我和我的父親

賴麗霞

在她心中，父親一直是無所不能的“超人”。偶然一次，父親邀請她一起做一個家庭裝修項目，讓她了解到更多……

難詞探意

1. gutter /·g·t·（r）/ n. 排水溝

2. renovate /·ren·ve·t/ v. 翻新

3. dock /d·k/ n. 碼頭

4. mallet /·m·l·t/ n. 木槌

5. blade /ble·d/ n. 刀片

6. gig /g·g/ n. 工作

Growing up， I understood one thing about my dad： He knew everything. In my teen years， he taught me things Id need to know to survive in the real world.

When I moved out on my own， I called him at least once a week， usually when something broke in my apartment and I needed to know how to fix it. But then， eventually， I needed him less. I got married， and my husband had most of the knowledge I lacked about gutter cleaning and water heaters and nondestructive insect removal. I loved my dad， of course， but I wondered at times if maybe he had already shared everything I needed to know. Maybe Id heard all his stories. Maybe， after knowing a man for 40 years， theres nothing left to say.

Then， this past summer， my husband， our four kids， and I moved in with my parents for three weeks while our house was being renovated. They own a lake house， and Dad asked me to help him rebuild the bulkhead at their dock. It was not an easy job. We got wet and sandy. But as we put the new bulkhead together piece by piece， my dad knew exactly what went where. I looked at him and asked， “How do you know how to build a bulkhead·” The heavy mallet he was swinging paused in midair. “I spent a summer in college building them on the Jersey Shore.” “You did·” I thought I knew everything about my dad—all his random jobs. But I never knew this. “Yep. Now come up here and let me teach you how to use this circular saw.”

As he explained the importance of not setting the blade too deep， I realized that maybe its not that theres nothing left to say. Maybe its just that Ive spent my life asking him the wrong questions. A few weeks later， after my family and I moved back into our renovated house， I called my parents. Dad answered. “Hi， sweets，” he said. “Heres Mom.” “Wait， Dad， how are you·” We ended up talking about the consulting gig he was working on and a new battery hed bought for his sailboat. To anyone else， it would sound like a normal conversation between a dad and his daughter. But to me， it was novel and it is a new beginning. I spent the first part of my life needing to talk to my dad. Now I talk to him because I want to.

Reading check

1. Why did the author need her father less according to paragraph 2·

A. She had learned everything from her father.

B. She could turned to her husband for help.

C. She wanted to be more independent.

D. She was bored with her father.

2. What does the underlined word “it” refer to in paragraph 3·

A. Learning to build house in a college.

B. Repairing of the authors house.

C. Moving into a lake house.

D. Rebuilding the bulkhead.

3. Which of the following words can best describe the authors father·

A. Aggressive.

B. Proud.

C. Humorous.

D. Creative.

Language study

Difficult sentence

As he explained the importance of not setting the blade too deep， I realized that maybe its not that theres nothing left to say.

【翻譯】

【點石成金】本句為一個主從復合句，as 引導的是一個時間狀語從句，主句為I realized...nothing left to say，主句中第一個that引導的是一個賓語從句。