活到老，學到老

藍利霞

The thought of undertaking a doctorate first came to Peter in 1997， when he retired from a satisfying business career at 57. Peterd always enjoyed learning， so it made sense to do further study. By 2000， Peterd worked up the courage to enroll in selected finance and economic subjects， completing five of the university subjects across the next few years. He had to do them as prerequisites to starting a PhD.

Being back at university in 2000 was different. Peter had never even heard of a computer when he did his MBA years earlier. Yet suddenly he was expected to program to complete his statistics degree. It was terrible but Peter made it.

All of his studying was cast aside， however， when his son Piers， a pilot， died of a brain disease in 2013 — Piers was just 39 and Peter was 73. Peter threw himself into setting up a charity in memory of Piers — a program that now supports the mentoring of 40 aviation students a year. Later that year， Peter enrolled in a PhD. Because Piers death had shown Peter that life is short， and he couldnt bear to waste any more of it. So he picked up his study again though it was tough.

Though Peter had initially begun as a part-time student， he changed to full-time in 2020. Then came COVID-19. The following two years of his PhD work were undertaken in almost complete isolation. The PhD gave Peter a focus and something to do in those miserable lockdown years.

Finally， one Friday afternoon in mid-2022， he received an email with the subject line： “Congratulations”. His thesis had been passed with minor amendments. His graduation day came a few months later， and what a mix of emotions Peter experienced！ People ask Peter if hes finished now， but his answer is a definite no. Age is just a number， and Peter intends to use every last minute that he has.

（材料出自METRO網站，有刪改）

1. How old is Peter now？

A. 57 years. B. 76 years.

C. 80 years. D. 83 years.

2. How would Peter initially feel when asked to program？

A. Bored.B. Excited

C. Terrified. D. Delighted.

3. What did Peter do to memorize his son？

A. To write a book.

B. To cast down all his study.

C. To set up a charity.

D. To became an aviation student.

4. What can be inferred from the last paragraph？

A. Age is a number for him.

B. His essay has been published.

C. The email had some minor errors.

D. He will study for the rest of his life.

1. D。解析：細節理解題。根據材料第一段第一句“The thought of undertaking a doctorate first came to Peter in 1997， when he retired from a satisfying business career at 57.”，我們可知，Peter在1997年是57歲。而今年是2023年，所以他現在是83歲。故選D。

2. C。解析：推理判斷題。根據材料第二段的第二、三句“Peter had never even heard of a computer when he did his MBA years earlier. Yet suddenly he was expected to program to complete his statistics degree.”，我們可知，Peter之前都沒聽說過電腦，突然讓他編寫程序，他一開始是有些害怕的。故選C。

3. C。解析：細節理解題。根據材料第三段第二句中的“Peter threw himself into setting up a charity in memory of Piers”，我們可知，Peter成立了一個慈善機構來紀念他的兒子。故選C。

4. D。解析：推理判斷題。根據材料最后一段的最后兩句“People ask Peter if hes finished now， but his answer is a definite no. Age is just a number， and Peter intends to use every last minute that he has.”，我們可知，Peter會繼續學習。故選D。