About 43 years ago, I spotted an advertisement in the paper for the YMCA wildness program. I was 15 and wanted to do something different. My first experience was a boat trip. I still have the images of sunrises and sunsets with all beautiful colors on Lake of the Woods.
As a teenager, I didn’t know that I was having the best adventure a teenager could have. Even now I can feel the cold water dripping down my arm as we sat in the boat pulling the paddles awkardly through running water. It was my first experience in a boat and my arms became tired after many hours of paddling.
We stopped for lunch in the boat by assembling all the boats together. Our guide handed out chocolate, cheese and dried meat.
At night, it was time to camp at our site picked out by our guide. There we learned to start campfires and cook some of our meals. This is where I felt in love with noodles. It was wonderful to share simple meals over the fire and talk with new friends. We cleaned up our mess and put up our tents and slept on the ground. We learned to carry the heavy packs to our next destination. I developed a sense of accomplishment and had arm muscles after that trip.
There were no phones , makeup, hair dryers...just us and the bush. We came from different backgrounds with different personalities and we all had to work together as a group.
I liked the boat trip so much that I joined the “Survival” trip the next year. I kept a journal from that second trip and often go back to it.
1. Where did the author experience his first boat trip in the wild?(No more than 5 words)2. What did the author think of his/her first boat trip?(No more than 10words)
3. What does the underlined word “assembling” in paragraph 3 probably mean?(1 word)
4. What did the author learn to do from the camp of the first boat trip?(no more than 10 words)
5. What do you think of a trip without phones?(no more than 20words)
2 . In 2010，my mother-in-law gave me her rather simple but graceful, antique “secretary desk.” The desk easily fit into the tiny room at the top of the stairs. I felt so secure, and confident when I sat down and began each writing session. Despite the desk’s appeal, its limited storage capacity meant that I often put file folders and books on the small floor space around me. After each writing session, I painstakingly gathered the tools of the trade and placed them on a nearby shelf until the next session.
A few years into my writing journey, we moved into a bigger home and I acquired my own office. My husband, Bill offered on more than one occasion to buy me a new desk for my office, but I ignored his offer.
One day, we stopped at the local office supply store. Bill found what he thought was the perfect desk for me. “ I want to buy this for you, sweetie. My writer needs a bigger desk.” He hugged me.
“Thanks, but I don’t want a bigger desk!” I said.
“Why don’t you want a bigger desk?” he said. “You must be afraid of something.”
“I’m not afraid of anything,” I said. “ Like I said, I really like my little desk. So don’t ask me again”.
He didn’t.
A few weeks later, while working in my new office, I looked around at the folders , books and papers lying all over my office floor but couldn’t find what needed to meet a contest deadline. My heart raced. I looked around my office. The room basically swallowed the tiny desk, making it look slightly out of place. Maybe I did need a bigger desk. Was Bill right? Was I afraid of something?
Unable to write, I pulled C.JoyBell C.’s book of poetry, All Things Dance Like Dragonflies, from the bookshelf. I flipped through its pages, and her words about faith jumped off the page into my heart. She talked about how she had trained herself to love the feeling of not knowing where she was going, and just trusting that as she opened up her wings and flew off in an unknown direction, things would work out.
At that moment, I recognized that a bigger desk symbolized bigger possibilities, stepping out in faith, and leaving my comfort zone.
1. What was the limitation of the “secretary desk”?| A．It was a bit small in size. | B．It was too old to be functional |
| C．It competed with the shelf for room | D．It prevented the author focusing on writing. |
| A．She talked her husband into buying a desk. | B．She had a quarrel with the salesperson. |
| C．She managed to overcome her fear. | D．She declined her husband’s offer. |
| A．After she was stuck in a mess | B．When she finished writing a book. |
| C．When she moved into a bigger house. | D．After she missed an important contest. |
| A．Unemployment | B．Uncertainty |
| C．Loss of friendship | D．Lack of trust |
| A．My writing journey. | B．On the wings of change. |
| C．Why I love writing. | D．A quarrel between my husband and I. |
