Reading, Form 9, Term 1

The Choice That Changed Everything

When seventeen-year-old Mark agreed to help his neighbour for one afternoon, he didn’t expect it to affect his future. The neighbour, Mr Collins, was an elderly man who lived alone and rarely spoke to anyone. He asked Mark to organise old boxes in the attic, most of which were filled with letters, notebooks and photos.

At first, the task seemed boring. However, while sorting the papers, Mark noticed that many notebooks were written in different languages. Curious, he started reading short parts and realised that Mr Collins had worked as a translator for international organisations many years earlier. Each notebook told a story about a country, its people and the challenges they faced.

When Mr Collins returned, Mark asked him why he had never talked about his past. The old man smiled and said that he thought young people were no longer interested in such things. Mark disagreed. He explained that learning about real experiences was more exciting than memorising facts from the internet.

That evening, Mark went home with one notebook Mr Collins allowed him to borrow. It was the first time Mark seriously considered learning foreign languages not just for school, but as a way to connect people and cultures. Sometimes, one unexpected decision can quietly open a completely new door.

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Why did Mark go to Mr Collins’s house?

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What surprised Mark in the attic?

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Mr Collins didn’t talk about his past because he believed that