When I was growing up, I had an old neighbour named Dr Gibbs. He didn’t look like any doctor I’d ever known. He never yelled at us for playing in his yard. I remember him as someone who was a lot nicer than most of the adults in our community.
When Dr Gibbs wasn’t saving lives, he was planting trees. His house sat on ten acres, and his life’s goal was to make it a forest.
The good doctor had some interesting theories concerning plant care and growth. He never watered his new trees, which flew in the face of conventional wisdom. Once I asked why. He said that watering plants spoiled them so that each successive tree generation would grow weaker and weaker. So you have to make things rough for them and weed out (淘汰) the weaker trees early on.
He talked about how watering trees made for shallow roots, and how trees that weren’t watered had to grow deep roots in search of moisture. I took him to mean that deep roots were to be treasured.
So he never watered his trees. He planted an oak and, instead of watering it every morning, he’d beat it with a rolledup newspaper. Smack! Slap! Pow! I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree’s attention.
Dr Gibbs passed away a couple of years after I left home. Every now and again, I walked by his house and looked at the trees that I’d watched him plant some twentyfive years ago. They’re extremely tall, big and robust since they have deep roots now. However, the trees in my garden trembled in a cold wind although I had watered them for several years.
It seems that adversity (逆境) and suffering benefit these trees in ways comfort and ease never could. I stood there deep in thought.
Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. I stand over them and watch their little bodies, the rising and falling of life within. I often pray for them. Mostly I pray that their lives will be easy. But I think it’s time to change my prayer (祷词) because now I know my children are going to encounter hardship.
【小题1】According to Dr Gibbs’ theories, trees will become weaker if they .| A．are lack of care | B．are watered |
| C．are weeded out | D．are beaten |
| A．strong | B．strange | C．deep | D．old |
| A．I wish them strong wings, with which they can fly higher and touch the sky. |
| B．I wish them nice fortune so that they can meet people like Dr Gibbs in the future. |
| C．I wish them deep roots into the earth since the rains fall and the winds blow often. |
| D．I wish them great shades under the tree since the sunlight is always sharp and bitter. |
| A．A nice doctor | B．The deep roots |
| C．Adversity and suffering | D．My childhood memory |
