21世纪大学英语读写教程第四册第八单元unit 8

凉城故人 大学英语
精选回答

Unit 8

Text A

Pre-reading Activities

First Listening
Before listening to the tape, have a quick look at the following words.

outspoken
直言的,坦率的

optimist
乐观的人

navy
海军

cooling off period
冷却期

intimidating
令人胆怯的

cremate
火化

Second Listening
Listen to the tape again. Then, choose the best answer to each of the following questions.

1. What was the speaker's relationship with his father like when he was young?
A) They were a typically loving father and son.
B) They were a typical father and son who fought sometimes.
C) They fought even more than in usual for a father and son.
D) The speaker never knew his father, who was a stranger to him.
2. What were the personalities of the father and the son like?
A) The father was outgoing and the son was shy.
B) The father was shy and the son was outgoing.
C) They were too similar, which led them into conflict.
D) None of the above.
3. When did the relationship between the father and the son begin to improve?
A) When the son became an outstanding student.
B) When the son left home for college.
C) When the father began to get older.
D) When the father retired from the navy.
4. What is the relationship between the two men like at the end of the listening passage?
A) They are fighting just as much as ever.
B) They have less conflict, but still have difficulty communicating.
C) They have resolved all of their troubles, and now get along well
D) They have agreed not to talk to each other any more.

My Father's Son

Bill Heavy

When my father rings, I hurry down to the front door of my condo. There he is, in corduroy pants, the tread worn off the knees, and a shirt I outgrew in tenth grade. He's come to help me put in a new garbage disposal. Actually, I'm helping him. His mechanical gene passed over his only son, on its way to some future generation. At 39, I've made my peace with this.
My father hasn't been to my place since he helped me paint four years ago. The truth is, I'm often not sure how to talk to him. But this time it will be easy. We have a job to do.
In minutes he has taken over the whole enterprise, lying under the sink and squinting up into the machinery. And suddenly I am 12 years old again, watching him fix things and feeling useless.
As a child, I identified so strongly with my mother that I thought my father was just a long-term house guest with spanking privileges. She and I are bookish, introverted worriers. My father is an optimist who has never had a sleepless night in his life.
Like most fathers and sons, we fought. But there was no cooling-off period between rounds. It was a cold war lasting from the onset of my adolescence until I went off to college in 1973.I hated him. He was a former navy fighter pilot, with an Irish temper and a belief that all the problems of the world—including an overprotected son who never saw anything through to completion—could be cured by the application of more discipline.
At a time when an eighth-grader's social status was measured in the fraction of an inch of hair kissing his collar, my father would march me down to the barbershop on Saturdays and triumphantly tell the man with the scissors. "Just leave him enough to comb." I would close my eyes, determined not to give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry. Without even thinking about it, I froze him out of my life, speaking only when spoken to. I learned to use silence like a knife. My one communique for an entire dinner was usually a sarcastic "May I be excused now? I have homework."
I lay awake at night imagining him being transferred by the gas company he worked for to an oil rig in the North Sea. But it didn't happen, and soon all that remained was the contest of wills.
I went off to college, but he was still in my head. I could hear his voice every time I fell short in anything. Only when I began seeing my freelance articles in print did I begin to feel that I was slipping beyond his reach and into my own life.
Eventually I discovered that there is no anti-inflammatory agent like time. Now I wondered, could this aging 74-year-old be the giant who once thundered up the stairs to spank me, of whom I was so afraid that I wet my pants? In his place was someone I worried about, whom I dressed in my down hunting jacket for his annual pilgrimage to the Army-Navy game. My profession, which he had once ridiculed, saying, "Gee, do you think there's any money in it?" now became a source of pride when fellow Rotarians mistook him for Bill Heavy "the writer." It was as if now that I no longer needed so desperately to please him, I had succeeded. We had become two old veterans from opposing armies, shaking hands years after the fighting, the combat so distant as to be a dream.
Before we can install the disposal, we have to snake out the pipes. Soon we get stuck trying to figure out how a gasket fits.
"Ah," he says finally, "we're going to have to call a plumber."
This is not how I remember him. He used to be so stubborn, the kind of guy who could make IRS examiners throw up their hands in frustration and let him off. Now that I have his mind-set and don't want to give up, it's as if he's acquired mine.
He says, "Besides, I gotta get home. Your mother and I have to be at a dinner party at 7:30."
"Don't you pay for the plumber," he says. "Putting this thing in is part of my Christmas present to you."
Though we've failed to install the disposal, it's been oddly satisfying. At last we're on even ground. Maybe he wasn't the best father. Maybe I wasn't the best son, but I realize I will never be ready to cope with his leaving. I know that I'm luckier than some of my friends, whose fathers died while they were still locked in the battle that neither really wanted.
The plumber comes two days later. He secures the disposal in its place as easily as I buckle my belt.
Not long ago, I started badgering my parents to get their estate in order. They didn't want to deal with it. I finally wrote them a letter saying if I were a parent, I would want to make damn sure the IRS got as little of my money as possible. I knew this would push my father's buttons. It worked. They met with a lawyer.xc
Later, my father and I lunch at a restaurant near my office so he can fill me in on the details. "One thing I don't want you to worry about is what'll happen to me," he says, with the satisfied air of a man who has taken care of business. "The Navy will cremate me for free."
"And what about the ashes?" I ask, concerned only with practical things. It is as if we are talking about how to get rid of the old disposal.
"They scatter them at sea." He turns away, looking around for our waiter. Something breaks inside me. When he turns back, I am crying, hot tears springing up in my eyes so suddenly I'm almost choking.
"I don't want you to die," I manage to say. "I don't want them to scatter your ashes. I'll scatter your ashes."
"Oh, Bill," he says, taken aback, totally at a loss about what to say. "I just didn't want to burden you with it."
I have no way to tell him that I want to be burdened with it, that it is my birth right to be burdened with it. "I know," I say.
I don't even look around to see if anybody is watching. I don't care. I reach across the table for his hand and hold it, trying to stop the tears.
(1 192 words)

红缘醉 2022-09-25 17:16:15

相关推荐

抬头望望天的伤感说说 心情不好抬头望望天的说说

1、去旅行吧,见的世面多了,你会发现原来在意的那些结根本算不了什么。2、怦然心动只是刹那惊艳,柴米油盐才是一辈子的生活方式。3、爱,是两个人间的彼此折磨4、那一天下着雨,是五月的雨,清清凉凉的,正如听到后,那种...
展开详情

受了伤的揪心说说大全 一个人心情不好的qq说说

1、我爱你,你却没有同样的想法。2、我对你再好,也抵不过她偶尔对你的回眸一笑。3、去到你的城市,吹过你吹过的风,这算不算相拥。4、每一个不想谈恋爱的人,心里都有一个无法拥有的人。5、有些伤口,无论过多久,依然一...
展开详情

00后心酸的说说:错误的时间遇到对的人,人生最大的悲剧莫过

1、你要记住,只要有自己真心喜欢的东西,就会发出光来,喜欢一个人也是一样,即便到最后不能在一起也没有关系,因为,你一定会喜欢,那个因为喜欢着他而发光的自己。2、我能感觉到你的心痛,你有你说不出的无奈,但是你做出...
展开详情

?怎么读 ?的拼音是什么

的拼音:huàn。的笔画共13画。的部首为文。的解释:《集韻》呼玩切,音喚。斕,文采。通作奐。...
展开详情

心情不好很累很无奈 压抑憋屈的心情说说

1、原来爱情的世界很大,大的可以装下各种委屈。原来爱情的世界很小,小到多个人就挤到窒息。2、我始终无法对你的安危视而不见,你一皱眉,心间想的再也不见即变为了,还是护你周全来得舒服。3、有些事必须要独自承受,又不...
展开详情

精选推荐更多>

救人一命胜造七级浮屠中的浮屠是指

“救人一命,胜造七级浮屠”中的“浮屠”是指佛教建筑形式,即所说的塔,又称浮图。读作jiù rén yī mìng,shèng zào qī jí fú tú。这种建筑最初用以供奉佛骨,后来用以供奉佛像,收藏经书。词语指救人一条性命,犹如建筑一座七级宝塔,功德无量。用以劝人行善,或向人恳求救命。
“救人一命,胜造七级浮屠”是一个汉语成语,意思是为死去的人造塔,毕竟不如“救人一命”的功德更大,更有意义。

己亥岁这首诗深刻地揭示了什么

《己亥岁二首》深刻地揭示了战争对人民造成的深重灾难和浩劫。
原文:
其一:
泽国江山入战图,生民何计乐樵苏。
凭君莫话封侯事,一将功成万骨枯。
其二:
传闻一战百神愁,两岸强兵过未休。
谁道沧江总无事,近来长共血争流。
译文:
其一:
富饶的水域江山都已绘入战图,百姓想要打柴割草度日而不得。
请你别再提什么封侯的事情了,一将功成要牺牲多少士卒生命!
其二:
传说一旦开战连众神灵都发愁,两岸军队连年混战一直不停休。
谁还说沧江总是太平没有祸事,近来江水混着鲜血争先向东流。
《己亥岁二首》是唐代诗人曹松的组诗作品。这组诗以干支为题,以示纪实,明确表明了对现实的批判态度。全诗概况地写出了战争对人民造成的深重灾难和浩劫,以冷峻深邃的目光洞穿千百年来封建战争的实质,写得力透纸背,入木三分。

山居秋暝是什么体裁的诗

《山居秋暝》是一首五言律诗,运用了反衬手法和对典故的艺术手法。《山居秋暝》是唐代诗人王维写的初秋时节所见雨后黄昏的景色,为山水名篇。该诗于诗情画意之中寄托着诗人高洁的情怀和对理想境界的追求。
原文:
空山新雨后,天气晚来秋。
明月松间照,清泉石上流。
竹喧归浣女,莲动下渔舟。
随意春芳歇,王孙自可留。
全诗将空山雨后的秋凉,松间明月的光照,石上清泉的声音以及浣女归来竹林中的喧笑声,渔船穿过荷花的动态,和谐完美地融合在一起,给人一种丰富新鲜的感受。它像一幅清新秀丽的山水画,又像一支恬静优美的抒情乐曲,体现了王维诗中有画的创作特点。

个个和各个的区别

个个与各个的区别:指代不同、出处不同、侧重点不同。
一、指代不同:
1、个个:一个一个,每一个。
2、各个:每个;所有的那些个;逐个。
二、出处不同:
1、个个:出自毛泽东《对晋绥日报编辑人员的谈话》:“陕北的部队经过整训诉苦以后,战士们的觉悟提高了……个个磨拳擦掌,士气很高,一出马就打了胜仗。”
2、各个:出自《儿女英雄传》第一回:“家人们听见老爷得了外任,各个喜出望外。”
三、侧重点不同:
1、个个:指团体或整体。
2、各个:指具体的每一个。
“个个”造句:
1、登上山顶时,我们个个累得气喘吁吁的。
2、孩子们个个天真活泼,多么可爱!
“各个”造句:
1、围棋比赛时,小华利用诱敌深入,各个击破的战法,瓦解了对方的攻势。
2、校长负责学校各个方面的工作。
常见热点问答
热点搜索
1-20
21-40
41-60
61-80
81-100
101-120
121-140
141-160
161-180
181-200
作文大全
1-20
21-40
41-60
61-80
81-100
101-120
121-140
141-160
161-180
181-200