I try to be a good father. But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.
Eighty-five times he’s pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in marathons. Eight times he’s not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a wheelchair but also towed (拉着) him 2.4 miles in a dinghy (小游艇) while swimming and pedaled (蹬车) him 112 miles — all in the same day. And what has Rick done for his father? Not much — except save his life.
This love story began in Winchester, Mass., 43 years ago, when Rick was strangled (使窒息) by the umbilical cord (脐带) during birth, leaving him brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.
When Rick was 11 the Hoyts took him to hospital and asked if there was anything to help the boy communicate. “No way,’’ Dick was told. “There’s nothing going on in his brain.’’
“Tell him a joke,’’ Dick countered (反驳). They did. Rick laughed. It turns out that a lot was going on in his brain. Equipped with a computer that allowed him to control the cursor (光标) by touching a switch with the side of his head, Rick was finally able to communicate.
And after a high school classmate was paralyzed (瘫痪) in an accident and the school organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out (啄出), “Dad, I want to do that.’’
How was Dick, who had never run more than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he tried.
That day changed Rick’s life. “Dad,’’ he typed, “when we were running, it felt like I wasn’t disabled any more!’’
And that sentence changed Dick’s life. He became obsessed(迷恋) with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon. In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the qualifying time for Boston the following year.
Then somebody said, “Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon (三项全能运动)?’’
Now they’ve done 212 triathlons, including four 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii.
This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best time? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992 — only 35 minutes off the world record.
“No question about it,’’ Rick types. “My dad is the Father of the Century.’’
And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries (动脉) was 95% blocked. “If you hadn’t been in such great shape,’’ one doctor told him, “you probably would have died 15 years ago.’’ So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other’s life.
小题1:What is the meaning of the underlined word ‘limbs’ in Paragraph 3?
A．fingers and toes
B．hands and feet
C．arms and legs
D．wrists and knees小题2:At the 24th Boston Marathon, Dick and Rick ________.
A．reached the finish line within 160 minutes
B．nearly broke the world record
C．did better than 5082 athletes
D．completed the journey 35 minutes ahead of time小题3:What changed Rick’s life?
A．Rick’s love for his father.
B．Rick’s joining in the charity run with his father.
C．A computer enabling Rick to communicate.
D．Rick’s strong will and perseverance.小题4: What do we learn from the last two paragraphs?
A．Dick was considered as the Father of the Century by the public.
B．Rick made his father so well-known that the doctors treated him well.
C．Dick got into great shape by assisting his son in marathons and triathlons.
D．Rick saved his father when he had a heart attack in a race two years ago.
