I need serious help.

[ichabod801]

To get input from the user, use the input function:

read_name = input('Please enter the name of the file to read: ')

I'm not sure exactly what he means by try/except for a file, but I assume he means something like this:

try:
    read_file = open(read_name)
except IOError:
    # give a warning to the user and quit the program.

It may be something he went over in class, I'd check any materials he's handed out.