From the time I was a child growing up in New Jersey, I loved spending weekends with my grandparents. I felt1in Granny's small kitchen. We always had peaceful conversations, and Granny always seemed to include some wisdom with every dish she prepared.
I remember one Saturday morning in particular. After breakfast I asked Granny, "What kind of soup are you making today?" "Vegetable beef," she answered. "And you can help by cutting some carrots." As I slowly cut the carrots, I said, "I've got to give a report next week and I'm scared (害怕的). I don't like standing in front of everybody. What if I forget what I'm going to say?" Or what if somebody laughs?" "And what if you do just fine?" Granny asked. "Have you prepared notes?" "Well, no. That would be a lot of work." "Hard work never2anyone," Granny said. "You could try practising in front of a 3. It's easy to find how well you are practising."
I pushed the pieces of carrots to the side of the cutting board and went on to complain (抱怨) about schoolwork, friends and family. Granny took it all in, listening4while I talked about so many pieces of grief in my life. "Nancy," she said, "there's nothing wrong with a little trouble in your life. Well, you know, a lot of people don't make homemade soup these days. They say it's too much trouble. But I don't5such a little trouble. It adds flavour to my soup — and to my life. My soup would be pretty bland (淡而无味) without the vegetables, and so would my life if it didn't have the little ups and downs." She smiled and then started washing the dishes. While I helped Granny clean up, I thought about what she had said. I still had a few days to practise my report.
That Saturday, Granny gave me food for6as well as a bowl of her homemade soup. As I7the meal with my grandparents, somehow my problems didn't seem so big any more. Maybe I could turn a little trouble into something as8as Granny's homemade soup. I would have to work on them. Granny had said hard work paid off.
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My best memory in school is that I received a prize in Grade 9 in a singing competition. I was jumping with joy since it was my first prize. My worst memory is that I fell into a pool in Grade 3.1 expected my friends to help me, but instead they were laughing at me. It made me very sad. |
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I remember six years ago when I moved to the United States, I hardly knew how to speak English. I only knew a few words like "hello", "OK" ... I was surprised with everyone around me, maybe because I could not understand the language everyone spoke to communicate with others. We did not do anything but sleep for about a week. |
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My best memory from school is when I told my parents that I needed them to attend a recognition ceremony (嘉许典礼) for me-best moments every time. The worst memory is when there was a typhoon and classes were stopped when you had already had a half day there and it was hard to go home because of heavy rain. |
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The best, and also the worst at the time, is that I was caught stealing apples from the school gardens eight years ago. My headmaster, Ms. Webber, caught me with the red fruits and punished me for a whole month. I had to clean the classroom every day during that month. I did my time so well that Ms. Webber had to praise me for cleaning the classroom well. |
A Beautiful Moment
When I was in high school, I worked part-time helping Dad sell fruits and vegetables at a market. One day, as I was preparing the fruits, a little boy came by with his mum and sister. He was about eight years old, and the girl, five or six. They were looking at the fruits in front of me. I heard the kids say to their mum (in French), "They're good!" I knew it was French, because I can speak and understand it.
Then I noticed how the mum was picking the fruits. At first I thought she was really looking at the fruits because she was facing them, but then I noticed how much she had to feel and smell each one as she picked them out. And she often asked her son if it looked okay, but looked way above where his face was. Putting what I saw together, I was sure she was blind.
Both of the kids continued to help their mum pick out the fruits. The son made sure the fruits were not obviously bad, and the daughter handed them to her mum. The woman then felt each one and smiled, and the daughter would put them into their basket. The kids were smiling while helping their mum pick the fruits out.
Their smile and gentle manner moved me in a way that never happened before. It was so beautiful to see such young kids so willingly help. Most kids of that age would be picking out candies or toys in a store for themselves, instead of helping their mum pick out fruits, as the two kids did.
It was great to witness the moment, but not so great because I didn't tell the mum how beautiful her children were in their language. This is what I regret to this day.
When he was a teenager, Hunter Adams was very unhappy, and he spent many years in the 1960s and 1970s in a special hospital for people with mental (精神的) health problems.
When he left hospital, Adams decided to become a doctor, so he went to a medical school in Virginia, the USA. But when he was there he did things in different ways. For example, He didn't like the doctor's white coats, so he wore shirts with flowers on them when he visited his patients, and he tried to make them laugh. The doctors at the medical school didn't like Adams very much because he was too different.
But Adams believed that people in hospital needed more than medicine. He saw unhappy and lonely people, and he tried to help them, not just as patients, but as people too. He spent a lot of time with children in the hospital, and often put a special red nose on his face so he looked like a clown and made the children laugh.
When he finished medical school and became a doctor, Adams opened his own hospital, called The Gesundheit Institute, together with some other doctors. They wanted it to be a place with a different way of working with sick people.
Hunter Adams became famous during the 1980s, and in 1998, Universal Pictures made a film about his life. It was very successful. In the film (called Patch Adams), Robin Williams played Adams. Williams said, "Hunter is a really warm person, who believes that patients need a doctor who's a friend. I enjoyed playing him."
Sometimes I really doubt whether there is love between my parents. Every day they are very busy trying to make money for my schooling.
One day ,my mother was sewing a quilt (缝被子). I silently sat beside her.
"Mum, is there love between you and Dad? "I asked in a very low voice.
With surprise in her eyes, she stopped her work for a while. Then she said," Susan, look at this thread (线). It can hardly be seen, but it's really there. It makes the quilt strong. If life is a quilt, love should be a thread. Love is inside."
I couldn't understand her until the next spring. At that time, my father suddenly got sick seriously. My mother had to stay with him in the hospital for a month.
After they were back, my mother helped my, father walk slowly on the country road every day. They were so kind to each other and it seemed they were the happiest couple.
After two months my father still couldn't walk by himself.
"Dad, how are you feeling now?" I asked him one day.
"Susan, don't worry about me," he said. "I just like walking with your mum. I like this kind of life." Reading his eyes, I knew he loves my mother deeply.
Now I understand that love is just a thread in the quilt of our life. Love is inside, making life strong and warm.
Mum's Recipe for Life
I have a lot of Mum's recipes in a blue box where all my special ones were put, like the pumpkin pie she made during my growing up years. Even so, the recipe I treasure most is not on any index card, nor did she send it to me in a letter. Instead, she lived this recipe all of her life.
My mother grew up in a small coal mining town in southwest Iowa. My grandfather once told me that she knew no stranger; she considered everyone in that community her friend. That attitude continued wherever she lived for the rest of her life.
As a teen, I was embarrassed (尴尬的) every time my mother talked to strangers and offered a smile to everyone in the store or on the city bus. Almost all of them responded (回应) with a bright smile of their own. Some spoke, others nodded their heads at this elderly woman who brought a little light into their day.
What really sold me on Mum's approach to life was her experience on the senior bus. The weeks I could not be there, she used this low-cost transportation to the grocery store. After her first trip, I asked her how it went.
"Ha!" she said," I got on that bus and what did I see? Thirteen little old ladies and one old man, and not one word was spoken."
I wondered how long it would be until the silence on that bus would change. On my next visit, Mum mentioned the 13 little old ladies on the bus and something one of them had told her.
"Oh, are you talking with them now?" I asked.
"Of course," she said. "One day I climbed up the steps of the bus and before I looked for a seat, I gave them a big smile and I said, Isn't it a wonderful day? ' I noticed a few shy smiles."
Mum didn't give up. She greeted them all each time she got on the bus and before long, the whole group was laughing and talking to one another. The bus became more than just transportation.
When we went to the various stores, I watched as she smiled and chatted with perfect strangers. Some of them looked like the poorest person you'd ever met, but once Mum smiled at them and started a conversation, most responded favourably. My mother didn't embarrass me any longer. I found myself admiring her.
She's been gone for ten years but I've carried on her recipe for life. It was me who had done the smiling first and all those people had responded. My mother didn't lecture but taught me by example. She'd given me a recipe for life.
提示问题:
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●What has impressed you most at school in the past two years? ●How did that happen? ●What did you learn from it? |
提示词语: impress, a sports meeting, a school trip, a New Year Party, hurt, take photos, sing, help, moved, confident, happy ...
Dear Tony,
I'm glad to hear from you. What has impressed me most is
What impressed you most at school? Write and tell me.
Yours,
Li Hua
Rodger
Tina
Anne
David