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5. And we should not have become so tired by our frivolous acts that when it comes we aren’t able to receive it with open arms. (Para. 14)
After repeatedly experiencing hasty, casual and insensible relationships, we have become emotionally tired and confused, so when true love comes, we are unable to respond to it with due enthusiasm, passion and devotion.
Checking Your Vocabulary Word Detective
1 Put down the right word from Text B in the space provided according to the given definition. The first letter of each word is already given.
Example: icy: extremely cold; covered with ice 1) engaged: having agreed to marry
2) grief: great sorrow or feelings of suffering 3) manipulate: work with skilful use of the hands 4) agonizing: causing great pain or anxiety 5) maximum: the largest number, amount, etc.
6) fascinate: attract and hold the interest or attention of
7) complaint: a statement of dissatisfaction, unhappiness, pain, etc. 8) grace: a fine and attractive quality in movement or form, esp. when this seems effortless and natural
2 Fill in each blank with a word or phrase from Text B. Both the explanation and the number of the paragraph in which the target
word or phrase appears are given in brackets. Be sure to use the proper form.
Example: To gain more profit, they reduced the costs of the building to the
minimum .
(the smallest amount: Para. 7)
1) “Lip Ice”, a relief for dry lips, is applied to keep lips moist . (slightly wet: Para. 1)
2) Only three people could fit into the lift; it’s really too small. (have sufficient space in: Para. 5)
3) In the course of their investigation, they discovered various forms of political corruption (腐败). (during: Para. 6)
4) Helen was overjoyed to hear that she had got the job. (extremely pleased: Para. 9)
5) I often clip pictures of tourist spots from the magazine Travel Weekly. (cut: Para. 10)
6) Doctors tried in vain to save him; he passed away at dawn. (without a successful result: Para. 12)
7) During the war, they were forced to yield some of their farmland to the local farmers.
(give up one’s control of: Para. 12)
8) The twins resemble each other in appearance but their personalities are quite different.
(look like or be similar to sb. or sth.: Para. 13)
Checking Your Comprehension
1 Answer the following questions with the information contained in Text B.
1) What happened to the writer’s husband?
He was dying in bed of a serious disease.
2) What did her husband’s hands look like?
They were long and large. His fingers were long and square, laced with fine veins all the way to the tips. His nails squared off the ends of his fingers, with clearly defined white edges. He had always taken great care to keep them neat. They were not tough hands; nor soft, either.
3) What could she feel when her husband clasped her hands during the last four years when he was confined to the hospital bed?
She could feel pure and honest expressions of his love.
4) How did he treat his children when they were young?
He took very good care of them.
5) In what special moments did her husband hold her hands in the hospital?
Her husband held her hands in the most frightening moments of his illnesses and in the deepest, darkest moment of his life.
6) What did she discover in her husband’s dresser months after he died?
She discovered an opened pack of emery boards.
7) How did she react to the discovery?
At the sight of the emery boards, she could not control her grief any longer and broke into tears.
8) Who was Stephen?
He was her youngest son, who resembled her husband very much.
9) How did she feel when Stephen clasped her hand?
She felt the clasp was as reassuring as his father’s.
2 Read the following sentences carefully and discuss in pairs what the author intends to say by the italicised parts.
1) And whenever those hands sought mine in the final days of his life, he pressed them both together around one of my hands. (Para. 1)
Holding one of my hands tightly, he expressed his pure love for me as well as his wish to be together with me forever.
2) It was during that time, as I sat by his bed, that I tried to memorize his hands. (Para. 2)
I tried to bear in mind what his hands were like because I knew he would soon leave us forever.
3) Those hands clasped mine in the most frightening moments of his illnesses. (Para. 8)
When death was drawing near, he clasped my hands to seek comfort and support from me and to express his pure and deep love for me.
4) Months later, I opened the top drawer of Paul’s dresser one Sunday and reached in for one of his clean, pressed handkerchiefs — I liked to use them now. (Para. 11)
Since my husband had been using them before he died, I like to use them now so that I could find myself mentally closer to him.
5) It was as though his father’s long, graceful hands clasped mine once again.
Still reassuring me. (Para. 13)