It's a typical Snoopy card; cheerful message, bright colors, though a little yellow and faded now. Though I've received fancier, more expensive card over the years, this is the only one I've saved. One summer, it spoke volumes to me.
I received it during the first June I faced as a widow to raise two teenage daughters alone. In all the emotional confusion of this sudden single parenthood, I was overwhelmed with, of all things, the simplest housework, leaky taps, oil changes, even barbeques(烧烤). Those had always been my husband's jobs. I was embarrassed every time I hit my thumb with a hammer or couldn't get the lawnmower(割草机) started.
My uncertain attempts only fueled the fear inside me: How could I be both a father and mother to my girls? Clearly, I lacked the tools and skills.
On this particular morning, my girls pushed me into the living room to see something. (I prayed it wasn't another repair job). The "something" turned out to be an envelope and several wrapped bundles on the carpet. My puzzlement must have been plain as I gazed from the colorful packages to my daughters' bright faces.
"Go ahead! Open them!" They urged. As I unwrapped the packages, I discovered a small barbecue grill (烧烤架) and all the necessary objects including a green kitchen glove with a frog pattern on it.
"But why?" I asked.
"Happy Father's Day!" they shouted together.
"Moms don't get presents on Father's Day". I protested.
"You forgot to open the card". Jane reminded. I pulled it from the envelope. There sat Snoopy, on top of his dog house, merrily wishing me a Happy Father's Day. "Because", the girls said, "you've been a father and mother to us. Why shouldn't you be remembered on Father's Day?"
As I fought back tears, I realized they were right, I wanted to be a "professional" dad, who had the latest tools and knew all the tricks of the trade. The girls only wanted a parent they could count on to be there, day after day, performing repeatedly the maintenance tasks of basic care and love.
The girls are grown now, and they still send me Father's Day cards, but none of those cards means as much to me as that first one. Its simple message told me being a great parent didn't require any special tools at all—just a willing worker.
By "it spoke volumes to me", (Para. 1) the mother in the story means the card______.
A. conveyed significant meanings to her
B. aroused great sorrow in her
C. brought her pleasant feelings
D. made her feel important
According to news reports, US restaurants______.
A. are partly responsible for the overweight problem
B. ignore the government regulations on food amount
C. serve two to four times the amount the customers want
D. are partly to blame for the waste of food in America
Sure, we should be grateful for every bite of food. Unfortunately, many people in the US take a few too many bites. Instead of saying "clean the plate", perhaps we should save some food for tomorrow.
According to news reports, US restaurants are partly to blame for the growing bellies(肚子). A waiter puts a plate of food in front of each customer, with two to four times the amount recommended by the government, according to a USA Today story.
Americans traditionally associate quantity with value and most restaurants try to give them that. They serve large portions to stand apart from competitors and to give the customers value. They prefer to have customers complain about too much food rather than too little.
Barbara Rolls, a nutrition professor at Pennsylvania State University, told USA Today that restaurant portion sizes began to grow in the 1970s, the same time that the American waistline began to expand.
Health experts have tried to get many restaurants to serve smaller portions. Now, apparently, some customers are calling for this too. A restaurant industry trade magazine reported last month that 57 percent of more than 4,000 people surveyed believed restaurants serve portions that are too large; 23 percent had no opinion; 20 percent disagreed.
But a closer look at the survey indicates that many Americans who can't afford fine dining still prefer large portions. Seventy percent of those earning at least $150,000 per year prefer smaller portions. But only 45 percent of those earning less than $25,000 want smaller.
It's not that working class Americans don't want to eat healthy. It's just that after long hours at low-paying jobs, getting less on their plate hardly seems like a good deal. They live from paycheck to paycheck, happy to save a little money for next year's Christmas presents.
By saying "Be a member of the clean-plate-club!"(Para. 1) a parent or grandparent is asking the children to______.
A. wash dishes after meals
B. eat all the food on their plate
C. save food for the starving Africans
D. reserve food for the future
The James-Lange theory of emotions______.
A. overlooked internal physical reactions
B. exaggerated the function of stimulating events
C. faced a challenge from counter evidence
D. offered a narrow interpretation of emotions