It was rainy, and I had no desire to drive up the winding mountain road to my daughter Carolyn’s house. But she had insisted that I come to see something at the top of the mountain.
So here I was, reluctantly making the two-hour journey through fog that hung like veils. By the time I saw how thick it was near the summit, I’d gone too far to turn back.
Nothing could be worth this, I thought as I inched along the dangerous highway.
“I’ll stay for lunch, but I’ m heading back down as soon as the fog lifts,” I announced when I arrived.
“But I need you to drive me to the garage to pick up my car,” Carolyn said, “Could we at least do that?”
“How far is it?” I asked.
“About three minutes,” she said, “I’ll drive—I’m used to it.”
After ten minutes on the mountain road, I looked at her anxiously. “I thought you said three minutes.”
She grinned. “This is a detour.”
Turning down a narrow track, we parked the car and got out. We walked along a path that was thick with old pine needles. Huge black-green evergreens towered over us. Gradually, the peace and silence of the place began to fill my mind.
Then we turned a comer and stopped—and I gasped in amazement.
From the top of the mountain, sloping for several acres across the mountain side and valleys, were rivers of flowers in numerous colors. It looked as though the sun had tipped over and spilled gold down the mountainside.
A series of questions filled my mind. Who created such beauty? Why? How?
As we approached the home that stood in the center of the property, we saw a sign that read: “Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking.”
The first answer was: “One Woman—Two Hands, Two Feet, and Very Little Brain.” The second was: “One at a Time.” The third: “Started in 1958.”
As we drove home, I was so moved by what we had seen. I could scarcely speak. “She changed the world.” I finally said, “one bulb (球茎) at a time. She started almost 40 years ago, probably just the beginning of an idea, but she kept at it.”
The wonder of it would not let me go. “Imagine,” I said, “if I’d had a vision and worked at it, just a little bit every day, what might I have accomplished?”
Carolyn looked at me sideways, smiling. “Start tomorrow,” she said. “Better yet, start today.”
【小题1】What was the weather like when the author drove to visit her daughter?| A．It was snowing. | B．It was foggy. |
| C．It was freezing. | D．It was sunny. |
| A．She told a white lie to her mother. |
| B．She was an experienced driver. |
| C．She didn’t know the way very well. |
| D．She knew everything about the woman. |
| A．they were driving in the car |
| B．they were at the garage |
| C．they were on their way back |
| D．they were walking in the woods |
| A．Crazy and silly. | B．Determined and persistent. |
| C．Brave and careful. | D．Beautiful and courageous. |
| A．She will look after her grandchildren. |
| B．She will pay a second visit to the garden. |
| C．She will begin to do something meaningful. |
| D．She will come and live with her daughter. |
