She was dancing. My lame grandmother was dancing. I stood in the living room doorway, looking at her beautiful movements, absolutely shocked. She was the pet of the dancing world. And then she’d had her accident and
it was all over. I had read that in an old newspaper article.
‘‘So… Your leg? I mean, how did your leg heal (恢復健全)?”
“To tell you the truth — my legs have been well all my life,” she sighed.
“But I don’t understand!” I said, “Your dancing career (事業(yè))… You pretended all these years?”
‘‘Very much so, and for a very good reason.”
She thought for a while and then continued. “We were talking about engagement (訂婚) when your grandfather had to go to war. I was so afraid of losing him that the only way I could stay normal was to dance. I put all my energy and time into practicing and I became very good. Critics praised me, the public loved me, but all I could feel was the ache in my heart, not knowing whether the love of my life would ever return. Then one day a letter came. There were only three sentences: ‘I have lost my leg. I am no longer a whole man and now give you back your freedom. It is best you forget about me.’’’
“I made my decision there and then. I traveled away from the city. When I returned I had bought myself a stick. I told everyone I had been in a car crash and that my leg would never completely heal again. My dancing days were over. No one doubted the story — I had learned to limp (一瘸一拐地走) convincingly before I returned home. And I made sure the first person to hear of my accident was a reporter I knew well. Then I traveled to the hospital. They had pushed your grandfather outside in his wheelchair. I took a deep breath, leaned on my stick and limped to him.”
“I showed him newspaper articles of my accident. ‘There is a whole life waiting for us out there! But I am not going to carry you. You are going to walk yourself.’”
“I limped a few steps toward him and showed him what I’d taken out of my pocket. ‘Now show me you are still a man.’ I said. He bent to take his stick from the ground and struggled out of that wheelchair. He managed it on his own and walked to me and never sat in a wheelchair again in his life.”
“What did you show him?” I had to know. Grandma looked at me and smiled. “Two engagement rings, of course. I had bought them the day after he left for the war and I was not going to waste them on any other man.”
小題1:What does the underlined word “it” in the first paragraph refer to?
| A．Her accident. | B．Her pet. | C．Her leg. | D．Her dancing career. |
小題2:Which is the correct order of the following events according to the passage?
a. Grandfather lost his leg in the war.
b. Grandmother bought two engagement rings.
c. Grandfather was inspired to stand up on his own.
d. Grandmother pretended she was lame.
e. Grandmother became an excellent dancer.
f. Grandfather had to go to war.
| A．e-f-b-a-d-c | B．f-e-a-c-b-d |
| C．f-b-e-a-d-c | D．e-b-f-a-c-d |
小題3:Which of the following words can best describe grandmother?
| A．Thoughtful and determined. | B．Unselfish but stubborn. |
| C．Courageous but unreliable. | D．Sensitive and dishonest. |
小題4:What’s the main idea of the passage?
| A．The love of a disabled couple. | B．The grandmother’s unconditional love. |
| C．The meaning of an engagement. | D．The grandfather’s brave story. |
