart’s. Never had I heard a piece of Mozart’s played so well by someone else at his age. When he finished, everyone was cheering.
I ran up and put my arms around Robby in joy. “I’ve never heard you play like that, Robby! How did you do it?” “Well, Miss Hondorf. Do you remember I told you my mom was sick? Actually she died this morning. She was born deaf so tonight was the first time she could hear me play. I wanted to make it special. I knew I could.”
That night, Robby was the teacher and I was the student. He taught me so many important things about life.
1. Which of the following might be the reason that Robby stopped coming to the piano lessons suddenly?
A. He lost heart and believed that he would never make it.
B. His mother was seriously ill so that he had to stop his lessons.
C. He thought his teacher disliked him.
D. His mother died and he didn’t need to play any longer.
2. From the passage, we can learn that _______.
A. the writer thought playing the piano shouldn’t start too early
B. the writer thought that Robby had given up the piano lessons
C. the writer didn’t teach Robby carefully because he hadn’t a gift for music
D. no one else could play the piece of Mozart’s well
3. From the underlined sentence we can infer that _______.
A. the writer looked down upon Robby and disliked him
B. the writer thought Robby was a bad advertisement for her teaching
C. with Robby’s presentation, the other children couldn’t play well
D. the writer couldn’t teach so many students at a time
4. What did the writer learn from Robby?
A. The meaning of true love. B. The meaning of giving up necessarily.
C. The meaning of being kind to teachers. D. The meaning of believing in teachers.