When my grandfather died, my 83-year-old grandmother,
once so full of life, slowly began to fade. No longer able to manage a home of
her own, she moved in with my mother, where she was visited often by other
members of her large, loving family. Although she still had her good days, it
was often hard to arouse her interest.
But one chilly December afternoon three years ago, my
daughter Meagan, then eight, and I were visiting her, when she noticed that
Meagan was carrying her favorite doll.
“I, too, had a special doll when I was a little girl,”
she told a wide-eyed Meagan. “I got it one Christmas when I was about your age.
I lived in an old farmhouse in Maine, with Mom, Dad and my four sisters, and
the very first gift I opened that Christmas was the most beautiful doll you’d
ever want to see.”
“She had an elegant, hand-painted face, and her long
brown hair was pulled back with a big pink bow. Her eyes were blue, and they
opened and closed. I remember she had a body of kidskin, and her arms and legs
bent at the joints.”
GG’s voice dropped low, taking on an almost respectful
tone. “My doll was dressed in a pretty pink gown, decorated with fine lace. …
Getting such a fine doll was like a miracle for a little farm girl like me — my
parents must have had to sacrifice so much to afford it. But how happy I was
that morning!”
GG’s eyes filled and her voice shook with emotion as
she recalled that Christmas of long ago. “I played with my doll all morning
long. And then it happened. My mother called us to the dining room for
Christmas dinner and I laid my new doll down gently on the hall table. But as I
went to join the family at the table, I heard a loud crash.”
“I hardly had to turn around — I knew it was my
precious doll. And it was. Her lace skirt had hung down from the table just
enough for my baby sister to reach up and pull on it. When I ran in, there lay
my beautiful doll on the floor, her face smashed into a dozen pieces. She was
gone forever.”
A few years later, GG’s baby sister was also gone, she
told Meagan, a victim of pneumonia(肺炎). Now the
tears in her eyes spilled over — tears, I knew, not only for a lost doll and a
lost sister, but for a lost time.
Silent for the rest of the visit, Meagan was no sooner
in the car going home than she exclaimed, “Mom, I have a great idea! Let’s get
GG a new doll for Christmas. Then she won’t cry when she thinks about it.”
My heart filled with pride as I listened to my
sympathetic little daughter. But where would we find a doll to match GG’s fond
memories?
Where there’s a will, as they say, there’s a way. When
I told my best friends, Liz and Chris, about my problem, Liz put me in touch
with a local doll-make. From a doll supply house I ordered a long brown hair
and a kidskin body to copy the outfit GG had so lovingly described. Liz
volunteered to put the doll together, and Chris helped me make the doll’s
outfit. Meagan wrote the story of the lost doll by giving examples.
Finally our creation was finished. To our eyes it was
perfect. But there was no way it could be exactly like the doll GG had loved so
much and lost. Would she think it looked anything like it?
On Christmas Eve, Meagan and I carried our happily
packed gift to GG, where she sat surrounded by children, parents, aunts, uncles
and cousins. “It’s for you,” Meagan said, “but first you have to read the story
that goes with it.”
GG no sooner got through the first page than her voice
cracked and she was unable to go on, but Meagan took over where she left off.
Then it was time to open her present.
I’ll never forget the look on GG’s face as she lifted
the doll and held it to her chest. Once again her tears fell, but this time
they were tears of joy. Holding the doll in her frail arms, she repeated over
and over again, “She’s exactly like my old doll, exactly like her.”
And perhaps she wasn’t saying that just to be kind.
Perhaps however impossible it seemed, we had managed to produce a close copy of
the doll she remembered. But as I watched my eight-year-old daughter and her
great-grandmother examining the doll together, I thought of a likelier
explanation. What GG really recognized, perhaps, was the love that inspired the
gift. And love, wherever it comes from, always looks the same.
1.GG moved in with her daughter because____.
A.she wanted to
live with a large family
B.she was not
able to live on her own due to her weakness
C.her husband
passed away
D.she thought
it was the children’s obligation to take care of her
2.Why did GG become very emotional on a December
afternoon?
A.Because she
saw her great granddaughter’s doll.
B.Because she
recalled her dead parents.
C.Because she
was surrounded by her offspring.
D.Because she
felt lonely during the Christmas season.
3.What can we infer from Paragraph 5?
A.GG’s doll was important and was a symbol of many things.
B.GG showed
great respect for his husband’s love.
C.GG missed the
great old days she spent with her family.
D.GG was
grateful for her long life.
4.What happened to GG’s baby sister?
A.She envied
her sister all her life.
B.She felt
guilty for breaking GG’s doll and decided to go.
C.She left home
at a young age.
D.She died of
some disease at a young age.
5.Why did Meagan’s mum feel proud of her daughter?
A.Because she
was clever. B.Because she
was loving.
C.Because she
was sensitive. D.Because she
was imaginative.
6.The main idea of the passage is that ____.
A.treating the
elderly well is moral
B.it is
impossible to copy the exact doll for the elderly
C.love, the
permanent rhythm of life, will always remain in the elderly’s heart
D.physical
comfort from children rather than psychological care is important