diff --git a/src/sphinx_testing/path.py b/src/sphinx_testing/path.py

index 60caf35..9e16a09 100644

--- a/src/sphinx_testing/path.py

+++ b/src/sphinx_testing/path.py

@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ class path(text_type):

         """

         Returns the text in the file.

         """

-        f = open(self, mode='U', **kwargs)

+        f = open(self, **kwargs)

         try:

             return f.read()

         finally: