童年的沙堡

江西 黃舒偉

沙子，散發著太陽的氣息，也呵護著童年的夢境。殘留在三個樂不可支的孩子手上的沙子，在陽光下閃爍著金子般的光芒……

主題語境：人與社會 篇幅：356詞 建議用時：7分鐘

1About 10 years ago, Lawson was at a beach in Vir?ginia watching his kids build sandcastles right next to the waves.

2“I kept trying to get them to come back because I thought it was a terrible idea,”he said. He wanted them to build their sandcastles closer to the dunes (沙丘).But they found it more exciting to build right where the waves hit,seeing their sandcastles get destroyed, and then rebuilding them with whatever debris (廢棄物) washed up from the ocean.“It seemed so symbolic, somehow, of how life works more than just building your perfect sandcastle,”said Lawson.When he decided to turn that sunny day into a children's book, the idea came to just use pictures.“It seemed like it would work beautifully without words,”he said.

3A Day for Sandcastlesis illustrated(加插圖于)by Qin Leng.It's the second wordless picture book for Lawson and Leng since 2021'sOver the Shop. Leng's illustrations stay pretty true to real life. Three siblings spend the day building sandcastles and watching them get destroyed by a flying hat.“To me, it's a celebration of childhood and the simple joys of life.These are the things I like to capture(捕捉),”said Leng.

4Leng spent part of her childhood in France,and she was inspired by European comic books.“What I love to do when I illustrate a picture book is add side stories to the main storyline.I always think about the readers and the longevity of the book, and I want them to be able to discover something new every time they revisit the book,”Leng explained.

5At the end of the day,the sleepy?eyed kids pile into the bus that will take them home.“Those last pages are some of my favorite. They capture that feeling like at the end of the day on the beach, when it's getting dark and you feel completely tired,”Lawson said. It must be a universal childhood feeling: happy with sand, sticky from the salt, hot from the sun,and ready to fall asleep the moment you get in the car.

Reading Check

1.How did Lawson feel when his kids built sandcastles near the waves?

A.Content. B.Excited. C.Concerned. D.Angry.

2.What can we know aboutA Day for Sandcastles?

A.It's a picture book for painters.

B.It's quite different from real life.

C.It's about flying hats in a magic world.

D.It's a wordless picture book about childhood.

3.What does paragraph 4 mainly talk about?

A.Friendship between Lawson and Leng.

B.Characteristics of Leng's works.

C.Leng's family background.

D.Leng's childhood.

4.What does the underlined words“pile into”probably mean?

A.Flood into. B.Give up. C.Run into. D.Run after.

Language Study

Difficult sentence

What I love to do when I illustrate a picture book is add side stories to the main story?line.當我為圖畫書畫插圖時，我喜歡在主要的故事情節中添加一些支線故事。

【點石成金】該句中，what 引導一個主語從句，在主語從句中充當do的賓語。