“I was in the ICU. I’d been told I’d be released the next day. The worst, it seemed, was behind me.” Jake Ryan didn’t know it at the time, but the worst was not totally behind him. After his open heart surgery, he was about to enter a different and difficult journey on the road to physical and emotional recovery.
Upon discharge (出院), the hospital gave Jake a “care package.” “I miss my 3-year-old twins. I remember thinking how much I wished there was a book in the package that would offer guidance for how to be a dad following surgery. There wasn’t, but it was out of that thought that this book was born.”
Dear Diary Franklin is a novel written in the voice of 11-year-old Hannah Brody, whose father had suddenly collapsed on a gym floor and was in need of serious medical attention. The book is written in diary format, which gets readers deep inside the head and heart of its young heroine.
Through her diary, readers hear about Hannah’s feelings and frustrations as she copes with the anger, fear and confusion of the impact of her father’s surgery. What are they keeping from me? And why? She repeatedly hears the catchall cliché (陈词滥调) “everything is going to be fine” so many times that she can only think anything but. Her own translation: “Normal was over.” While her dad does his best to keep things as normal as possible, his recovery, as you’d imagine, is slow and his routine changes. Meanwhile, there’s the matter of school and Hannah’s place within what for some is a terrifying social universe—she has few friends.
While Ryan said his motivation was to help men (or parents in general) deal with the aftereffects of major surgery in their families and themselves, he has delivered a valuable story for children and grownups alike in how to tackle a difficult life event that nobody can truly prepare you for.
【小题1】What does the underlined word “it” in paragraph l refer to?| A．That he was sent to the ICU. |
| B．That he had got past the worst things. |
| C．That he would go through a tough recovery. |
| D．That he would be discharged from the hospital. |
| A．To share a personal journey of recovery. |
| B．To provide support for parents after surgery. |
| C．To explore the challenges of post-surgery life. |
| D．To offer guidance for children with sick parents. |
| A．She terrifies her friends away. | B．She buys what is told to her. |
| C．She changes her father’s routine. | D．She suffers lots of hardships. |
| A．A news report. | B．A child’s diary. |
| C．An advertisement. | D．A book review. |
