When I was in my fourth year of teaching, I was a high school track coach (田径教练). One year, I had a student, John, who changed to our school from Greece, and seemed to be interested in sports, so I encouraged him to join our track team. I explained to him that even though he had never taken part in it before, I did believe that he could do well in any event, and l would be willing to teach him at whichever ones interested him. He accepted the offer, and began to work hard at every practice.
About a month later, I had found out from other ways that John was a first-class tennis player, winning many prizes in his home country. I went to him, asking, “John, I really enjoy that you came out for the track team, but why didn’t you play tennis instead? It seems that would interest you a lot more, since you’re so good at it.”
John answered, “Well, I like tennis, but you told me that you believed in me, and that you thought I could do well in track, so I wanted to try it for that reason.”
From then on, I often remember my student’s reply. I told it to a friend and she suggested I write it down to share somewhere with more teachers. No matter how critical (不满的) students can be of themselves, I’ve found that a simple “I trust that you can do it!” can go a long way!
14. According to Paragraph l, the author seems to think more about John’s _________.
A. PE marks B. home country
C. interest in sports D. state of health
15．Why did John take part in the track team?
A. He had been an excellent runner.
B. He was encouraged by his teacher.
C. He liked running more than tennis.
D. He had no tennis coach to train him.
16．The purpose of this passage is probably to _________.
A. build a close teacher-student relationship
B. introduce a new way of sports training
C. explain the value of sports and games
D. show the importance of encouraging
17．The passage is mainly written for _________.
A. teachers B. parents C. students D. players