Matthew Whitaker: Blind piano prodigy

江蘇河海大學 李 璐

有時候，年紀很小的人，也會做出一些讓人驚嘆的事情，你不禁會想知道他們是怎么做到的。

題材體裁 篇幅 建議用時410詞 8分鐘人物 記敘文

難詞探意

1.prodigy /?pr?d?d?i/ n.神童；（年輕的）天才

2.impaired /?m?pe?d/ adj.受損的；有缺陷的

3.squelch /skwelt∫/ v.壓制；遏制；限制

4.gig /g?g/ n.現(xiàn)場演奏會

Every so often, someone so young does something so amazing that you can't help but wonder how he manages it.That's what happened the first time we heard Matthew Whitaker play the piano.Matthew is a jazz pianist who is blind, and since the age of 11, he's been performing around the world.He is regarded as aprodigy.

Matthew grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey.Matthew had an ear for music before he could even talk.Matthew Whitaker was born at 24th week.He weighed 1 pound and 11 ounces.His parents were told he had less than a 50% chance of survival.One of the many complications he faced was a disease which led to blindness.

No one in Matthew's family was a musician, but his grandfather bought him his first keyboard when he was 3 years old.It didn't take long for Matthew to show that he had a gift.So the Whitakers decided to get Matthew a teacher, which proved to be difficult.“At the time, we got a lot of an

swers that he's too young and they don't know how to teach a blind child,” Moses Whitaker said.“He was 3 years old at the time.”

Finally, Dalia Sakas agreed to meet Matthew.Dalia is the director of music studies at a music school in New York City, a school for the visuallyimpaired.Dalia played something on the piano and Matthew repeated it.Then she played something else and Matthew repeated it.She said, “Bring him in.We'll make the exception.” Dalia has been teaching Matthew ever since.

Dalia said that Matthew could listen to a piece of music once and then play it.“Because it is rare to meet someone of this talent, creativity and enthusiasm.I don't want tosquelchthat.I don't want to mess up.He's obviously, you know, got something to offer to the world and I want to make that possible.”

She did.By the time he was 11, Matthew was performing around the world.His first payinggigwas in Capri, Italy, where he performed with seasoned jazz musicians.Since then, he's played in more than 200 clubs and concert halls around the world.His love of music has never been in doubt.But Dalia Sakas wanted him to be a literate musician.

Matthew's latest album is called Now Hear This.One critic noted that it sounded like Matthew was playing with six hands.

Reading Check

1.What caused Matthew's blindness?

A.An accident.B.A disease.

C.The keyboard.D.The impaired piano.

2.Which of the following words can be used to describe Dalia Sakas?

A.Proud.B.Mean.C.Responsible.D.Ambitious.

3.Matthew's great success can be largely owed to ________.

A.his doctor's treatment B.his grandfather's keyboard

C.his mother's teaching D.his teacher's devotion

4.Where is the text probably from?

A.A travel journal.B.A newspaper.

C.A fashion magazine.D.A novel.

Language Study

Sentence for writing

So the Whitakers decided to get Matthew a teacher, which proved to be difficult.所以惠特克夫婦決定給馬修找個老師，結(jié)果證明那是一件很難的事情。

【信息提取】本句為一個主從復(fù)合句。主句為So the Whitakers decided to get Matthew a teacher,后面接了一個由which引導的非限制性定語從句，起到補充說明的作用。

【句式仿寫】他是個除數(shù)學之外各科都優(yōu)秀的學生，數(shù)學是他的短處。