Melba Vélez Ortiz stands just 139.7cm tall and only has about 3% of her vision remaining. Born with retinitis pigmentosa(色素性视网膜炎), Melba’s vision has been declining for most of her 51 years on this earth, yet she refuses to let the condition rule her life.

One big aspect of Melba’s independence is Chad, or Professor Chad, as he’s known to her students. Chad is an 8-year-old dog who was assigned to Melba by Guide Dogs for the Blind when he was only a year old. In the past seven years, Melba and Professor Chad have touched the lives of hundreds of students at the Frederik Meijer Honors College, where she teaches communications and he specializes in “Unconditional Love and Service.”

At first, Melba wasn’t sure about bringing Chad to class with her because she thought he’d be too distracting for the students. “I said, ‘No, no, no. I am already fighting with every social media platform there is,” she explained. “I’m already fighting with video games and God knows what else. No, I’m not bringing a cute puppy into my class.” 

She decided to give it a shot anyway, setting the dog up with a bed and chew toys to keep him busy while she taught. To her surprise, just having Chad in the room improved the whole classroom’s atmosphere. “People fear public speaking more than they fear death,” Melba explained. “So to have Chad come on in, even sitting in the corner, I could feel the stress of the students go down.”

Students later confirmed that Professor Chad provides therapeutic benefits for them. During times of stress, they look forward to seeing him and getting a little puppy love in between classes. In fact, on the website Rate My Professor, where students share experiences with college-level teachers, Professor Chad earns all As! “Fantastic!” one student wrote as a review. “Professor Chad is by far the best professor I have ever had teaching me. If every professor was like Dr. Chad the world would be a better place.”

1.What was Chad intended for?

A Ruling Melba’s life.

B Guiding blind people.

C Spreading unconditional love.

D Improving Melba’s independence.

解析：选B。B细节理解题。根据第一段第一句的“only has about 3% of her vision remaining”和第二段第二句的“was assigned to her by Guide Dogs for the Blind”可知，查德是一只导盲犬，梅尔巴几乎丧失全部视力，查德的作用就是引导近盲的梅尔巴。故选B。

2.Why didn’t Melba want to take Chad to class at first?

A Melba thought Chad was too cute to bring to class.

B Melba didn’t want Chad to become popular online.

C Chad was very interested in video games.

D Chad would stop students from concentrating on class.

解析：选D。D细节理解题。根据第三段第一句的“because she thought he’d be too distracting for the students.”可知，梅尔巴起初之所以不想带查德去课堂，是因为怕查德分散了学生的注意力，导致他们不能集中注意力于学习。故选D。

3.What happened after Melba brought Chad to class?

A Students felt a lot more relaxed.

B Melba gave Chad bones to calm him.

C Chad barked in class and students laughed.

D Melba got more stressed with Chad in class.

解析：选A。A细节理解题。根据倒数第二段中的“improved the whole classroom’s atmosphere”“I could feel the stress of the students go down”等可知，查德进入课堂后，梅尔巴的课堂氛围更好了，学生的压力减轻了，他们感到更轻松。故选A。

4.What is students’ attitude to Professor Chad?

A Disappointed.

B Enthusiastic.

C Appreciative.

D Indifferent.

解析：选C。C观点态度题。根据最后一段中的关键词句“benefits”“a little puppy love”“Professor Chad earns all As”“the best professor I have ever had teaching me”等可知，学生们对查德表示非常喜爱和欣赏。故选C。