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: