Our house was directly across a popular hospital. We rented the upstairs rooms to outpatients at the clinic. One summer evening, there was a knock at the door. I opened it to see a truly awful looking man, his face lopsided from swelling, red and raw. He told me he’d been hunting for a room since noon but he had no success. “I guess it’s my face. I know it looks terrible, but my doctor says with a few more treatments…”
For a moment I hesitated, but his next words convinced me: “I could sleep in this rocking chair on the porch. My bus leaves early in the morning.” I told him we would find him a bed, but to rest on the porch. It didn’t take a long time to see that this old man had an oversized heart crowded into that tiny body. He told me he fished for a living to support his daughter, her five children, and her husband, who was hopelessly crippled from a back injury. He didn’t tell it by way of complaint. He was grateful that no pain accompanied his disease.
At bedtime, we put a camp cot in the children’s room for him. When I got up in the morning, the bed linens were neatly folded and the little man was out on the porch. Before he left for his bus, haltingly, he said, “Could I please come back and stay the next time I have a treatment? I can sleep fine in a chair.” He paused a moment and then added, “Your children made me feel at home. Grownups are bothered by my face, but children don’t seem to mind.” I told him he was welcome to come again.
In the years he came to stay overnight with us. There was never a time that he did not bring us fish or oysters or vegetables from his garden. When I received these little remembrances, I often thought of a comment our next-door neighbor made after he left that first morning. “You can lose roomers by putting up such people!”
Maybe we did lose roomers once or twice. But oh! If only they could have known him, perhaps their illnesses would have been easier to bear. I know our family always will be grateful to have known him; from him we learned what it was to accept the bad without complaint and the good with gratitude.
【小题1】When the author’s children saw the old fisherman, how did they react to him？| A．They felt at home. | B．They were bothered. |
| C．They were terrified. | D．They felt normal. |
| A．He suffered from a back injury. | B．He had a small body but a strong mind. |
| C．He was cured of his disease. | D．He felt hopeless about life. |
| A．Because he wanted to sell them to the author |
| B．Because he wanted to pay the rent with them |
| C．Because his garden had a good harvest |
| D．Because he wanted to thank the author |
| A．God helps those who help themselves. | B．Misfortune can be a blessing in disguise. |
| C．Never judge a book by its cover. | D．Honesty is the best policy. |
