Don’t Wait Till the Flowers Wilt
莫等到花儿都谢了
Each spring brings a new blossom of wildflowers in the ditches along the highway I travel daily to work.
There is one particular blue flower that has always caught my eye. I’ve noticed that it blooms only in morning hours, for the afternoon sun is too warm for it. Every day for approximately two weeks, I see those beautiful flowers.
This spring, I started a wildflower garden in our yard. I can look out of the kitchen window while doing the dishes and see the flowers. I’ve often thought that those lovely blue flowers from the ditch would look great in that bed alongside other wildflowers.
Every day I drove past the flowers thinking, “I’ll stop on my way home and dig them.” “Gee, I don’t want to get my good clothes dirty…” Whatever the reason, I never stopped to dig them. My husband even gave me a folding shovel one year for my trunk to be used for that expressed purpose.
One day on my way home from work, I was saddened to see that the highway department had mowed the ditches and the pretty blue flowers were gone. I thought to myself, “Way to go, you waited too long. You should have done it when you first saw them blooming this spring.”
A week ago we were shocked and saddened to learn that my oldest sister-in-law had a terminal brain tumor. She is 20 years older than my husband and unfortunately, because of age and distance, we haven’t been close as we all would have liked.
I couldn’t help but see the connection between the pretty blue flowers and the relationship between my husband’s sister and us. I do believe that God has given us some time left to plant some wonderful memories that will bloom every year for us.
And yes, if I see the blue flowers again, you can bet I’ll stop and transplant them to my wildflower garden.
译文
在我每天上班沿途的那些沟渠里，每年春天都会绽放野花。
有一种独特的蓝花总是吸引我的注意。我注意到，它只在早晨开放，午后阳光对它太热了。大约两周时间，我每天都看到那些美丽的花朵。
今年春天，我在我们的院子里着手建了一个野花园。我在做菜时，通过厨房窗口可以看到那些鲜花。我常常想，沟渠里那些可爱的蓝花在其他野花的衬托下看上去一定很棒。
每天我开车经过那些花朵就会想：“我要在回家的路上停下来，把它们挖走。”“哎呀，我不想把好衣服弄脏…”无论什么原因，我从来没有停下来挖那些花。有一年，丈夫甚至特意为我的汽车尾部行李箱配了一把折叠铲。
有一天，下班回家途中，我非常伤心地看到，公路部门已经填平了那些沟渠，漂亮的蓝花不见了踪影。我想：“你等得太久了，你应该在刚看到它们开花的这个春天就挖的。”
一周前，我们既震惊又悲痛地获悉，年龄最大的姐姐得了脑瘤晚期。她比我的丈夫大20岁。不幸的是，尤其年龄和距离远，我们都没有像我们本该有的那样亲密。
我不禁明白了那些漂亮的蓝花以及我丈夫的姐姐和我们之间关系的联系。我确实相信，上帝已经给了我们一些时间来种植一些美好的回忆，这些回忆每年都会为我们开放。
是的，如果我再次看到那些蓝花，你可以断定，我会停下来，把他们移栽到我的野花园里。
拓展训练
When spring comes, some wildflower come out in the ditches(沟渠) along the highway where I travel daily to work., I’ve noticed one special blue flower. It blooms(开花) only in the morning hours. For the afternoon sun is too hot for it. Every day for nearly two weeks, I see those beautiful flowers.
This spring, I started a wildflower garden in our yard. I can look out of the kitchen window while doing the dishes and see the flowers.
Every day I drove past the flowers thinking “I’ll stop on my way home and dig them.” “See. I don’t want to get my good clothes dirty.” Whatever the reason, I never stopped to dig them.
One day on my way home from work. I was sad to see the pretty blue flowers were gone. I thought to myself. “You wanted too long. You should have done it when you first saw them blooming this spring.”
A week ago we were shocked and sad to learn that my oldest sister-in-law was badly ill. She is 20 years older than my husband and unfortunately, because of age and distance, we haven’t been as close as we all would have been.
I couldn’t help but see the connection between the pretty blue flowers and the relationship between my husband’s sister and us. I do believe that God has given us some time left to plant some wonderful memories that will bloom every year for us.
And yes, if I see the blue flowers again. You can bet I’ll stop and transplant them to my wildflower garden.
【小题1】 The writer didn’t stop to dig the wildflowers because _____.
A. The flowers were not beautiful enough B. She was always too busy
C. She wanted her sister to dig them D. She didn’t pay enough attention to them
【小题2】The writer started a flower garden in her yard to show that____.
A. She wanted to sell her flowers B. She liked planted flowers
C. Her husband made her do that D. Her husband’s sister loved flowers
【小题3】The blue flower blooms only in the morning because _______.
A. It is very special B. The flower doesn’t want to bloom at other time
C. It can’t stand the strong sunlight in the afternoon D. The text doesn’t tell us
【小题4】From the passage, we can infer that the writer ______.
A. Didn’t care too much for flowers
B. Always transplanted wildflowers to her garden
C. Stopped on her way to dig some flowers
D. Missed some valuable things in her life
【小题5】What is the purpose of the writer writing the passage?
A. To tell people when chance comes, don’t let it go.
B. To advise people to plant flowers in their yards.
C. To transplant wildflowers to their own garden.
D. To tell readers she loves her family。
答案DBCDA