Grandma Moses

鄭曉宇

大多數人在年老時無所事事，安娜·瑪麗·摩西卻與眾不同。她70余歲時開始作畫，并備受人們的喜愛。她在百歲高齡時依舊筆耕不輟，紐約州把她的百歲壽辰定為“摩西奶奶日”。本文將以“歷史現在時”帶你走進她的精彩……

Most people rest and relax when they are old. They do not work. And most people certainly are not famous. But Grandma Moses is different. She starts a new job at age 76. This is her story. It begins in 1860. She is born a poor farmers daughter.1 Her parents name her Anna Mary Robertson.

She is one of ten children. She works on other people s farms to make money. It is 1887， she marries Thomas Moses. He is a farm worker too. They both work on a farm.

Now it is 1930. Anna Mary Moses is 70 and a grandmother. She embroiders pictures to give to her children. But then she gets arthritis. She cannot embroider anyone， so she paints pictures. She makes paintings of country life. One day， her daughter takes her paintings to a store in town. Her paintings are put in the window. A man from New York sees the paintings in the window and buys them. And he wants more！

The man likes Grandma Mosess paintings. He wants to help her. So he takes her paintings to galleries in New York. Otto Kallir has a famous gallery there. He likes the paintings by Grandma Moses. Now it is 1940 and Grandma Mosess paintings are in Kallirs gallery. She is 80 years old.

Grandma Moses suddenly becomes famous. Everyone wants her paintings. So she paints more and more. She wins many prizes for her paintings. She becomes famous in the United States and Europe. She is on television， and people make a movie about her.

When she is 100 years old， the state of New York makes her birthday “Grandma Moses Day”. Everyone loves this sweet old lady. After her 100th birthday， she leaves 11 grandchildren， 31 great-grandchildren2， and a lot of people who think she is amazing！3

Help：

1. She is born a poor farmer s daughter. 她出生于一個貧窮的農民家庭。

2. great-grandchildren 重孫

3. ... she leaves 11 grandchildren， 31 great-grandchildren， and a lot of people who think she is amazing！句中的“who think she is amazing”是定語從句。

ACTIVITY

Work with a partner. Ask your partner what he or she wants to do after age 65.

start a new job? ? ? ? ? ? work on hobbies

play sports? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? travel

live somewhere special? ?be famous

Share answers with your classmates. Do many students have the same answers？