第44课（417字3分钟）

Passage Forty-four

（K9 level）

1. My father passed away when I was only a few months old.

2. After his death, my mother decided to move back to her hometown, Louisville, Kentucky, where she had spent her childhood.

3. We lived in a modest house with her elder sister, Marion, and their mother.

4. During that time, being a single parent was still seen as highly unusual.

5. When I was a child, I came across a book called The Happy Family, which I found to be rather ridiculous.

6. The book described an idealized family where the father worked tirelessly at an office, the mother spent her days cooking in the kitchen, and the siblings frequently hosted friends overnight.

7. The family depicted in that book represented a typical image of the era.

8. It bore no resemblance to my own family, but fortunately, I never felt that way because of how I experienced the story.

9. My Aunt Marion read it to me in such a humorous way that it transformed the narrative entirely.

10. Warm-hearted and forward-thinking, my aunt was the one who taught me how to play baseball, took me horseback riding, accompanied me to father-son dinners, and even gave me driving lessons.

11. Believing that unconventional experiences could benefit me, she offered to take out a loan so I could volunteer in Africa, which turned out to be the most significant experience of my life.

12. As a young woman, Aunt Marion had envisioned having a large family of her own, but she never got married.

13. This allowed her to devote all her energy and time to raising me.

14. Many people have often remarked on the numerous similarities between us.

15. She always pushed me to strive for excellence in everything I did.

16. She never let me doubt that I could achieve whatever I wanted in life as long as I worked hard enough.

17. For more than sixty years, Aunt Marion has never focused on herself, nor does she do so now.

18. In family photos, she prefers to stand quietly in the back rather than being drawn to the spotlight, and she doesn’t think her contributions have had much impact.

19. I deeply admire my aunt for teaching me the lessons my father was unable to.

20. For the past forty years, every June, I’ve expressed my growing gratitude to Aunt Marion by sending her a Father’s Day card.

生词表（New Words）

1. father 父亲

2. death 去世 decided 决定 hometown 家乡

childhood 童年 Louisville 路易斯维尔 Kentucky 肯塔基州

3.modest 简朴 house 房子 elder 姐姐

Marion 玛丽安 mother 母 

4.time 年代 single 单亲 parent 家长

unusual 少见

5. child 小时候 book 书 happy 幸福

ridiculous 荒唐

6. idealized 理想化 tirelessly 辛勤 office 办公室

kitchen 厨房 siblings 兄妹   overnight 过夜

7. depicted 描述 typical 典型 image 形象

era 时代

8. resemblance 相似 fortunately 幸运 experienced 经历

9. aunt 姨妈 humorous 幽默 transformed 改变

narrative 故事

10. baseball 棒球 horseback 骑马 father-son 父子

dinners 晚宴

11. unconventional不寻常experiences 经历 benefit 有益

offered 提出 volunteer 志愿者 significant 重要

experience 经历

12. young 年轻 woman 女人 envisioned 想象

large 大 family 家庭 married 结婚

13. allowed 允许 devote 投入 energy 精力

14.  remarked 提到 similarities 相似

15. pushed 鼓励 strive 追求 excellence 卓越

16. doubt 怀疑 achieve 实现

17. years 年 aunt 姨妈 focused 关注

18. quietly 安静 stand 站 back 后面

spotlight 聚光灯 contributions 付出 impact 影响

19. admire 敬佩 lessons 课程 unable 不能

20. years 年 gratitude 感激 father’s day 父亲节

card 卡片

1. 我父亲在我几个月大的时候去世了。

2. 他去世后，我母亲决定搬回她的家乡，她度过童年的肯塔基州路易斯维尔。

3. 我们和她的姐姐玛丽安以及她们的母亲住在一间简朴的小房子里。

4. 那个年代，单亲家长仍然被视为非常少见。

5. 小时候，我读过一本叫《幸福家庭》的书，我觉得它简直荒唐。

6. 书中描述了一个理想化的家庭，父亲在办公室辛勤工作，母亲整天在厨房忙碌，而兄妹们经常邀请朋友来家里过夜。

7. 书中的家庭代表了那个时代典型的形象。

8. 它与我的家庭毫无相似之处，但幸运的是，我从未因此感到失落，因为我对这个故事的感受完全不同。

9. 我的姨妈玛丽安用一种非常幽默的方式读给我听，彻底改变了这个故事。

10. 心地善良又思想开放的她教我打棒球，带我去骑马，陪我参加父子晚宴，甚至教我开车。

11. 她相信不寻常的经历对我有益，于是主动提出借钱让我去非洲做志愿者，那成为我人生中最重要的一段经历。

12. 年轻时，姨妈玛丽安曾想象拥有一个大家庭，但她从未结婚。

13. 这让她能够全身心地投入到照顾我上。

14. 很多人常常提到我们之间有许多相似之处。

15. 她总是鼓励我追求卓越，做到最好。

16. 她从不让我怀疑，只要我足够努力，我就能实现自己想要的生活。

17. 六十多年来，姨妈玛丽安从未关注过自己，现在也依然如此。

18. 在家庭合影中，她总是宁愿安静地站在后排，而不是走到前面，她也不认为自己的付出有多大影响。

19. 我非常敬佩我的姨妈，因为她教会了我那些父亲无法教我的事情。

20. 过去四十年来，每年的六月，我都会怀着越来越深的感激之情，给姨妈寄上一张父亲节卡片。