would read this? Were these writings just for me, or did I want others to read them? Was I recording events and ideas just as a prompt (e)to memory, or was there some larger purpose in this daily exercise?

　　I knew I was recording events, thoughts, words that were important to my life I imagined a future me sitting down to read the pages. I wondered what it would feel like to read those words later I wondered where I would be and what my life would be like.

　　I filled the notebook Charles gave me. I bought a new one and filled it. Then another and another. I continued writing in notebooks for four decades. By that time, they filled two boxes in my garage.

　　I had reread some of the journals. Specific volumes had provided me with the background I needed for dozens of articles for magazines. But I had never read them all. Recently, I decided to bring my collection of notebooks into my office and replay my life. As I opened the first box, I suddenly became nervous. Would I like the former me described on those pages? There was a risk in opening that first notebook. I did it anyway.

　　Charles had been right. I remembered the big events and the central happenings, but on each page were many details I hadn't remembered.

　　The pages revealed highlights from college classes and stories about roommates and friends. I read anxious comments I'd written as I'd-launched my teaching career, learned to write lesson plants, assigned grades for student work, and solved discipline problems. I reflected on my coming marriage, then the wedding, and eventually the proud moments when I held each of my three girls as a father. I recounted more trips--returning to Europe, teaching in South America, going on safari (游猎)in Africa, and exploring Greenland. I relived memories of trails hit, rive crossed, and mountains climbed.

　　The writings in those journals framed my life. I hadn't written every day. I often skipped a few days or even weeks, but I always picked up the writing when it felt important Journals went with me when I traveled, and I often wrote in them at school when my own students were writing.

　　It took several long evenings to read through the notebooks, taking me on tour covering 42 years. As I read, I could recall sitting on a bench in Trafalgar Square in London or in our apartment in Peru to write to the future me. It was then that I realized: I am now the person I was writing to throughout those years.

　　6. What can we learn about Charles Lee?

　　A. The author gained valuable experience of life from him.

　　B. He gave the author a notebook as birthday present.

　　C. He was an English teacher the author came across.

　　D. The author once lived in his house as a college graduate.

　　7. One reason why the author kept writing journals was that he wanted to ______.

　　A. let others read what he wrote in the future

B. live up to Charles lee's expectation for him