My mother was never truly happy in Connecticut finding the winter bitter cold and the culture provincial (偏狭的). Though she grew up in New Jersey, she moved to San Francisco in her early twenties, met and married my dad out there. After I was born, they decided to return east, closer to their own parents. But she never let go of her love for the Bay Area.
California was always part of the conversation when I was a kid. I ate meals off a map-of-the-world placemat (餐垫), and Mom taught me to identify San Francisco before I learned where Hartford was. She told us stories of perfection on a single city, fantasizing about retiring out west. My dad would play along, but his heart wasn’t in the same place.
While my mother’s status in the nonprofit world advanced, her desire to move back to her favorite place grew strong. She applied for jobs in the Bay, underwent bicoastal Skype screenings, even traveled out for a couple of interviews on a whim (心血来潮). Sometimes her cover letters disappeared, other times she made it down to the final two candidates. With each rejection, she promised to make her next job application even stronger.
This past May, I relocated from San Francisco to New York for a job. A few weeks later, Mom called me. Her pursuit had finally paid off. She’s been offered a vice president position at a public health nonprofit in Oakland. A few weeks later, she packed up her baggage and left Connecticut for good.
Our lives are more semblable than ever these days. We’re both discovering our new homes, making friends. We’re looking for a good yoga studio to join, reading the same books and chatting about the plots by text message. I emailed her photos from my trip to Burning Man and she replied with stories about her new coworkers who go every year.
There’s even time for the occasional dating disaster.
Perhaps that’s the paradox (悖论) of growing older. Things will always change, and they can change immediately—my mother is proof. But an individual’s own power to create change always stays the same. Everything can change, and therefore nothing ever really changes.
Now when I’m out west for a visit, Mom meets me at a station with her big bag. We stop by the Grand Lake farmers market, picking out the freshest seasonal ingredients, before hiking up the hill to her new apartment. One of these days, I’ll actually cook her dinner.
【小题1】What can we learn from Paragraph 2?| A．The author spent her childhood in California. |
| B．The author’s father didn’t want to live in California. |
| C．The author’s mother liked to use plates with map designs. |
| D．The author’s family preferred listening to stories of the west. |
| A．She always likes to struggle on her own. |
| B．She owns a public health nonprofit company. |
| C．Nothing can stop her from reaching her goal. |
| D．She takes everything of her daughter on herself. |
| A．Changeable. | B．Comfortable. | C．Similar. | D．Creative. |
| A．The relationship between the author and her mother is good. |
| B．Everyone has the power to make a difference to his family. |
| C．Culture and living conditions have influence on one’s life style. |
| D．The author’s mother had a hard time before she looked for a job. |
| A．her family’s life changes all the time because of her mother |
| B．the mother-daughter feelings will stay the same forever |
| C．she has grown up during her family’s constant moves |
| D．her mother always wants to change her current situations |
