巴士上的鮮花

廣東 袁丹純

從沉默到交流，從冷漠到熱情，老人用他的善舉打開了乘客們封閉的心靈，讓人們感受到一路同行的美好。

主題語境：人與社會 篇幅：383詞 建議用時：8分鐘

133 years ago, we took the bus every day that summer. During the early morning ride from the suburb,we sat sleepily with our collars up to our ears,usually cheerless and wordless.

2One of the passengers was a small grey man. He walked with a stoop（駝背）and a sad look on his face when he,with some difficulty,boarded the bus and sat down alone behind the driver.No one ever paid much attention to him.

3Then one July morning, he said good morning to the driver and smiled before he sat down. The driver nodded guardedly. The rest of us were silent. The next day, the old man boarded the bus energetically, smiled and said in a loud voice,“A very good morning to you all!”Some of us looked up,amazed,and murmured“Good morning!”in reply.

4The following weeks he said good morning to us every day and we gradually began to nod and talk to each other.

5One morning, he had a bunch of wild flowers in his hand. The driver turned around smilingly and asked,“Have you got yourself a girlfriend, Charlie?”He nodded shyly and said yes.The other passengers whistled and clapped for him.

6Every morning after that, Charlie always brought a bunch of flowers. Some of the regular passengers began bringing him flowers for his bouquet. Everyone smiled. We started to talk to each other and share the newspaper.

7The summer went by, and autumn was closing in. One morning, Charlie wasn't waiting at his usual stop.When he wasn't there the next day and the day after that, we started wondering if he was sick, or hopefully, on holiday somewhere.One day, when we came nearer to the centre for senior citizens, one of the passengers asked the driver to wait. Yes, the staff said, they knew who we were waiting for. The gentleman was fine, but one of his very close friends had died at the weekend. How silent we were the rest of the way to work!

8The next Monday, Charlie was waiting at the stop. He seemed to have shrunk again.Inside the bus was a silence.Even though no one had talked about it, all of us sat with our eyes filled with tears and a bunch of wild flowers in our hands.

Reading Check

Language Study

Ⅰ.Difficult sentences in the text

1.When he wasn't there the next day and the day after that,we started wondering if he was sick,or hopefully,on holiday somewhere.當他第二天和第三天都沒來時，我們開始懷疑他是不是生病了，或者希望他是去什么地方度假了。

【點石成金】本句中，when 引導的是一個時間狀語從句，we started wondering 為主句，后面if引導的是一個賓語從句。

2. Even though no one had talked about it, all of us sat with our eyes filled with tears and a bunch of wild flowers in our hands.盡管沒有人談論這件事，但坐在車上的人眼睛里都泛著淚花，手里拿著一束野花。

【點石成金】本句中，even though 引導的是一個讓步狀語從句，all of us sat with our eyes filled with tears and a bunch of wild flowers in our hands 為主句部分；with our eyes filled with tears and a bunch of wild flowers in our hands 為with 的復合結構，在句中作伴隨狀語。

Ⅱ.Text-centered chunks

pay attention to 注意；留心

a bunch of flowers 一束花

turn around（使）轉身；翻身

go by 流逝；過去

talk about 談論；討論

be filled with 裝滿；充滿