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I shook hands with my father in the truck, and for a long time he looked straight ahead and didn’t say a word. But I knew he was going to say a little to me. “I can’t tell anything,” he finally said. “I never went to college, and none of your brothers went to college. I can’t say don’t do this and do that, because everything is different and I don’t know what is going to come up. I can’t help much with money either, but I think things will work out. ”
He gave me a new check-book. “If things get pushing, write a small check. But when you write one, send me a letter and let me know how much. There are some things we can always sell.” In four years all the checks I wrote were less than a thousand dollars. My part-time jobs such as reading to the blind student and sitting with the teachers’ kids filled in the financial gaps.
“You know what you want to be, and they’ll tell you what to take,” my father went on. “When you get a job, be sure it’s honest, and work hard.” I knew that soon I would be alone in the big town, and I would be missing the cool winds and a life where your thinking was done for you.
Then my dad reached down beside his seat and brought the old, broken Bible that he had read so often, the one he used when he wanted to look something up in a friendly quarrel with one of the neighbours. I knew he would miss it. I knew, though, that I must take it.
He didn’t say read this every morning. He just said, “This can help you if you will let it.”
Did it help? I got through college without being a burden on the family. I have been able to make money since.
直通考场
Read the passage and choose the best answer:
1. What is the writer’s main purpose (目的) in writing this passage?
A. To tell the readers his life story.
B. To tell people what kind of person his father was.
C. To let people know how poor he was.
D. To tell the readers what present he got from his father.
2. Why did the father not ask his son not to do this and do that?
A. Because he felt quite confident of him.
B. Because he was born from a poor family.
C. Because he was a man of few words.
D. Because he didn’t want to be much too strict with him.
3. What would someone learn from this passage?
A. How to live by oneself. B. How to stand on one’s own feet.
C. What a good father should do. D. What the self-important is like.
4. What may be the proper Chinese for the underlined part in the passage?
A. 闲暇时光. B. 学费. C. 经济不足. D. 精神空虚.
5. What kind of book did the Bible seem to be to the writer’s father?
A. It was a book which told you how you should get on well with others.
B. There were many good examples for you to copy in it.
C. It was a book that told you how to get a good job and a good future.
D. It was a good book that could help you when you were in trouble. 答案： 1. _____ 2. ______ 3. ______ 4. ______ 5. ______ 单词表 check-book [′tek buk] n. 支票簿
honest [′ nist] adj. 诚实的
burden [′b:dn] n. 负担
了解这些用法
Fsit with sb. “与某人一起坐；服侍，看护（病人）；照顾，陪伴（小孩等）”
I refuse to sit with that rude woman at the same table.
我拒绝同那个粗野的女人坐在同一张餐桌旁。
Yesterday evening Mary sat with a friend’s baby.=Yesterday evening Mary looked after a friend’s baby. 昨晚玛丽帮助朋友照看婴儿。
检验你的对与错：
1. D 这是一道深层理解题，读完全文，体会作者意图后确定答案。
2. A 根据第一段以及对全文的总体理解可知答案。
3. B 这是一道深层理解题，读完全文，根据第一、二段和最后一段可知答案。
4. C 根据第三段和上下文，可以推测出本题的答案。
5. D 根据第四段和西方文化背景知识可知答案。在西方人的眼中，《圣经》是人在遭受苦难时的心灵抚慰剂。
Translation
我在卡车里和父亲握手，很久他两眼直视前方很久，一言不发。但是我知道他要对我说点什么。“我无法预言任何事情”，他最后说。“我从未上过大学，而且你的兄弟们没有一个上过大学。我也不能说不做这，不做那，因为任何事情都不同，我不知道将来会发生什么。在钱方面我也帮不了多大的忙，但是我认为事情总会过去的”。
他给了我一本新支票簿，“如果情况开始吃紧，填写一张小支票。但是当你写支票的时候，要给我寄一封信并且让我知道支票上的钱是多少。我们总是有能出售的一些东西。”在四年里，我填写的支票总数不超过一千元。我的兼职工作如念书给一个盲童听和照顾老师们的孩子填补了我的经济不足。
“你知道你想要当什么，而且人们也会告诉你从事什么职业，”父亲继续说，“当你一旦得到一份工作，一定要诚实，努力工作。”我知道在这个大城市里不久我就将孤身一人，并且我将怀念留在记忆中的凉风和生活。
后来爸爸在他的座位旁低下身来取出那本又旧又破的圣经，这本书他经常读，当他与哪个邻居发生友善的争执时，他总想在里面查阅点东西。尽管我知道他舍不得这本书，但我得接受它。
他并没说每天早晨你要读这本书。他只是说“如果你想让它帮你的话，它会帮你的。”
它会帮助我吗？我大学读完了，没有给家里增添任何负担。从那时起，我就能赚钱了。
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