In 1972, I returned to Miami Beach

In 1972, I returned to Miami Beach High School to speak to the drama class. Afterward I asked the drama teacher if any of my English teachers were still there. Irene Roberts, he told me, was in class just down the hall. I was no one special in Miss Roberts's class. I don't recall any one special bit of wisdom she passed on. Yet I cannot forget her respect for language, for ideas and for her students. I realize now, many years later, that she is a selfless teacher. I'd like to say something to her, but I don't want to pull her from a class. The drama teacher brought Miss Roberts into the hallway where stood this 32-year-old man she last saw at 18."I'm Mark Medoff," I told her. "You were my 12th-grade English teacher in 1958." She raised her head, as if this angle might bring back her memory. And then, though armed with a message I wanted to deliver in some perfect words, I could't think up anything more memorable than this: "I want you to know," I said, "you were important to me." And there in the hallway, this slight and lovely woman, now nearing retirement age, this teacher who didn't remember me, began to weep; she encircled me in her arms. Remembering this moment, I begin to sense that everything I will ever know, everything I will ever pass on to my students, to my children, is an inseparable part of an ongoing legacy of our shared wonder and hope that we can and must, make ourselves better. Irene Roberts hold me in her arms and through her tears whispered against my cheek, "Thank you." And then, with the briefest of looks into my forgotten face, she disappeared back into her classroom, returned to what she had done thousands of days through all the years of my absence. On reflection, maybe those were, after all, just the right words to say to Irene Roberts. Maybe they are the very words I would like to speak to all those teachers I carry through my life as part of me, the very words I would like to speak to me one day by some returning students: "I want you to know you were important to me."9. The writer of this passage is __________.A) a drama teacherB) a high school studentC) a college student of dramaD) a 32-year-old actor10. What the writer remembers most about his teacher is _________.A) her wisdomB) her way of teaching dramaC) her devotion to teachingD) her encouraging words11. When the writer saw Miss Roberts, he __________.A) held her in his armsB) could hardly recognize herC) poured out his feelings in perfect wordsD) said nothing except words of thanksAfter the brief meeting with the writer, Miss Roberts ________.A) retired to her officeB) shared the legacy with othersC) resumed her lectureD) forgot his face13. The word "reflection" in the last paragraph probably means _________.A) further careful thinkingB) an unexpected resultC) the second meetingD) another visit to the place