英语阅读美文

1、精选word文档 下载可编辑love is actionif i never saw this kid again, lord, i wouldn't be sorry! i thought. tears clouded my eyes as i stood in our laundry room（洗衣间） . clenched（紧握的） in both hands were new jeans and a shirt belonging to my 16-year-old stepson, brett. the clothing was already destroyed from

2、 burn holes and vomit stains（污点） after a drunken binge（狂欢，放纵） .exhausted and defeated, i sank to the floor. the clothes were just one more thing brett had ruined. he had already kicked a large hole in his bedroom wall; his bedcovers（床罩） were torn. numerous windows in our house needed repair due to h

3、is breaking in to steal money when he chose to live on the street. yet none of this could compare to the emotional damage brett had inflicted（遭受，给予） on our once quiet home.i knew that brett's needs were deep, and i had often prayed for wisdom and love. the second greatest commandment, you shall

4、 love your neighbor as yourself, had taken on new meaning when brett came to live with us when he was 12 years old. if i were to love my neighbor, was i not to love my own troubled stepson even moreduring those four years i had dealt with brett as patiently as possible, but inside i was churning. i

5、don't want him in my house another day, lord, i cried as i knelt on the laundry room floor. i just can't stand him!chest heaving, i poured out my despair. then god tenderly spoke to me in my weakness. matthew 25:35-4 rose in my thoughts-jesus' declaration that when we invite a strange

6、r, feed the hungry, clothe the naked or visit those in prison, we are doing it as unto him. for the first time i saw this story in light of the action words. jesus was saying, act. meet these people's needs. through your actions you are loving them and me.god's encouragement to me that day

7、 helped me to gather strength and continue parenting brett. still, brett did not change his behavior.when brett was nearly 18, he landed again in juvenile hall, this time on suicide watch. through prayer, my husband, dave, and i sensed god's leading to send brett to a boarding school（寄宿学校） with

8、 a high success rate for helping troubled teens.the psychological training at brett's school was rigorous（严格的，严酷的） . out of more than 2 people in his class, brett was one of only five graduates.at the graduation ceremony the graduates stood one by one to thank those who had helped them. each gr

9、aduate held a long-stemmed, white rosebud to give to the person who had meant the most to him or her.brett spoke lovingly to his mother and father and for the first time took responsibility for the heartaches he had caused.finally brett spoke to me. you did so much, he said. you were always there, n

10、o matter what. my mom and dad, i was their kid. but you just got stuck with me. all the same you always showed me such love. and i want you to know that i love you for it.stunned, i stood as brett placed the white rosebud in my hand and hugged me hard.at that moment i realized the truth in god'

11、s words to me. although i had struggled with silent anger toward my stepson, brett had seen only my actions.love is action. we may not always have positive feelings about certain people in our lives. but we can love them.my love treefor years i wanted a flower garden. i'd spend hours thinking o

12、f different things i could plant that would look nice together.but then we had matthew. and marvin. and the twins, alisa and alan. and then helen. five children. i was too busy raising them to grow a garden.money was tight, as well as time. often when my children were little, one of them would want

13、something that cost too much, and i'd have to say, do you see a money tree outside money doesn't grow on trees, you know.finally, all five got through high school and college and were off on their own. i started thinking again about having a garden.i wasn't sure, though. i mean, garde

14、ns do cost money, and after all these years i was used to living on a pretty lean（贫乏的） , no-frills budget.then, one spring morning, on mother's day, i was working in my kitchen. suddenly, i realized that cars were tooting（吹奏，狂欢） their horns as they drove by. i looked out the window and there wa

15、s a new tree, planted right in my yard. i thought it must be a weeping willow（垂柳） , because i saw things blowing around on all its branches. then i put my glasses on - and i couldn't believe what i saw.there was a money tree in my yard!i went outside to look. it was true! there were dollar bill

16、s, one hundred of them, taped all over that tree. think of all the garden flowers i could buy with one hundred dollars! there was also a note attached: iou eight hours of digging time. love, marvin.marvin kept his promise, too. he dug up a nice ten-by-fifteen foot bed for me. and my other children b

17、ought me tools, ornaments（装饰品） , a trellis（格子，框架） , a sunflower stepping stone and gardening books.that was three years ago. my garden's now very pretty, just like i wanted. when i go out and weed（除草，铲除） or tend my flowers, i don't seem to miss my children as much as i once did. it feels l

18、ike they're right there with me.i live up in michigan's upper peninsula, where winters are long and cold, and summers are way too short. but every year now, when winter sets in, i look out my window and think of the flowers i'll see next spring in my little garden. i think about what

19、my children did for me, and i get tears in my eyes - every time.i'm still not sure that money grows on trees. but i know love does!i love you and i hate youit is the true test of how human we really are. how much we can accept in our fellow humans. and really how much we want to accept. if we a

20、ccept too much does that make us strong. and if we don't accept enough does that make us weak. or is it the other way around（从相反方向，倒过来） all these things are a true test of how much you are capable of loving.we all are born into this world with one thought - i shall love and be loved.i am not af

21、raid of love i am afraid of what too much love for the wrong reasons can do. it can make you into a person that you don't know you have become until it is all-wrong.until the day you look in the mirror and the reflection is not yours.we marry our true love and then as time goes by we tend to lo

22、se whom we once were. and if we can't find ourselves during this time of marriage then we become a shell that will eventually crack. and your marriage will soon become a divorce statistic（统计数值） .marriage is commitment to the love you have for someone but it should not be the end of your identit

23、y. because if you let it then you will truly love you but hate you.kahlil gibran best said it many years ago in the prophet on marriage:we need to remember that i will love you but i will not become you. i will not allow us to become one. love when people are like meet my other half - what and espec

24、ially when they throw in the humor meet my better half. it's there way of being all happy and cute. but is it setting yourselves up for a relationship that in time will fail i guess it all depends on how independent of a person you were prior to（之前，居先） becoming one. and will losing your indepen

25、dence really be an issue.so don't be duped（欺骗，愚弄） into the relationship tricks. be yourself and enjoy your partner as himself or herself not as you want them to be. because you did fall in love with them knowing who they are.miracle happensthere's a new student waiting in your room, my pri

26、ncipal announced, hurrying past me on the stairs. name's mary. i need to talk to you about her. stop in the office later.i nodded and glanced down（匆匆阅读） at the packs of pink, red and white paper, and the jars of paste（糊状物） and boxes of scissors i held in my arms. fine, i said. i've just co

27、me from the supply room. we're making valentine envelopes this morning. it'll be a good way for her to get acquainted（使了解） .this was my third year of teaching fourth-graders, but i was already aware how much they loved valentine's day (now just a week away), and making these bright co

28、ntainers to tape to the fronts of their desks was a favorite activity. mary would surely be caught up in the excitement and be chatting cheerfully with new friends before the project was finished. humming to myself, i continued up the stairs.i didn't see her at first. she was sitting in the bac

29、k of the room with her hands folded in her lap. her head was down and long, light-brown hair fell forward, caressing the softly shadowed cheeks.welcome, mary, i said. i'm so glad you'll be in our room. and this morning you can make an envelope to hold your valentines for our party on valen

30、tine's day.no response. had she heard memary, i said again, slowly and distinctly.she raised her head and looked into my eyes. the smile on my face froze. a chill went through me and i stood motionless. the eyes in that sweet, little-girl face were strangely empty - as if the owner of a house h

31、ad drawn the blinds and gone away. once before i had seen such eyes: they had belonged to an inmate of a mental institution, one i'd visited as a college student. she's found life unendurable（无法忍受的） , the resident psychiatrist（精神病学家） had explained, so she's retreated from the world. s

32、he had, he went on, killed her husband in a fit of insane jealousy.but this child - she could have been my own small, lovable niece except for those blank, desolate（荒凉的） eyes. dear god, i thought, what horror has entered the life of this innocent little girli longed to take her in my arms and hug th

33、e hurt away. instead, i pulled books from the shelf behind her and placed them in her lap. here are texts you'll be using, mary. would you like to look at them mechanically, she opened each book, closed it and resumed her former position.the bell rang then, and the children burst in on a wave o

34、f cold, snowy air. when they saw the valentine materials on my desk, they bubbled with excitement.there was little time to worry about mary that first hour. i took attendance, settled mary into her new desk and introduced her. the children seemed subdued（被制服的，减弱的） and confused when she failed to ack

35、nowledge the introduction or even raise her head.quickly, in order to divert them, i distributed materials for the envelopes and suggested ways to construct and decorate（装饰，布置） them. i placed materials on mary's desk, too, and asked kristie, her nearest neighbor, to offer help.with the children

36、 happily engrossed（全神贯注的） , i escaped to the office. sit down, my principal said, and i'll fill you in. the child, she said, had been very close to her mother, living alone with her in a detroit suburb. one night, several weeks ago, someone had broken into their home and shot and killed the mot

37、her in mary's presence. mary escaped, screaming, to a neighbor's. then the child went into shock. she hadn't cried or mentioned her mother since.the principal sighed and then went on. authorities sent her here to live with her only relative - a married sister. the sister enrolled mary

38、 this morning. i'm afraid we'll get little help from her. she's divorced, with three small children to support. mary is just one more responsibility.but what can i do i stammered（口吃，结巴） . i've never known a child like this before. i felt so inadequate.give her love, she suggested

39、, lots and lots of love. she's lost so much. there's prayer, too - and faith, faith that will make her a normal little girl again if you just don't lose hope.i returned to my room to discover that the children were already shunning（回避） this different child. not that mary noticed. even

40、 kindly little kristie looked affronted（被冒犯的） . she won't even try, she told me.i sent a note to the principal to remove mary from the room for a short time. i needed to enlist the children's help before recess, before they could taunt（逗弄，奚落） her about being different.mary's been hurt

41、 badly, i explained gently, and she's so quiet because she's afraid she'll be hurt again. you see, her mother just died, and there's no one else who loves her. you must be very patient and understanding. it may be a long time before she's ready to laugh and join in your game

42、s, but you can do a lot to help her.bless all children. how loving they can be once they understand. on valentine's day, mary's envelope overflowed. she looked at each card without comment and replaced it in her container. she didn't take them home, but at least she looked at them.she

43、 arrived at school insufficiently dressed for the bitterly cold weather. her raw, chapped hands - without mittens（手套） - cracked and bled. although she seemed oblivious to sore hands and the cold, i sewed buttons on her thin coat, and the children brought caps, scarves（围巾） , sweaters and mittens. kri

44、stie, like a little mother, helped mary bundle up before she went outdoors, and she insisted on walking to and from school with her.in spite of our efforts, we seemed to be getting no closer to mary as the cold, dreary（沉闷的，枯燥的） march days dragged by. even my faith was wearing thin. my heart ached so

45、 desperately, wanting this child to come alive, to be aware of the beauty the wonder, the fun - and, yes - even the pain of living.dear god, i prayed, please let one small miracle happen. she needs it so desperately.then on a late march day, one of the boys excitedly reported a robin（知更鸟） in the sch

46、oolyard. we flocked to the window to see it. spring's here! the children cried. let's make a flower border for the room!why not i thought. anything to lift our spirits. this time the papers we selected were beautiful pastel（蜡笔，颜料） colors - with brown strips to weave into baskets. i showed

47、the children how to weave the baskets and how to fashion all the flowers we welcome in early spring. remembering the valentine incident, i expected nothing from mary; nevertheless, i placed the beautifully colored papers on her desk and encouraged her to try. then i left the children to do their own

48、 creating, and i spent the next half-hour sorting scraps of paper at the back of the room.suddenly, kristie came hurrying to me, her face aglow（通红的） . come see mary's basket, she exclaimed. it's so pretty! you'll never believe it!i caught my breath at its beauty. the gently curled pet

49、als（花瓣，翼瓣） of hyacinths（风信子） , the daffodils'（水仙花） fluted（有凹槽的） cups, skillfully fashioned crocuses（番红花） and violets - work one would expect from a child much older.mary, i said. this is beautiful. how did you ever manageshe looked at me with the shining eyes of any normal little girl. my mothe

50、r loved flowers, she said simply. she had all of these growing in our garden.thank you, god, i said silently. you've given us the miracle. i knelt and put my arms around the child. then the tears came, slowly at first, but soon she was sobbing her heart out against my shoulder. the other childr

51、en had tears in their eyes, too, but theirs - like mine - were tears of joy.we fastened her basket in the very center of the border at the front of the room. it remained there until school ended in june. on the last day, mary held it carefully as she carried it out the door. then she came running ba

52、ck, pulled a crocus from her basket and handed it to me. this is for you, she said, and she gave me a hug and a mary moved away that summer. i lost track of her, but i'll never forget her. and i know god is caring for her.i've kept the crocus in my desk ever since - just to remind me of ma

53、ry and of the enduring power of love and faith.girls of summer 夏日女孩we lived on the banks of the tennessee river, and we owned the summers when we were girls. we ran wild through humid（潮湿的，湿润的） summer days that never ended but only melted one into the other. we floated down rivers of weekdays with no

54、 school, no rules , no parents, and no constructs（构图，建筑物） other than our fantasies. we were good girls, my sister and i. we had nothing to rebel against. this was just life as we knew it, and we knew the summers to be long and to be ours.the road that ran past our house was a one-lane rural route. e

55、very morning, after our parents had gone to work, i'd wait for the mail lady to pull up to（追上） our box. some days i would put enough change for a few stamps into a mason jar（玻璃瓶） lid and leave it in the mailbox. i hated bothering mail lady with this transaction（交易，办理） , which made her job take

56、longer. but i liked that she knew that someone in our house sent letters into the outside world.i liked walking to the mailbox in my bare feet and leaving footprints on the dewy（带露水的） grass. i imagined that feeling the wetness on the bottom of my feet made me a poet. i had never read poetry, outside

57、 of some emily dickinson. but i imagined that people who knew of such things would walk to their mailboxes through the morning dew（晨露） in their bare feet.we planned our weddings with the help of barbie dolls and the tiny purple wild flowers growing in our side yard. we became scientists and tested c

58、oncoctions（调和，混合） of milk, orange juice, and mouthwash（漱口水） . we ate handfuls of bittersweet（苦乐参半的） chocolate chips and licked peanut butter（花生酱） off spoons. when we ran out of sweets to eat, we snitched sugary flintstones vitamins out of the medicine cabinet. we became masters of the kraft macaroni（通心面条） and cheese lunch, and we dutifully called our mother at work three times a day