One of the qualities that most people admire in others is the willingness to admit one"s
mistakes.It is extremely hard sometimes to say a simple thing like "I was wrong about
that," and it is even harder to say,"I was wrong,and you were right about that."
I had an experience recently with someone admitting to me that he had made a mistake
fifteen years ago.He told me he had been the manager of a certain grocery store in the
neighborhood where I grew up,and he asked me if I remembered the egg cartons(箱子).
Then he related an incident and I began to remember clearly the incident he was describing.
I was about eight years old at the time,and I had gone into the store with my mother to
do the weekly grocery shopping.On that particular day,I must have found my way to dairy
food department where the incident took place.
There must have been a special sale on eggs that day because there was an impressive
display of eggs in dozen and half-dozen cartons.The cartons were stacked (堆放)three
or four feet high.I must have stopped in front of a display to admire the stacks.Just
then a woman came by pushing her grocery cart and knocked off the stacks of cartons.
For some reason,I decided it was up to me to put the display back together,so I went
to work.
The manager heard the noise and came rushing over to see what had happened.When
he appeared,I was on my knees examining some of the cartons to see if any of the eggs
were broken,but to him it looked as though I was the criminal.He severely scolded me
and wanted me to pay for any broken eggs.I protested my innocence and tried to explain,
but it did no good.Even though I quickly forget all about the incident,obviously the
manager did not.
Mom was a teacher most of her life.When she wasn"t in the classroom,she was educating
her children or grandchildren:correcting our grammar,starting us on collection of butterflies,
flowers or rocks;or inspiring a discussion on her most recent "Book of the Month Club"
topic.Mom made learning fun.
It w as sad for my three brothers and me to see her ailing in her later years.At
eighty-five,she suffered a stroke and she went steadily downhill after that.
Two days be fore she died,my brothers and I met at her nursing home and took her
for a short ride in a wheelchair.While we waited for the staff to lift her limp body back
into bed,Mom fell asleep.Not wanting to wake her,we moved to the far end of the room
and spoke softly.
After several minutes our conversation was interrupted by a muffled sound coming
from across the room.We stopped talking and looked at Mom.Her eyes were closed,
but she was clearly trying to communicate with us.We went to her side.
"Whirr," she said weakly.
"Where?" I asked."Mom,is there something you want?" "Whirr." she repeated a bit
stronger.My brothers and I looked at each other and shook our heads sadly.
Mom opened her eyes,sighed,and with all the energy she could muster said,"Not
was.Say were!"
It suddenly occurred to us that Mom was correcting brother"s Jim"s last sentence,
"if it was up to me..."
Jim leaned down and kissed her cheek."Thanks,Mom," he whispered.We smiled at
each other and once again shook our heads this time in awe of a remarkable teacher.
( )1. A. broken ( )2. A. down ( )3. A. judge ( )4. A. temper ( )5. A. peaceful ( )6. A. explanation ( )7. A. satisfaction ( )8. A. does ( )9. A. until ( )10. A. accompanied ( )11. A. repair ( )12. A. fault ( )13. A. promise ( )14. A. situation ( )15. A. praise ( )16. A. true ( )17. A. setting ( )18. A. regretful ( )19. A. offered ( )20. A. matter | B. scored B. in B. fan B. strength B. pale B. argument B. guilt B. hates B. because B. sent B. clean B. rudeness B. impoliteness B. excuse B. remember B. still B. acting B. brave B. awarded B. description | C. hit C. off C. coach C. mood C. hopeful C. performance C. embarrassment C. likes C. when C. brought C. destroy C. mistake C. effort C. announcement C. hear C. calm C. looking C. nervous C. presented C. bottom | D. completed D. out D. player D. spirit D. disappointed D. behavior D. pride D. receives D. if D. tracked D. drive D. carelessness D. attempt D. apology D. see D. sensitive D. holding D. right D. charged D. expression | ||||||||||||||||||
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One morning all the employees reached the office as usual. And on the wall they saw a big 1 on which it was written:Yesterday, the person who had been 2 your growth in this company passed 3 . We invite you to join the funeral prepared in the 4 . In the beginning,they all got 5 for the death of one of their colleagues. 6 after a while they started getting 7 to know who was the man that limited the growth of his colleagues and the company itself. The 8 in the gym was such that security agents(保安)were 9 to control the crowd within the room. The more people reached the coffin, the more the excitement 10 up. Everyone whispered to each other:" 11 on earth is this guy?" One by one the excited employees got closer to the coffin, and when they 12 inside it, they 13 became speechless. They stood nearby the coffin, shocked and in 14 , as if someone had 15 the deepest part of their soul. There was a 16 inside the coffin;everyone who looked inside it could see himself. There was also a sign next to the mirror that 17 : there is only one person who is 18 to set limits to your growth:IT IS 19 !!!!!! Your life doesn"t change when everyone around you changes. Your life changes when YOU change,when you go beyond your limiting beliefs inside. Don"t be afraid of 20 ; build yourself and your reality. It"s the way you face life itself that makes the difference! | |||||||||||||||||||||
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