書駐我心

甘肅 劉向紅

“我”非常喜愛閱讀，并保持著在圖書館閱讀和借閱書籍的習慣，而“我”的母親也和“我”一樣渴望讀書。

299 難度 ★★★ 建議用時文章詞數 6分鐘

I never knew anyone who'd grown up in Jackson without being afraid of Mrs Calloway, our librarian. She ran Jackson's Carnegie Library absolutely by herself. SILENCE in big black letters was on signs hung everywhere. If she thought you were dressed improperly, she sent you straight back home to change your clothes. I was willing; I would do anything to read.

My mother was not afraid of Mrs Calloway. She wished me to have my own library card to check out books for myself. She took me in to introduce me. “Eudora is nine years old and has my permission to read any book she wants from the shelves, children or adults,” Mother said.

Mrs Calloway made her own rules about books. You could not take back a book to the library on the same day you'd taken it out; it made no difference to her that you'd read every word in it and needed another to start. You could take out two books at a time and two only. So two by two, I read library books as fast as I could go, rushing them home in the basket of my bicycle. From the minute I reached our house, I started to read. I knew this was extreme happiness, knowing it at the time.

My mother shared this feeling of mine. Now, I think of her as reading so much of the time while doing something else. I remember her reading a magazine while taking the part of the Wolf in a game of “Little Red Riding Hood” with my brother's two daughters. She'd just look up at the right time,long enough to answer—in character—“The better to eat you with, my dear,” and go back to her place in the magazine article.

Reading Check

1. Which of the following best describes Mrs Calloway?

A. Smart. B. Strict.

C. Humorous. D. Considerate.

2. What do the underlined words “this feeling” in the last paragraph refer to?

A. Desire to read.

B. Love for Mrs Calloway.

C. Interest in games.

D. Fear of the library rules.

3. Where is the text probably from?

A. A guidebook. B. An autobiography.

C. A news report. D. A book review.

Language Study

跟著嚴厲的圖書管理員Mrs Calloway學謂語和非謂語, 如果出錯會怎樣呢？ 誰試誰知道！

Read the following passage and fill in the blanks using the proper forms of the given words.

Mrs Calloway, our librarian, 1.________(run) the library on her own, was very strict. Anyone 2.__________(dress) improperly, she thought, would be sent home to get 3._________(change).

My mother wasn't afraid of her. She wanted me to have a card of my own 4. _________(check)out books, so she 5. __________(take) me in to introduce me to Mrs Calloway. She had her own rules about books. You couldn't return the same book on the same day it 6.________(take) out. And you could take out two at a time. So two by two, I read books as fast as I could. 7._________(rush) the books home and returning them to the library, I read a lot.