Due to the pandemic（流行病）, family members couldn't meet each other easily. It was particularly 1 for 99-year-old Mary O'Neill, who has been living 2 because all of her relatives live out of the state. She had to stay at 3, watching television all day. Benjamin Olson, a two-year-old boy then, was her 4. Unable to play with kids of his age, he was also 5 at home.
The unusual friendship developed 6. At first, Mary would 7 at Benjamin from her window whenever she saw the young boy in the 8. Then, she began walking slowly outside to 9 him in person. The routine eventually expanded to 10gatherings by the fence that separated the two homes. The unlikely pair even invented a socially distanced 11that Mary calls "cane (手杖) ball".
Mary came out of the house one morning, and Benjamin threw his 12toward the fence. She got her cane, reached over the 13and hit the ball toward him, and he would throw it back. That's how it 14.
When the 15changed, the two couldn't meet in the yard as regularly. But
Benjamin's mother, Sarah, kept the 16alive by frequently stopping by Mary's house with the bundled-up (包裹严实的) baby. This spring, Mary gifted Benjamin with a colorful toy truck collection that had once 17her son. The young boy returned the favor with his own 18—a pile of dirt that he carefully carried in his small hands and 19at her door.
You wouldn't 20that a 99-year-old and a 2-year-old would be friends, but they can be. And they both get a lot out of it.
