My best memory of Christmas is the time when I was a little kid. Mom would teach us her favorite children’s song Twelve Days of Christmas: “On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me...”. We would usually add the gifts we received to the song, which we thought was a great way to appreciate the gifts and enjoy the holiday filled with love.
Now, it was again the holiday season but Mom could not sing the song together with us. It had become too difficult to take her from her Alzheimer’s(阿尔茨海默氏病)unit to Christmas dinner with us. Heart problems had set in, and she was growing weaker.
Whenever Christmas comes, my mind is filled with memories. Memories of faith, memories of family and, yes, memories of food. What happens, then, when a disease steals our memories?
During the course of my mother’s Alzheimer’s, I often asked myself what becomes of us when our memories are gone. It’s as if our memories are like a mirror that reflects who we are, and slowly our image fades in that mirror until we find no one there at all. Alzheimer’s is a disease that breaks hearts as well as minds. Whether or not I am likely to get the same disease that took my mother, I hope I will never forget all the love and care Mom has given us. I will spend Christmas with Mom each year anyway.
December 25 was very cold—the way it should be in Michigan. My brother Joe, my sister Mary, my sister-in-law Toni and I—along with my nieces Clare and Rachel, my cousin Carol, and my wife, Julee—piled into our cars and headed to Clausen Manor to see Mom. “Does she even know it’s Christmas?” I asked Julee on the way.
注意：
1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
On our arrival at Alzheimer’s unit, we showed Mom the gifts we brought to her and Carol put a Twelve Days of Christmas picture book on Mom’s lap.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
We stared in astonishment unable to believe our ears.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
相似题推荐
It's eight o'clock on a cold spring night. Our apartment has been hit by the artwork of a young, energetic child.It was in total mess！ I’m so tired tonight. I’ve been on crutches（拐杖）for seven weeks,recovering from hip surgery,and I'm trying fruitlessly to clean up.The phone rings-for the sixth time in less than an hour. We know who it is. My mom is troubled by paranoia（妄想症）-she thinks she has been kicked out of the nursing home (not true),she thinks her daughters have not visited in months (it has been a few days).
Each time she calls, I play a game with myself called“How Good a Person Can I Be?"I've won five rounds of the game tonight; I am due for a fall. She has no idea that she has repeated the things she is about to say a million times today and a million times yesterday. She has no idea that I had surgery, nor can she recall her own granddaughter's name. She is unaware of most of the past, and she drifts in the present.She is lonely.
I threw my anger at my mother. “MOM!” I yelled. “YOU ARE NOT BEING REMOVED FROM YOUR HOME!AND WE VISITED TWO DAYS AGO!”“Mom,you have to believe me,and if you don't,I cannot talk anymore!Everything is fine!”Silence. Then:“I was only calling to say hi.” My mother continued,having already forgotten that I yelled. “But I'm also worried about something; do you have a minute?”“No,Mom,I don't.”“Why are you yelling?” I'm yelling because you cannot help me care for my child, or even remember to ask me about my day. I'm yelling because you remind me of everything I fear:aging, sickness,fragility, bad luck,loss...I flop on the couch,aware of all my daughter is witnessing. She hears me blame my mother,lose my patience. I have not only failed at being a Good Person; I have failed at being a Good Example to My Daughter. I sat on the couch, defeated.
注意：1．续写词数应为150左右；
2．请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
“Can I talk to Grandma Ellie?" My five-year-old reaches for the phone.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I am soft inside, watching my kindergartner handle her fragile grandmother with such skillfulness.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
When I was young, my mother was going to Florida to visit my grandmother. I begged her to take me with her. “I’ll take you, but remember,” my mother warned me, “Grandma is sick.“ I had seen plenty of sick people before, so I figured it wouldn’t be a big deal. Besides, by the time we got to Florida, my grandma would probably be okay. Then we would have fun just as we used to. I remembered how excited I had felt the summer before when my grandma carried me on her shoulders down the streets.
Grandma was a great storyteller and her stories made me feel special whenever she told them. ”Grandma, tell me a story,“ I’d say, and she would always begin the story, “Once upon a time there was a boy named Billy…” Every story started with a boy named after me. When I arrived at her house, my first words were going to be, “Grandma, tell me a story.”
When I got to Grandma’s house, she didn’t come out to meet me. Even after I ran up the steps, she still didn’t come out to meet me. I went into her bedroom. Instantly, I was seized by terror and disgust, because what I saw in that room wasn’t my happy-go-lucky(无忧无虑的)grandmother. It was a crumpled(皱的)body, thin and weak.
That night as I lay in bed, I heard my grandma moaning in pain. It had the same effect on me as someone running fingernails across the blackboard. It was so annoying that I just wanted to tell her to stop. However, I didn’t and it continued all night.
A few weeks after we came home, my mother asked me whether it was all right if Grandma came to live with us. I said yes, but in reality I never wanted to see her again. Although my grandma lived with us for the next few months, I never went into her room. She couldn’t get out of bed. I didn’t have to see her.
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
One day, my grandma called me as I walked by her room. I didn’t want to go.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I was about to run out of the room and leave the scene behind forever when she began to tell a story.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A Bowl of Noodles
Jenny was the only child in her home. She had a quarrel with her mother that afternoon and she ran out of the house angrily. She couldn’t help crying sadly when she thought of he scolding from her mother. Having wandered aimlessly in the street for hours, she felt a little hungry and wished for something to eat, but it was not even possible for her, since she had nothing with her. She stood beside a stand for a while, watching the middle-aged seller busy doing his business. However, with no money in hand, she sighed and had to leave.
The seller behind the stand noticed the young girl and asked, “Hey, girl, you want to have the noodles?”
“Oh, yes... but I don’t have money on me...” she replied.
“That’s nothing. I’ll treat you today,” said the man,
“Come in.”
The seller brought her a bowl of noodles, whose smell was so attractive. Jenny thanked the man and started to gobblle (狼吞虎咽) up the delicious food...then cried silently.
“What is it?” asked the man kindly.
“Nothing, actually I was moved by your kindness!” said Jenny as she wiped her tears, “Even a stranger on the street will give me a bowl of noodles, while my mother drove me out of the house. She showed no care for me. She is so mean and cruel!”
Hearing the words, the seller smiled “Girl, do you really think so? I only gave you a bowl of noodles and you thanked me a lot. But it is your mother who has raised you since you were a baby. Can you number the times that she has cooked for you? Have you expressed your thanks to her?”
Jenny sat there, speechless and numb with shock; she remembered her mother’s familiar face and weathered hands. “Why did I not think of that? A bowl of noodles from a stranger made me feel grateful, but I have never thanked my mum for what she has done for me.”
On the way home, Jenny made up her mind to make an apology to her mother for her rudeness as soon as she arrived home.
注意：1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1:
Approaching the doorway, Jenny took a deep breath.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2:
Her mother came back home, which called her mind back.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Little Rat
Little Rat was not a rat. She was a girl of seven, but most neighbours thought she was only four. People called her by that because her skin was too dark. In the early 1900s, life was rather tough for a kid without parents. She was often teased with questions like, “Who is your father? Where is your mother?”
One night Little Rat lay down on her bed after a day’s heavy work. She was about to fall into sleep when she saw a rat slipping out of a hole in the wall. “A little rat!” she screamed, which scared the rat to escape away.
Lying down, however, somehow the girl couldn’t sleep any more. “It’s good that I’m not alone here,” she thought. She slipped down from the bed, tiptoed a few steps away, and looked at the hole. Again, the rat ran out, shook off the dust from his furs and smelled around with his little wet nose. At last he found a chicken bone on the floor. The rat picked up the bone with his swift paws and began to bite it greedily.
“He must be very hungry,” the girl thought. The idea made her feel hungry, too. Carefully she took a small piece of bread out of her pocket and threw some onto the floor before the little rat. Seeing no threat from the human before him, the animal reached the bread and all of a sudden he forgot all possible dangers and snatched the bread.
So day after day the girl kept company with the little rat. She fed him with the little food she had, and the rat would eat out of her hand. The girl was beaten by her aunt more often than before, because she always seemed eager to run back to her little room after doing the washing in the evening.
One morning the girl was carrying a barrel of water to her aunt’s garden. Suddenly she heard a sharp cry from the kitchen. It was her aunt. “Rat! A rat!” she screamed. Then the girl heard the woman chasing the rat in the kitchen.
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
“My little rat!” the idea occurred to the girl.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The girl watched the neighbours gathering at the door and was frightened.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I hadn’t decided whether to fly home for Thanksgiving yet. I didn’t have the money for the ticket, plus I wasn’t sure I could get enough time off from my job.
All that wondering changed when my mom called. She got right to the point: “Your grandmother isn’t well. Your dad and I decided I should fly out there for Thanksgiving.” Mom was an only child, so that made sense to me. But I was not ready for what I heard next. “We decided you should come along, so I cover your ticket.”
As always, Mom’s plan went off all right. I met her at the airport. Mom was anxious to see her parents, especially her mother, who was really fragile(虚弱). When we finally got to their house, we said hello and then Grandpa helped Grandma lie down again and took us to the living room, telling us we would eat Thanksgiving dinner at noon. He went into the kitchen.
Mom paced(踱步) the floor. I asked her what the matter was. “He can’t cook,” she shook her head. “How’s he supposed to fix a Thanksgiving meal for us?”
I tried to reason with her. “Can’t you smell dinner? Grandma is upstairs resting. Grandpa is the only one who could be cooking.” But we couldn’t see through the kitchen door.
Mom had an idea. “Let’s sneak out(溜出去) the front door and see what’s going on. Then we will know who is really cooking.” Grandpa had trouble hearing, so he didn’t hear us leave. It was a crazy plan. I followed her around the house to the kitchen windows. There we watched Grandpa fill water glasses and make coffee. “When did he learn to make coffee?” Mom asked. Quietly, we ran back around the side of the house and into the living room.
注意：1.续写词数应为150个左右;
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Finally, the kitchen door opened at noon.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“Wow, I can’t believe it! This smells so good,” I said.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Everything was perfect. I boarded my flight at 12: 35 a.m. at the Atlanta Airport as planned, and my dad was going to wait for me at the gate in Omaha at 3: 00 a.m. As I got to my seat in the back of the plane, I thought I would finally make it home that night. Just as I got comfortable, the flight attendant announced that this flight to Omaha, Nebraska, had been cancelled.
I had never had a flight cancelled before. I just had one delayed. At that time, I was with my father. Our flight was scheduled to leave at around 7: 30 p.m., but it was moved to 11: 20 p.m. My dad told me to sit on a chair while he figured it out. At the time I thought nothing was different because my dad had always taken the lead in these situations.
As I walked off the just cancelled flight, I took out my phone to call my dad. He was speechless and could do nothing because he was not with his 14-year-old daughter. He could only tell me to try my best to get on the first flight home.
I decided to walk to the desk to reschedule my flight, only to find that many other flights had also been cancelled that night. The line was so long. When I was settled in my place in line, I decided to check my phone: 1: 31 a.m. After around two hours of meeting new people and sharing our life stories, the line barely moved. We spent the night complaining. All of a sudden, it was 6: 15 in the morning and we had made it to the front of the line!
Right about now was when I wished I would have listened to what my dad had told me. I thought back hard and remembered him being very respectful to people and asking as many questions as he could. He finally got the tickets we needed.
续写要求：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
I decided that waiting wasn’t going to work for me.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________At 6: 40 a.m. I boarded my final plane home.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
