For me there has been only one Valentine’s Day worthy of the name. It vas when I was nine years old. And no Valentine’s Day since has even come close to measuring up.
Her image had never left my mind,and sometime at about Valentine’s Day last year,the idea got stuck in my head: I needed to find Lori Lee.
In 1972, for two years I have been in love with Lori Lee, an angelic creature who lives across the street. Our walk home from the bus stop each day is the highlight of my young life.
The situation is complicated. First, Lori’s older brother,Ted, happens to be my best friend. Second, I am grotesquely bashful in Lori’s presence. In the company of friends I am a sparkling wit. With Loft, I communicate chiefly in grunts. And although she is always sweet to me,Lori’s heart does not appear to pound to the same desperate rhythm as my own.
The whole thing comes to a head on Valentine’s Day. In class,children pass out cards and I get a generic "Be Mine!" from Lori and the other 26 pupils.
On the walk home from the bus stop that day, however, Lori says, "I have something for you." I go numb. She pulls an oversized red envelope from her school bag, presses it into my hand and takes off running.
I rush to my bedroom, carefully open the envelope and find the most beautiful handmade card of red poster paper, with a big white doily, shiny stars and all sorts of hearts. Inside, Lori has spelt out "I love you" in glue and covered the perfect cursive letters with glitter. After reading it 30 or 40 times, I hid the card under my socks.
Lori and I might be married now for all I know — if not for one extenuating factor: my elder brother, Mike, who was 11-year-old. Pawing through the drawer the evening, he stumbled upon the envelope. He foolishly showed Lori’s card to Ted and some other children in the neighborhood. The commotion that ensued mortified Lori and me, and pretty much crushed any major developments in this early love.
Then my father announced that we would be moving to Alaska. It seemed a rather severe place to be exiled from the summery smile of Lori Lee. I suggested that I stay behind and live in an orphanage. But in the end, there was little I could do.
At school, Miss Lochhart organized goodbye party. All I could do was stare at Lori — who, for the first time since Valentine’s Day, stared back at me with great, liquid eyes.
On the bus, Lori sat next to me and clasped my hand the entire way home. At my door, I searched for words to describe the terrific bursting in my chest.
"Well", I finally managed, "bye."
She kissed me on the cheek and darted across the street. Just like that, she was gone.
延伸阅读
你可能感兴趣的试题
The world’s population keeps growing. There now are about 4 billion of us on earth. That could reach 6 billion by the end of the century and 11 billion in a further 75 years. Experts have long been concerned about such a growth. Where will we fund the food, water, jobs, houses, schools and health to care for all these people
A major new study shows that the situation may be changing. A large and rapid drop in the world’s birth rates has taken place during the past 10 years. Families generally are smaller now than they were a few years ago. It is happening in both developing and industrial nations.
Researchers said they found a number of reasons for this. More men and women are waiting longer to get married and are using birth control devices and methods to prevent or delay pregnancy. More women are going to school or working at jobs away from home instead of having children. And more governments, especially in developing nations, now support family planning programs to reduce population growth.
China is one of the nations that have achieved great progress in reducing its population growth. China has already cut its rate of population growth by about one half since 1970.
Each Chinese family is now urged to have no more than one child. And the hope is to reach a zero population growth with the total number of births equaling the total number of deaths by the year 2003.
Several nations in Europe already have fewer births than deaths. Experts said that these nations could face a serious shortage of workers in the future. And the persons who are working could face much higher taxes to help support the growing number of retired people.
A. Because more and more children will be given birth.
B. Because they will earn more money.
C. Because they will have higher living standards.
D. Because the number of retired people will become even larger.
热门相关试卷
最新相关试卷