Emanuel’s father liked to declare he’d spent ages by the sea, breathing seawater. Now, away from the sea, in the hospital, his body just looked like a beached fish. His condition went from bad to worse. The doctor came from saying, “He’ll be home in a day,” “He’ll be home in a week,” to “He will be home in a month.”
When Emanuel was a teenager, if he ever seemed bored with the pier(碼頭), his father would shout, “What ? This isn’t good enough for you?” And later, when he suggested Emanuel take a job at the pier after high school, the boy almost laughed, and his father again said, “What? This isn’t good enough for you?” And before Emanuel went to war, when he talked of marrying Maggie and becoming an engineer, his father said, “What? This isn’t good enough for you?”
And now, here he was, Emanuel helped out at the pier, working evenings after his taxi job, doing his father’s labor.
Parents rarely let go of their children, so children let go of them. They move on. They move away. It is not until much later that children understand: their stories and all their accomplishments sit on top of the stories of their mothers and fathers.
One night his father, lying in hospital, was practically too weak to speak. Others comforted him. “Your old man will
pull through. He’s the toughest man we’ve ever seen.”
When the news came that his father had died, Emanuel felt heart-broken.
In the following weeks, Emanuel’s mother lived in a confused state. She spoke to her husband as if he were still there .She yelled at him to turn down the radio. She cooked enough food for two .One night, when Emanuel offered to help with the dishes, she said. “Your father will put them away.” Emanuel put a hand on her shoulder. “Ma,” he said softly, “Dad’s gone.”
“Gone where?” murmured Mum.
小題1:Which of the following shows the right order of the story?
a．Emanuel’s father fell ill.
b．Emanuel helped out at pier.
c．Emanuel went to the war.
d．Emanuel wished to be an engineer.
e. Emanuel’s mother lived in a confused state
| A．bacde | B．dcabe | C．bceda | D．decba |
小題2:In Paragraph 4, the writer inplies that
.
| A．Children can never understand how much their parents have devoted to them |
| B．Children wouldn’t have achieved so much without their parents’ support |
| C．Children often feel regretful because they leave their parents |
| D．Children like moving away from their parents |
小題3:The underlined phrase “pull through” can probably be replaced by ________
| A．wake up | B．give up | C．pick up | D．get up |
小題4:The last paragraph mainly tells us that
.
| A．Emanuel’s mother was at a loss at her husband’s death. |
| B．Emanuel often helped his mother to wash the dishes. |
| C．Emanuel lived with his mother and often comforted her. |
| D．Emanuel’s mother doesn’t like to listen to the radio. |
