August 1990, Boston

Dear Maya Shao­ming，

To me, June 6，1990 is a special day. My long­awaited dream came true the minute your father cried, “A girl!” You are more than just a second child, more than just a girl to match our boy. You, little daughter, are the link to our female line, the legacy of another woman's pain and sacrifice 31 years ago.

Let me tell you about your Chinese grandmother. Somewhere in Hong Kong, in the late fifties, a young waitress found herself pregnant(懷孕) by a cook, probably a co­worker at her restaurant. She carried the baby to term, suffered to give it birth, and kept the little girl for the first three months of her life. I like to think that my mother—your grandmother—loved me and fought to raise me on her own, but that the daily struggle was too hard. Worn down by the demands of the new baby and perhaps the constant threat of starvation, she made the painful decision to give away her girl so that both of us might have a chance for a better life.

More likely, I was dropped at the orphanage(孤兒院) steps or somewhere else. I will probably never know the truth. Having a baby in her unmarried state would have brought shame on the family in China, so she probably kept my existence a secret. Once I was out of her life, it was as if I had never been born. And so you and your brother and I are the missing leaves on a family tree.

Do they ever wonder if we exist?

Before I was two, I was adopted by an Anglo couple. Fed three square meals a day, I grew like a wild weed and grasped all the opportunities they had to offer—books, music, education, church life and community activities. In a family of blue­eyed blonds, though, I_stood_out_like_a_sore_thumb. Whether from jealousy or fear of someone who looked so different, my older brothers sometimes teased me about my unpleasing skin, or made fun of my clumsy walk. Moody and impatient, burdened by fears that none of us realized resulted from my early years of need, I was not an easy child to love. My mother and I conflicted countless times over the years, but gradually came to see one another as real human beings with faults and talents, and as women of strength in our own right. Lacking a mirror image in the mother who raised me, I had to seek my identity as a woman on my own. The Asian American community has helped me regain my double identity.

But part of me will always be missing: my beginnings, my personal history, all the delicate details that give a person her origin. Nevertheless, someone gave me a lucky name “Siu Wai”. “Siu” means “l(fā)ittle”， and “Wai” means “clever”. Therefore, my baby name was “Clever little one”. Who chose those words? Who cared enough to note my arrival in the world?

I lost my Chinese name for 18 years. It was Americanized for convenience to “Sue”. But like an ill­fitting coat, it made me uncomfortable. I hated the name. But even more, I hated being Chinese. It took many years to become proud of my Asian origin and work up the courage to take back my birth­name. That, plus a little knowledge of classroom Cantonese, is all the Chinese culture I have to offer you. Not white, certainly, but not really Asian, I try to pave the way between the two worlds and bridge the gap for you. Your name, “Shao­ming”， is very much like mine—“Shao” means “l(fā)ittle”. And “ming” is “bright”， as in a shining sun or moon. Whose lives will you brighten, little Maya? Your_past_is_more_complete_than_mine,_and each day I cradle you in your babyhood, generously giving you the loving care I lacked for my first two years. When I pat you, I comfort the lost baby inside me who still cries for her mother.

Sweet Maya, it doesn't matter what you “become” later on. You have already fulfilled my wildest dreams.

I love you，

Mummy

65.Why is June 6, 1990 a special day for Mummy?

A.Her dream of being a mother came true.

B.She found her origin from her Chinese mother.

C.She wrote the letter to her daughter.

D.Her female line was well linked.

66.How does Mummy feel about her being given away?

A.It is bitter and disappointing.

B.It is painful but understandable.

C.She feels sorry but sympathetic.

D.She feels hurt and angry.

67.What does “I stood out like a sore thumb” in Paragraph 5 mean?

A.I walked clumsily out of pains.

B.I was not easy to love due to jealousy.

C.I was impatient out of fear.

D.I looked different from others.

68.What can be inferred from Mummy's Anglo family life?

A.She used to experience an identity crisis.

B.She fought against her American identity.

C.She forgot the pains of her early years.

D.She kept her love for Asia from childhood.

69.Why did Mummy name her daughter “Shao­ming”?

A.To match her own birth­name.

B.To brighten the lives of the family.

C.To identify her with Chinese origin.

D.To justify her pride in Chinese culture.

70.By “Your past is more complete than mine，” Mummy means ________.

A.her past was completed earlier than Shao­ming's

B.Shao­ming has got motherly care and a sense of roots

C.her mother didn't comfort her the way she did Shao­ming

D.her past was spent brokenly, first in Asia, then in the US

【要點(diǎn)綜述】 本文是一篇書(shū)信。作者給自己深?lèi)?ài)的女兒寫(xiě)信，此時(shí)她還是一個(gè)嬰兒。在信中作者回憶往事，并憧憬著女兒的未來(lái)。

65.D　細(xì)節(jié)理解題。A項(xiàng)說(shuō)她成為母親的夢(mèng)想實(shí)現(xiàn)了，由首段的“You are more than just a second child …”可知她已經(jīng)有個(gè)兒子了;B項(xiàng)說(shuō)從她中國(guó)媽媽那兒她找到了根源，文中沒(méi)有提及;C項(xiàng)說(shuō)她寫(xiě)信給她的女兒，這和題干所問(wèn)沒(méi)有聯(lián)系;D項(xiàng)說(shuō)她與母系一脈相承。由首段的the link to our female line可知答案選D。

66.B　推理判斷題。根據(jù)第二段的“She carried the baby to term, suffered to give it birth…”可以推斷出本句表達(dá)的是對(duì)母親的理解;再根據(jù)此段最后一句中“…she made the painful decision to give away her girl…”可知這是一個(gè)痛苦的決定，故B項(xiàng)正確。

67.D　推理判斷題。根據(jù)此句后的“…someone who looked so different…”可知，這里的someone指的就是作者本人，這句話(huà)是對(duì)畫(huà)線(xiàn)句的補(bǔ)充和解釋?zhuān)�故只有D項(xiàng)符合題意。

68.A　推理判斷題。根據(jù)第五段中“…I was not an easy child to love.”和倒數(shù)第二句“Lacking a mirror image in the mother who raised me, I had to seek my identity as a woman on my own.”可知作者因?yàn)椴恢�道身世�?lái)源而感到困惑，進(jìn)而使得自己不受人喜歡，即她過(guò)去經(jīng)歷了身份危機(jī)，故A項(xiàng)正確。

69.C　細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)倒數(shù)第二段的“Your name, ‘Shao­ming’ is very much like mine…”和“It took many years to become proud of my Asian origin…”可知女兒的名字和作者的很像，而作者的名字和亞洲的來(lái)源相關(guān)，故C項(xiàng)“把她和中國(guó)的來(lái)源聯(lián)系起來(lái)”符合文意。

70.B　推理判斷題。根據(jù)此句后的解釋“…and each day I cradle you in your babyhood, generously giving you the loving care I lacked for my first two years.”可知她女兒得到了母愛(ài)，得到了一種歸屬感，即B項(xiàng)正確。