Unit 3 Under the sea grammar课时作业

第一节 阅读理解

　　There are many heartbreaking moments in this beautifully written book, Letter to Louis, by Alison White, but the first comes before it even begins. In the devotion to her son Louis, author Alison White says how she wanted to write it so that people would understand disability and caring, but also, "to be totally honest, I wanted to write something that would make people consider being Louis' friend."Beneath that simple plea (恳求) lies the great fear of so many parents who nurse a severely disabled child through to adulthood:"What will happen when I'm gone?" Instead of giving a vivid account of the fear and anxieties that accompany long-term caring, she just tells us what it's like, and it is equally admirable, uplifting and terrifying.

　　As a society, we are fond of praising short-term heroism: the soldier or firefighter, bravery containable within a single story. The uncomfortable truth that Letter to Louis lays bare is that the heroism of long-term toughness, the daily caring over many years, is neither great nor interesting. At times, with two other children to care for and Louis waking five times a night, still undiagnosed and in constant pain, White feels simple despair. "I picture the cliff. I picture jumping holding you tight in my arms, falling and falling through the air."

Although there are moments of joy-when Louis first speaks, manages to walk a little-White offers no comforting platitudes (陈词滥调). "My destiny has been decided. The realisation hits me full force in the stomach. I don't want this destiny." Very soon, you come to admire White's courage not only in raising a child with disability but in resisting the temptation to hit one or two of the many she encounters along the way: a Clarks shoe shop assistant who refuses to sell Louis, a wheelchair user, a pair of shoes because he can't walk across the room for her to check the fit, and an unhelpful occupational therapist who won't authorise the toileting equipment that he needs, insisting he has to learn to wipe his own bottom, even though it is a physical impossibility for him.