The Day Mother Cried
Coming home from school that dark winter’s day so long ago, I was filled with anticipation. I had a new issue of my favorite sports magazine under my arm. Dad was at work, my sister was away, and Mother wouldn’t be home from her new job for an hour.
I was shocked into stillness by what I saw . Mother pulled into a tight ball with her face in her hands. She was crying. I had never seen her cry.
I approached cautiously and touched her shoulder. “Mother?” I said. “What’s happened?”
She took a long breath and managed a weak smile. “It’s nothing, really. I’m going to lose this new job. I can’t type fast enough.”
“But you’ve only been there three for days,” I said. “You’ll catch on.” I was repeating a line she had spoken to me a hundred times when I was having trouble learning or doing something important to me. She sobbed in silence .
I felt helpless and out of place. At the age of 16 I still assumed Mother could do anything. To provide enough income for my college two years later, Mother was crazy for ways to save money.
A few months ago, Mother arrived home with an old typewriter. It skipped between certain letters. “That’s all we can afford,” Mother said. “It’s good enough to learn on.” And from that day on, immediately after dinner, Mother would disappear into her sewing room to practice. The slow tap, tap, tap went on some nights until midnight. On Monday, she got a job as a typewriter at a radio station. I was not the least bit surprised but she was excited. But on Tuesday Mother looked drawn. I didn’t care honestly.
My shock and embarrassment at finding Mother in tears on Wednesday showed how little I understood the pressures on her. Sitting beside her on the couch, I began very slowly to understand.
“I guess we all have to fail sometimes,” Mother said quietly. I could sense her pain. I reached out and put my arms around her.
A week later Mother took a job selling dry goods at half the salary the radio station had offered. “It’s a job I can do,” she said simply.
注意：续写词数应为150左右。
But the evening practice routine on the old green typewriter continued.
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The old green typewriter sits in my office now, unrepaired.
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Golden Girl
When your mother enters her ninth decade, you make a point of being a little extra careful for any signs of decline—memory loss, repetition and the like.
Thankfully, my mother has been blessed with good health, and her mental state seems to have remained alright. But when she got inked at such an advanced age, I had to wonder.
My mother looks just like many grandmothers, short, slightly fat and white-haired. She’s rosy-cheeked and jolly, and when she laughs her eyes almost seem to disappear behind her fleshy cheeks. She comes from an old, traditional family. She was a career civil servant. In short, she didn’t do crazy suff.
That all changed a few years ago. She began to surprise my older brother and me with what she described as “independence.” At the time, we merely saw them as examples of irresponsibility and possibly age-related questionable judgment.
In early 2015, the year she turned 75, she informed us she’d booked a seven-night trip to Turkey. Alone. Because she had never been. Of course, that was astonishing. There was no way my brother and I could allow that. A shaky little old lady wandering the streets of Istanbul on her own, not speaking a word of Turkish, with no knowledge of the laws and customs of the land—it was out of the question!
She paid no attention to us. Off she went. When she returned, she told us it had been a wonderful success. As it turns out, she had barely spent any time alone after hiring a taxi driver to show her around Istanbul for a few days. He took her to open-air markets, parks, and restaurants. He introduced her to a rug(小地毯)seller named Mustafa, “a lovely fellow,” and she bought some rugs. The seller had taken her address details and promised to ship the rugs home. The seller and my mother apparently struck up quite a friendship and she had told him to please drop by if he were ever in Canada. My mother beamed as she told this story.
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。
We couldn’t believe how naïve (幼稚) she had been and sat her down to explain that she had been tricked.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“Mustafa dropped by for a cup of tea as we used to drink a lot in Turkey.” my mother told my brother and me.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I grew up in a small town. The primary school was a ten-minute walk from my house. When the noon bell rang, I would race breathlessly home. My mother would be standing at the top of the stairs, smiling down at me.
One lunch-time when I was in the third grade will stay with me always. I had been picked to be the princess in the school play, and for weeks my mother had helped me remember my lines so hard. But no matter how easily I acted at home, as soon as I stepped onstage, every word disappeared from my head. Finally, my teacher took me aside. She explained that she had writen a narrator’s (旁白的)part to the play, and asked me to change roles. Her words, kindly expressed, still hurt, especially when I saw my part go to another girl.
I didn’t tell my mother what had happened when I went home for lunch that day. But she sensed my pain. Instead of suggesting we practice my lines, she asked if I wanted to walk in the yard.
It was a lovely spring day and the rose vine (藤蔓)was turning green. Under the huge trees, we could see yellow dandelions(蒲公英)in the grass in bunch, as if a painter had touched our landscape with gold. I watched my mother casually bend down by one dandelion. “I think I’m going to dig up all these weeds, ” she said, “pulling it up by its roots. From now on, we’ll have only roses in this garden. ”
“But I like dandelions, ”I protested, “All flowers are beautiful—even dandelions. ”
My mother looked at me seriously. ”Yes, every flower gives pleasure in its own way, doesn’t it?“She asked thoughtfully. I nodded, pleased that I had won her over. ”And that is true of people too, "she added, “Not everyone can be a princess, but there is no shame in that. ”Relieved that she had guessed my pain, I started to cry as I told her what had happened. She listened and smiled.
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。
“But you will be a good narrator, ”she said.
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After the play, I took home the dandelion.
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Amanda had been trying for Auditions (试演) for All-State Band. Then, the day before the audition. she met into Janet Jacobs. “So, Amanda, I hear you are auditioning for All-State. Do you really want to embarrass yourself?” Janet said snottily (自负的). Janet and Amanda had been fighting for first chair in the school band ever since Amanda had gotten it. “Janet, I’m still first chair,” Amanda replied.
That afternoon, Mr, Johnson, the school band director, stood up to make an announcement. “Kids.” he said, “today Janet Jacobs would like to challenge Amanda Foster for first chair.”Amanda wasn’t worried; Janet had challenged her four times and nothing had come of it. However, Amanda hit the note wrong, and her sound was not good at all. Janet, on the other hand, played perfectly. Amanda was shameful. It was one of the band pieces she should have known. Janet was given first chair and Amanda left the band room with tears. She went through the rest of her classes in a haze.
“We’re leaving for the audition in one hour!” said Mr. Foster the next morning. “I don’t feel well. Maybe next year, ”said Amanda. Then she burst into tears and ran from the room.
Her mom followed her into her bedroom and sat on the foot of her bed. “Oh. Amanda. First of all, I’ve heard you play your song, and you’re not going to shame yourself. Bravery isn’t about not being scared — it means doing something despite the fact that you’re afraid. And if you go out there and do your best, we’ll be proud of you, no matter what the outcome.” Amanda’s mom smiled. “So what do you say? Do we have an audition to go to?”
“Yeah, I guess,” Amanda replied. “Good girl! Get dressed now. We still have half an hour.” Amanda sat outside the audition room nervously grasping her flute (笛子). Finally, they called her name.
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: Amanda stepped onto the audition stage.
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Paragraph 2: “Congratulations! You deserve it,” Janet said, sticking out her hands.
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Lucy was the only child in her family. She had a quarrel with her mother that afternoon and she ran out of the house angrily. She couldn’t help weeping sorrowfully when she thought of the scolding from her mother. Having wandered aimlessly in the street for hours, she felt a little hungry and wished for something to eat. She stood beside a stand for a while, watching the middle-aged seller busy doing his business. However, with no money in hand, she gave a sigh 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, the smell so attractive. As she was eating, Lucy cried silently.
“What is it?” asked the man kindly.
“Nothing. Actually, I was just touched by your kindness!” said Lucy 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 merciless compared to a stranger!” 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 she cooked for you? Have you expressed your gratitude to her?”
Lucy sat there, speechless and numb with shock; she remembered her mother’s familiar face and weathered hands. “Why didn’t I think of that? A bowl of noodles from a stranger made me feel grateful. Why haven’t I thanked my mum for what she has done for me?”
On the way home, Lucy 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, Lucy was very nervous and took a deep breath.
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Paragraph 2:
A gentle touch on her hair called her mind back.
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On the first day of Grade 6, I sat in my quiet classroom and observed all the people I would eventually be friend. I looked around and noticed that most kids were dressed in their nicest clothes. My eyes stopped on a shy-looking girl in the back of the room. She wore an old yellow shirt with a pair of worn jeans. Her hair was unusually short and unwashed. I caught myself thinking, “That’s disgusting (令人反感的). Doesn’t she know what a bath is?” As I looked around, I found others were probably thinking the same.
The teacher began checking the attendance. “Terri Jackson?” the teacher asked. Silence. “Um, Terri Jackson?” Finally we heard a trembling answer from the back of the room. We all turned back to see what had happened. “Frightened Terri’s shirt has a crack!” one boy joked. “Eww, I bet it’s a hundred years old!” another girl said. One comment after another brought a roar of laughter. I was probably laughing the loudest. Certainly, it made her feel awkward. Terri was the joke of the whole sixth grade that year.
With my birthday coming closer, I began to invite my classmates. It struck me that I should also invite Terri to make us happier. So I came to Terri’s seat. “Hey Scary—I mean Terri—you want to come to my birthday party on Friday? “A lot of girls were laughing beside us. I noticed Terri’s face buried in her hands. She was crying.
“What’s got you all upset? All I did was invite you over, ”I whispered. She looked up and watched my eyes. “Really?” That was all she could say. Her seldom-heard voice amazed me. “I guess so. ”My voice sounded surprisingly sincere. I’d never seen her smile so brightly. I felt good the rest of the day. I was even looking forward to my birthday party.
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。
When Friday came finally, Terri and my classmates arrived on time.
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From then on, Terri and I became best friends.
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It was in the afternoon before the end of the Second World War that Antonio Black, who was twelve, caught sight of a beautiful brooch (胸针) in a shop window. The brooch is so beautiful that he was unwilling to leave the store until he had purchased it. But it was too expensive — $5. His family was very poor and his parents struggled to make ends meet. Five dollars would buy almost a week’s food for his family.
Antonio couldn’t ask his father for the money. Everything his father made through fishing went to his mother, Susan. Slim and beautiful, his mother was the center of the home and the glue that held it together. The housework was never-ending, and she struggled to feed and clothe their five children, but she was happy as her family and their well-being were all she cared about.
Nevertheless, he opened the shop’s door and went inside. Standing proudly and straight in his flour-sack (面粉袋改做的) shirt and washed-out trousers, he told the shopkeeper what he wanted, adding, “But I don’t have the money right now. Can you please hold it for me for some time?”
“I’ll try,” the shopkeeper smiled. “People around here don’t usually have that kind of money to spend on things. It should keep for a while.”
Antonio respectfully touched his worn cap and walked out. He would raise the money and not tell anybody, for he thought Mum would be surprised when she saw that brooch. On hearing the sound of hammering (锤打) from a side street, Antonio suddenly had an idea that he could raise money by selling the used nail bags. People built their own homes in Bay Roberts, using nails bought in bags from a local factory. Sometimes the used bags were thrown away at the construction site, and Antonio knew he could sell them back to the factory for five cents a piece. That day he sold two nail bags and hid the money in a rusty soda tin.
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。
Every day after school, Antonio started his plan.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The day finally came!
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Growing up, I rarely heard people in my family say, “I love you.” We’re the kind of people made uncomfortable by expressions of love.
Recently, I took my ten-year-old daughter and fourteen-year-old son to visit the great grandma in the nursing home and on the drive there I shared stories about her with the kids. I told them how Great Grandma was bright but grew up in a time and place where women, especially women from rural Tennessee, had few opportunities.
Great Grandma was kind and generous, but I told my kids she could be competitive, too. For instance, when I was a kid, she never let me win at cards.
The Great Grandma I described, the one from my memories, is a stranger to my kids. To them, she’s a small, white-haired woman with dementia (痴呆) who eats only chicken noodle soup and can still kick their butts (屁股) at Scrabble but needs to be reminded of their names and to turn on her hearing aids. We’re all fond of the current version of Great Grandma, but visiting her in a nursing home feels foreign to me. She’s weak and dependent, and I’m surprised at the situation because she’s no longer like the version of her that I know.
On the day of our visit, Great Grandma expected company, so she opened her door as soon as we knocked, greeting us with a big smile, telling us to come in even if she wasn’t certain who we were.
She began our visit by showing us pictures of blankets she gifted to others, and proudly showed us a blanket she was working on now. After that, we took Great Grandma out for a lunch of chicken noodle soup.
At the car my son helped her into the front seat, asking gently, “Are you in?” Then he shut the door and carried her wheelchair to the trunk of the car. When we returned from lunch, perhaps inspired by her brother’s concern, my daughter offered to get Great Grandma’s walker when my son volunteered to help Great Grandma out.
Back in Great Grandma’s room, the kids began to chat with 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。
Paragraph 1: When we said goodbye to Great Grandma, both of my kids hugged her.
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Paragraph 2: To my surprise. Great Grandma was excited to receive love.
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When I looked closely at the face of my 23-year-old son, Brian, in the doorway, we were saying goodbye. In a few hours he would be flying to France. It was a transitional (过渡的) time in Brian’s life, a passage from college into the adult world. I wanted to leave him some words that would have some meaning, some significance beyond the moment. But nothing came from my lips.
No sound broke the stillness of my beachside home. I stood frozen and quiet, looking into the searching eyes of my son, which I knew was not the first time I had let such a moment pass.
When Brian was five, I took him to the school bus stop on his first day of kindergarten. I felt the tension in his hand holding mine as the bus turned the corner. I saw color flush (发红) his cheeks as the bus pulled up. He looked at me—as he did now. “What is it going to be like, Dad? Can I do it? Will I be OK?” Then he walked up the bus steps and disappeared inside. The bus drove away, and I said nothing.
A decade later, a similar scene played itself out. I drove him to college in Virginia. As I started to make the trip home, I tried to think of something to say to give him courage and confidence as he started this new phase of life. I left, only mumbling (咕哝) “Hope you feel better, Brian.”
I once told Brian about my great regret that I didn’t take a year off to travel. Brian thought about this. After graduation, he worked as a waiter, a bike messenger and a painter. Now he had enough money for Paris. The night before he left, I tossed and turned (辗转难眠) in bed. I was trying to figure out something to say. Nothing came. Maybe it wasn’t necessary to say anything.
How many times have we all let such moments pass? What does it matter over the course of a lifetime if a father never tells a son what he really thinks of him?
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。
But as I stood before Brian, I knew that it does matter.
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Hearing this, Brian came toward me and threw his arms around me.
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How far would you go to help a friend? Jeremy Savage, aged 17, and Ian Marshall, aged16, both from Canada, had their friendship tested to the limit on a recent trip to the Rocky Mountains with their parents.
On Saturday morning, the two boys decided to climb Cathedral Mountain by themselves while their parents relaxed at the campsite. After three hours, they reached the top and enjoyed the beautiful view from the mountaintop.
However, trouble began when they started the climb down. On one very dangerous part of the mountain, Ian fell three metres off the side of the path. Jeremy climbed down to where Ian was and found him badly injured and not able to move. Jeremy had to decide what to do. He needed help but he did not want to leave his friend. He cleaned the dirt and blood from Ian’s face and hands, and then tried to help Ian stand up, but Ian’s right leg was hurting too much. They had to wait and hope that help would come.
Meanwhile, as darkness started to fall, their parents back at the campsite became very worried that the boys had not returned. They got in touch with park workers and began searching for the boys. Soon more than 20 people were looking for them on Cathedral Mountain.
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。
While they waited for help, Jeremy gave Ian his food and water and let him lie on his jacket.
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At sunrise, Jeremy decided that the only way to help his friend was to carry him down the mountain.
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