时间:2018-12-04 作者:英语课 分类:新视野大学英语读写教程(3)


英语课

  Section (C)


       GenerationsMy mother called last week to tell me that my grandmother is dying 1. She has refused an operationthat would delay 2, but not prevent, her death from cancer. She can't eat, she has been bleeding 3, and herskin is a deep yellow color. "I always prided myself on being different," she told my mother. "Now I amdifferent. I'm yellow."My grandmother was born in Russia to a large and prosperous 4 Jewish 5 (犹太人的) family. But theprosperity didn't last. She tells stories of attacks by other Russians when she was twelve. Soon afterthat, her family moved to Canada, where she met my grandfather.

Their children were the center of their life. Though they never had much money, my grandmothersaw to it that her daughter had speaking lessons and piano lessons, and assured 6 her that she would goto college.

But while she was at college, my mother met my father, who was blue-eyed and yellow-haired andnot Jewish. When my father sent love letters to my mother, my grandmother would open and thenhide them.

After my grandfather died, my grandmother lived, more than ever, through her children. When shecame to visit, I would hide my diary. She couldn't understand that some things were private. Shecouldn't bear it if my mother left the house without her.

This desire to possess 7 and control others made my mother very angry (and then guilty 8 that she feltthat way, when of course she owed 9 so much to her mother). So I felt the anger that my mother — thegood daughter — would not allow herself. I — who had always performed especially well for mygrandmother, danced and sung for her, presented her with kisses and good report cards — stoppedwriting to her, ceased 10 to visit.

But when I heard that she was dying, I realized I wanted to go to see her one more time. Mostly tomake my mother happy, I told myself (certain patterns being hard to break). But also, I waspresenting to her one more particularly fine achievement: my own dark-eyed, dark-skinned, dark-haired daughter, whom my grandmother had never met.

I put on my daughter's best dress for our visit, the way the best dresses were always put on me, andI filled my pockets with small cookies, in case my daughter started to cry. I washed her face withoutmercy. Going up to Grandma's hospital room, I realized how much I was sweating 11.

Grandma was lying flat with her eyes shut, but she opened them when I leaned 12 over to kiss her. "It'sDorothy's daughter, Kathleen," I shouted, because she doesn't hear well anymore, but I could see thatno explanation was necessary. "You came," she said. "You brought the baby."Laurie is just one year old, but she has seen enough of the world to know that people in beds are notmeant to be so still and yellow, and she looked frightened. I had never wanted, more, for her to smile.

Then Grandma waved at her — the same kind of slow wave a baby makes — and Laurie waved back.

I spread her toys out on my grandmother's bed and sat her down. There she stayed, most of theafternoon, playing and singing and drinking from her bottle, sleeping at one point, leaning 13 against mygrandmother's leg. When I played some music, Laurie stood up on the bed and danced. Grandmawouldn't talk much anymore, though every once in a while she would say how sorry she was that shewasn't having a better day. "I'm not always like this," she said. Mostly she just watched Laurie.

We were flying back to the US that night and I had hated telling her, remembering how she hadalways cried when I left. But in the end, I was the one who cried. She had said she was ready to die. Butas I leaned over to stroke 14 her forehead, what she said was, "I wish I had your hair" and "I wish I waswell."On the plane flying home, with Laurie in my arms, I thought about mothers and daughters, and thefour generations of the family that I know most intimately 15. Every one of those mothers loves and needsher daughter more than her daughter will ever love or need her mother. We mothers are, each of us,the only person on earth who has quite such an all-consuming interest in our child.

Sometimes I kiss and hold Laurie so much she starts crying — which is, in effect, what mygrandmother was doing to my mother, all her life. And what makes my mother sad right now, I think, isnot simply that her mother will die in a day or two, but that, once her mother dies, there will neveragain be someone to love her in quite such a complete, unrestrained way. She will only be a mother,then, not a daughter anymore.

Laurie and I have stopped over for a night to be with my mother. Tomorrow my mother will fly backto be with my grandmother. But tonight she is feeding me, as she always does when I come, and I ameating more than I do anywhere else. I admire the wedding dishes (once my grandmother's) that mymother has set on the table. She says (the way Grandma used to say to her), "Some day they will beyours."



1 dying
adj.垂死的,临终的
  • He was put in charge of the group by the dying leader.他被临终的领导人任命为集团负责人。
  • She was shown into a small room,where there was a dying man.她被领进了一间小屋子,那里有一个垂死的人。
2 delay
v./ n.拖延,延误,延迟,延期;耽搁
  • The strike caused a great delay in the delivery of the mail.这次罢工严重地延误了邮件的投递。
  • I couldn't judge whether the delay was good or bad.我不能断定这样延迟是好还是坏。
3 bleeding
adj.出血的;(心情)过度悲痛的;(用于加强语气,尤表示非常厌烦)该死的;讨厌的n.流血,失血v.流血( bleed的现在分词 );勒索,敲诈;散开;给(某人)放血
  • Press firmly on the wound to stop the bleeding. 用力压住伤口止血。
  • The nurse applied pressure to his arm to stop the bleeding. 护士压住他的胳膊止血。
4 prosperous
adj.兴旺的,繁荣的;成功的
  • This district is getting more and more prosperous and bustling.这一带越来越繁华了。
  • The country is prosperous and the people live in peace.国泰民安。
5 Jewish
adj.犹太人的,犹太民族的
  • The coin bears a Jewish symbol.硬币上有犹太标记。
  • They were two Jewish kids;I was friendly with both of them.他们是两个犹太小孩;我同他们都很要好。
6 assured
a.确实的,深信的
  • He spoke in a calm, assured voice. 他冷静自信地说。
  • The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
7 possess
vt.持有,占有,使拥有,克制,支配,迷住
  • To possess wealth is not always to be happy.拥有财富未必一定幸福。
  • Some animals possess the characteristic of man.有些动物具有人类的特征。
8 guilty
adj.犯罪的;有罪的;内疚的
  • There wasn't enough evidence to prove him guilty.没有充分的证据证明他有罪。
  • Really honest people are ofter made to feel guilty.真正老实的人常被弄得感到犯了罪似的。
9 owed
v.感激( owe的过去式和过去分词 );应把…归功于;欠…债;(对位高权重者)忠诚
  • I'd completely forgotten about the money he owed me. 我完全记不得他欠我的钱了。
  • He gave me a lot of help.I owed much to him. 他给我许多帮助,我非常感激他。 来自《简明英汉词典》
10 ceased
n.发汗v.(使)出汗( sweat的现在分词 );(使)流汗;(使)发汗;焖
  • We were sweating profusely from the exertion of moving the furniture. 我们搬动家具大费气力,累得大汗淋漓。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • When the spasm passed, it left him weak and sweating. 一阵痉挛之后,他虚弱无力,一直冒汗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
11 leaned
v.(使)倾斜,屈身( lean的过去式和过去分词 );倚;依赖;使斜靠
  • He leaned forward, his hands clasped tightly together. 他俯身向前,双手十字交错地紧握着。
  • He leaned back, exulting at the success of his plan. 他向后一靠,为自己计划成功而得意扬扬。
12 leaning
n.倾向,爱好,偏爱v.(使)倾斜,屈身( lean的现在分词 );倚;依赖;使斜靠
  • a leaning towards comedy rather than tragedy 偏爱喜剧而不是悲剧
  • Jackson is leaning over backwards to persuade his wealthy uncle. 杰克逊想尽种种办法去讨好他那个有钱的叔叔。 来自《简明英汉词典》
13 stroke
n.笔画,击打,连续的动作,中风,心跳;vt.奉承,轻抚; vi.击打,心跳...
  • He drove in a nail with one stroke of the hammer.他一锤就把钉子敲进去了。
  • He broke the lock with one stroke of the hammer.他一锤就把锁砸坏了。
14 intimately
adv.亲密地,私下地
  • He knew the town intimately.那个城市他非常熟悉。
  • He was--what is the phrase I'm looking for--not intimately acquainted with his subject.他--我该怎么说呢--对自己的课程很不熟悉。
学英语单词
acceleration test
acephobia
agig
air space
alloxazin
alpha glucosidase
antenna lobe
antirailroad
Azerraf
barbatinic acid
Baryshnikov
bidding rules
Bisongu, L.
bladerunner
C Language standard
cabinet latch
california-berkeley
carminophil cell
chacarero
chiasma frequency
chinese lesser civet
chory
circuit bridge
clustered aggregate
coila
constraint domain
contextualizations
descant recorder
direct-sum topological space
divellicated
drytte
easy as winking
electromagnetic seed cleaner
engine generators
forge fan
foul fish
generic attribute
geo-stationary orbit
good old dayss
hemp family
hide up
hiller
impactings
Institute of Navigation and Electronic Engineering
interest on current debt
iodine nuclide composition
irritable uterus
Kakindu
kampots
koettite
laminae cribrosa
laying in
leptostracans
lithosis
logical subnet
luragoes
magical realism
Minkowski coordinate system
noil yarn
non-participating
non-segregated
Norepirenamine
norflexes
notching relay
nystafungin
Phacelocarpus
plenicorn
precipitation particle
protopathic sensation
pseudocyclopiid
purple sandpiper
quench tower
Radauti
rate of occurrence of closing without proper command
recalculable
ring sticking test
rudderhole
Rule of Employment of Seamen
salming
saponated cresol
scriabins
self inflation
send date
shoka
short closing
single velocity stage
Strausstown
Streptococcus meningitidis
subvertising
sulphur hexafluoride
tamasi
tantalum sheet
Tensinyl
Terakeka
tetes-de-pont
trcrine
Trimethyl-1-pentene
wave-particle duality
wear mechanism
wet film hanger
write font