2 . When counting down the days until homecoming, some women choose to track paydays, school days, or Mondays. Me? I always counted trash days. Each time I rolled the green, heavy bin down the driveway, I considered it one of the most intolerable jobs of a Navy wife.
Occasionally, a neighbor would take pity on me and replace my trashcan back to the side of the house after the garbage men were done with it. And once, when I had maggots in the bottom of the bin, a few men from the neighborhood were nice enough to dispose of them and Clorox, the trashman, did not tell me about the whole incident until a year later.
“It takes a village to do Sarah’s trash,” one neighbor, Stanford, joked. “And sometimes it also takes a village to change Sarah’s flat tire, to kill big bugs in her living room, and to fetch her son’s toy airplane that landed on the roof.” Hearing his words, I wondered if I wasn’t being strong enough and if I shouldn’t take my title of “Navy dependent” so literally as to mean I was, well, dependent.
“Don’t be silly,” my neighbors would say. “We’re glad to help.” More than hanging a flag from their doors, they said helping a Navy family made them feel like they were doing their part.
Surprisingly to me, despite doing my lawn every week and occasionally my trash and home repairs, these neighbors often told me I was far from “dependent”. Instead of focusing on the things I was not doing myself, my neighbors were in awe at the things I had done alone. And most of these things (caring for sick babies in the middle of the night, dealing with emergencies), I had done without my realizing it or giving myself credit.
I learned that being strong and independent doesn’t necessarily mean doing it all. There are few people who can do everything themselves. Most people are eager to offer help, which they think rewarding. So don’t decline help.
1. How did the author feel at Stanford’s words?
| A．Proud. | B．Lighthearted. | C．Annoyed. | D．Ashamed. |
2. Why were the neighbors willing to help the author?
| A．The author was easy to get along with. |
| B．They felt like they were doing something for Navy. |
| C．The author was incapable of doing any housework. |
| D．The housework in the author’s house was easy to do. |
3. What kind of a person was the author in her neighbours’ eyes?
| A．Respectable. | B．Dull. | C．Generous. | D．Dependent. |
4. What does the author convey in the last paragraph?
| A．Every man has his hobbyhorse. | B．A constant guest is never welcome. |
| C．Accepting help brings happiness to helpers. | D．Being strong and independent contributes to success. |
