英语范文背诵精华1.5 My Forever Valentine

The traditional holidays in our house when I was a child were spent timing¹ elaborate meals around football games. My father tried to make pleasant chitchat and eat as much as he could during halftime. At Christmas he found time to have a cup or two of holiday cheer and do his holly-shaped bow tie1. But he didn't truly shine until Valentine's Day.

    I don't know whether it was because work at the office slowed during February or because the football season was over. But Valentine's Day was the time my father chose to show his love for the special people in his life. Over the years I fondly2 thought of him as my “ Valentine Man.”

    My first recollection3 of the magic4 he could bring to Valentine's Day came when I was six. For several days I had been cutting out valentines for my classmates. Each of us was to decorate a “ mailbox ” and put it on our desk for others to give us cards. That box and its contents ushered² in5 a succession6 of bittersweet7 memories of my entrance into a world of popularity8 contests marked by the number of cards received, the teasing³ about boyfriends/girlfriends and the tender care I gave to the card from the cutest boy in class.

    That morning at the breakfast table I found a card and a gift- wrapped package at my chair. The card was signed “ Love, Dad” , and the gift was a ring with a small piece of red glass to represent my birthstone9, a ruby10. There is little difference between red glass and rubies⁴ to a child of six, and I remember wearing that ring with a pride that all the cards in the world could not surpass11.

    As I grew older, the gifts gave way to heart shaped boxes filled with my favorite chocolates and always included a special card signed “ Love, Dad” .In those years my “ thank-yous” became more of a perfunctory12 response.The cards seemed less important, and I took for granted the valentine that would always be there. Long past the days of having a “ mailbox” on my desk, I had placed my hopes and dreams in receiving cards and gifts from “ significant others” , and “ Love, Dad” just didn't seem quite enough.

    If my father knew then that he had been replaced, he never let it show. If he sensed any disappointment over valentines that didn't arrive for me, he just tried that much harder to create a positive atmosphere, giving me an extra hug and doing what he could to make my day a little brighter.

    My mailbox eventually had a rural address, and the job of hand delivering candy and cards was relegated13 to the U.S.Postal⁵ Service. Never in ten years was my father's package late-- nor was it on the Valentine's Day eight years ago when I reached into the mailbox to find a card addressed to me in my mother's handwriting.

    It was the kind of card that comes in an inexpensive assortment14 box sold by a child going door-to-door to try to earn money for a school project. It was the kind of card that you used to get from a grandmother or an aging aunt or, in this case, a dying father. It was the kind of card that put a lump in your throat and tears in your eyes because you knew the person no longer was able to go out and buy a real valentine. It was a card that signaled15 this would be the last you receive from him.

    The card had a photograph of tulips16 on the outside, and on the inside my mother had printed “ Happy Valentine's Day” . Beneath it, scrawled17 in barely⁶ legible18 handwriting, was “ Love, Dad” .

    His final card remains⁷ on my bulletin⁸ board today. It's a reminder⁹ of how special fathers can be and how important it had been to me over the years to know that I had a father who continued a tradition of love with a generosity¹⁰ of spirit, simple acts of understanding and an ability to express happiness over the people in his life.

    Those things never die, nor does the memory of a man who never stopped being my valentine.



Remark:

    1.bow tie   蝶形领结

    2.fondly    adv.充满感情地，深情地

    3.recollection   n.回忆

    4.magic   n.魅力，魔力，施魔法

    5.usher   vt.(与in搭配)展示，预报…的来到

    6.succession     n.(前后相接的)一系列

    7.bittersweet     adj.又苦又乐的

    8.popularity    n.得人心，声望

    9.birthstone    n.诞生石(象征出生月份表示吉祥的宝石，从1月至12月通常分别为，石榴石、紫晶、血纹绿宝石、金刚石、绿宝石、珍珠、红宝石、缠丝玛瑙、蓝宝石、蛋白石、黄玉、绿松石)

    10.ruby   n.红宝石，红宝石制品

    11.surpass    vt.胜过

    12.perfunctory   adj.敷衍的

    13.relegate    vt.交付，托付

    14.assortment   n.分类

    15.signal   vt.表明，标志着

    16.tulip   n.[植]郁金香

    17.scrawl   vi.涂写

    18.legible   adj.清楚的

1 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

2 ushered   

v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The secretary ushered me into his office. 秘书把我领进他的办公室。
• A round of parties ushered in the New Year. 一系列的晚会迎来了新年。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 teasing   

adj.戏弄的，逗趣的v.取笑，戏弄( tease的现在分词 )；梳理（羊毛等）

参考例句：

• Don't get upset—I was only teasing. 别不高兴，我只是在逗你玩。
• I didn't think you meant that seriously;I thought you were teasing. 我未想到你是当真的，我原以为你是开玩笑的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 rubies   

红宝石( ruby的名词复数 )； 红宝石色，深红色

参考例句：

• a necklace of rubies intertwined with pearls 缠着珍珠的红宝石项链
• The crown was set with precious jewels—diamonds, rubies and emeralds. 王冠上镶嵌着稀世珍宝—有钻石、红宝石、绿宝石。

5 postal   

adj.邮政的，邮局的

参考例句：

• A postal network now covers the whole country.邮路遍及全国。
• Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。

6 barely   

adv.仅仅，几乎没有，几乎不

参考例句：

• The male bird is barely distinguishable from the female.雄鸟和雌鸟几乎无法辨别。
• He took barely enough money to keep the children in bread.他赚很少的钱仅够孩子们勉强糊口。

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 bulletin   

n.小报，会刊，简明新闻，新闻快报

参考例句：

• We read the declaration posted on the bulletin board.我们读了贴在布告板上的声明。
• The radio bulletin warned of the typhoon.收音机新闻快报发布了台风警报。

9 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

10 generosity   

n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为

参考例句：

• We should match their generosity with our own.我们应该像他们一样慷慨大方。
• We adore them for their generosity.我们钦佩他们的慷慨。