“夫人,您好,可以打扰您几分钟吗?”她扭过头,一个窘迫的男子出现在她面前,他那棕色的面庞布满皱纹。“谢谢您给予我孙子胡里奥的帮助。”他用蹩脚的英语说道。她忽然想起了胡里奥,外表看起来那么不易接近,后来渐渐地敞开了他充满渴盼的内心世界。她想胡里奥一定在暗下决心努力学好外语,并会为每次进步而欢欣鼓舞。这位祖父也和他的孙子一样吗?她抬头看了看这位老人,很快便找到了两人的共同之处。“谢谢您,夫人!”老人用那只饱经沧桑的手,紧紧握住她的手,他的热情深深地感染了她。很快,他把手缩了回去,走开了。当他渐渐远去时,她想到了异国的阳光,而且也意识到了,异国的阳光其实就近在咫尺。
■ 心灵小语
阳光给人温暖,令人惬意,同时也象征着希望。文中的老师帮助一名看似孤僻的学生找到了自信,给生活在贫困中的他以希望。而这种善良的付出所得到的感激,令她感悟到,原来无须远行,同样能够感受异国阳光所带来的恬静感觉。
A Grandfather’s Touch
Anonymous
What day is it today? Is it Tuesday or Thursday? This thought raced through her mind as she sat back with her students going over the lesson that never seemed to end。 Didn’t I just do this yesterday? Or was it a year ago? Hell; everything seemed to jumble1 together anymore。 “Miss Smith; can I go to the bathroom?”Jorge asked; as he proceeded to jump from one foot to another; holding himself。 How many times have I heard this? She wondered as she abruptly said; “Yes” and watched as he raced out of the room。。 最好的txt下载网
感受异国的阳光(2)
Sitting at the table she gazed at her students while thinking of what she would do after work。 Maybe I’ll go to the gym or stop at the market for something to eat tonight。 Mechanically she continued with her lesson on the short letter“a” with her students。 “The letter‘a’ makes what sound?”“a; a; a”; the students sang together going through the empty motions。 The clock dragged away the minutes teasing her with the tediousness of the day。
Won’t it end? She thought as the phone rang out its morse code for her room。 Sighing she stood up and walked through the maze of students desks to get to the phone。 Picking up the receiver the other voice seemed a hundred miles away。 Oh; how I wish I were anywhere but here。 Her mind wandered to the hot exotic beach of Cabo; Mexico; where she had spent her last summer break。 She still remembered the cool breezes that caressed her skin as she lay on the gritty2 sand。
“Miss Smith, did you hear me?” the secretary annoyingly asked her。 “Oh; sorry。 What did you say?” “Can you send Carla to the office?” the secretary impatiently asked。 “Oh; course;” she replied as she hung up the phone。 She turned from the phone and yelled out Carla’s name。 Carla; who was one of the many who always seemed so needy that were in her class this year。 Carla looked up from her desk; her hair hanging like a matted displaced doll。 Her face was lined with dirt that gave her the appearance of one of those munchkins from the Wizard of Oz。 “You need to go to the office”; she said while Carla slowly rose from her desk。 “Why do I have to go?” whined Carla。 “It’s between you and the office—just go up;” she hastily turned her back as Carla walked out of the room。 Like having free school uniforms is the answer。 It would be nice if just once someone called saying something nice or thanking me for all the endless crap I have to deal with。 With a sigh she walked back to her other students who were clustered at the back table patiently waiting her return。
The rest of the afternoon blurred into one long endless repetition。 Finally the bell rang as a relief。 As she led her students out the door they walked behind her as baby chicks3 returning to their fold。 She noticed that their mother hens clucked to them behind the iron gate。 As she proceeded to walk down the corridor; the air; which rose with the musical tingle of Spanish coloring everything that touched it; greeted her。 She watched with a touch of envy as the children left her to return to those homes that probably were filled with laughter and warmth while she would once again return to the same endless march of boredom。
“Senora; un momento por favor?” she turned her head and noticed the small shriveled man; his brown face lined with a map to places only he knew。 “Thanks for helping my grandson Julio to read。” the gentleman said in his faltering broken English。 She immediately thought of Julio; who once as unreachable as a hardened walnut; slowly cracked opened to reveal the eager child inside。 She thought of the inner struggle Julio must have had as he tried to make sense of the foreign letters and the sudden joy when he had unbroken the mysterious code。 Was the grandfather the same? She looked up at this elderly gentleman; probably his grandfather; and quickly recognized the sameness of the two。 “Gracias Senora” a weathered hand came out and firmly grasped hers with warmth that radiated from his soul to hers。 Just as abruptly he removed his hand and left her。 As he walked away she thought of that exotic sun and realized maybe it was closer to her than she thought。
师恩如甘露(1)
佚名
史蒂夫12岁了,他的父母都是酒鬼。今年,他就要结束自己的学校生活了。虽然史蒂夫能够阅读,可他还是个差生。从一年级开始他的成绩就很差,在一年又一年的学习中,依然没有什么进展。史蒂夫身材健壮,看起来远远要比12岁的孩子大得多。不过他一直都不被人重视……直到怀特小姐来到。
怀特小姐笑容可掬,年轻有活力,还有一头迷人的红发。这正是史蒂夫喜欢的类型。在年轻的生命中,史蒂夫第一次无法把眼睛从老师身上移开,不过,他的学习仍旧不好。史蒂夫从没有做过家庭作业,还总是给怀特小姐找麻烦。怀特小姐那尖刻的话让他的心都碎了。每次因为不交作业而被罚时,他都感到十分痛苦。然而,他还是不学习。
到了第一学期的期中,整个七年级要进行基础技能测验。史蒂夫草草地完成了自己的测验,开始像以往那样幻想其他的事情。他的心思根本不在学校,而是在树林里。他经常独自躲藏在那里,试图摆脱酒鬼之家的声响和气味。没有人关心他是否安全,也没有人知道他走开了,因为所有的人都没有心思顾及其他。令人意想不到的是,史蒂夫从没有旷过一次课。
一天,怀特小姐不耐烦的声音打破了他的白日梦。
“史蒂夫!!”史蒂夫吃惊地转过头看着她。
“注意力要集中!”
当怀特小姐开始宣布七年级的测验成绩时,史蒂夫用那种青春期才有的崇敬目光盯着怀特小姐。
她对全班说:“你们考得都很好,只有一个男生例外。告诉你们这些让我感到伤心,可是……”她停下来,眼光转向史蒂夫的座位,用犀利的目光盯着他的脸。
“七年级最聪明的孩子,居然会在我教的科目上不及格!”
她盯着史蒂夫,全班同学也都转过头来看着他。史蒂夫低下头,看着自己的指尖。这件事情之后,战争依然继续!史蒂夫还是不肯做作业。即使受到的惩罚更加严厉,他还是坚持如此。
“只尝试一下!就一个星期!”他无动于衷。
“你非常聪明!你会有很大的变化!”任何话语都奈何不了他。
“给自己一个机会!不要放弃自己的生活。”他还是一切照旧。
“史蒂夫,求求你。我很关心你!”