During the following months, her hospital stays became frequent and she worried about her children. One day when I entered her room, I found her talking into a tape recorder. She picked up a notebook and held it out to me. "I'm making a tape for my daughters, " she said. I read the list on her pad: starting school, confirmation, turning 16, first date, graduation. While I worried how to help her deal with death, she was planning for her children's future. She usually waited until the early hours of the morning to record the tapes so she could be free from interruptions. She filled them with family stories and advice，trying to cram a lifetime of love into a few precious hours. Finally, every item in her notes had been checked off and she entrusted the tapes to her husband.
I often wondered what I would say in her place. My kids joked that I was like an FBI agent, with my constant questions about where they’d been and who they’d been with. Where, I thought, are my words of encouragement and love?
It was three o'clock one afternoon when I got an urgent call from the hospital. Rebekah wanted me to come immediately with a blank tape. She was breathing hard when I entered her room. I slipped the tape into the recorder and held the microphone to her lips. "Ruthie, Hannah, Molly, this is the most important tape." She held my hand and closed her eyes. "Someday your daddy will bring home a new mommy. Please make her feel special. Show her how to take care of you. Ruthie, honey, help her get your Brownie uniform ready each Tuesday. Hannah, tell her you don't want meat sauce on your spaghetti. Molly, don't get mad if there's no apple juice. Drink something else. It's okay to be sad, sweeties. Jesus cried too. He knows about sadness and will help you to be happy again. Remember, I'll always love you. I shut off the recorder and Rebekah sighed deeply. "Thank you, Nan, "You'll give this one to them, won't you?" she murmured as she slid into sleep.
A time would come when the tape would be played for Rebekah's children, but right then, after I smoothed Rebekah's blanket, I got in my car and hurried home. I thought of how my Shannon also liked her sauce on the side and suddenly that quirk, which had annoyed me so many times, seemed to make her so much more precious. That night the kids didn't go out; they sat with me long after the spaghetti sauce had dried onto the dishes. And we talked, without interrogations, without complaints，late into the night.
小题1:From the first paragraph we can learn that ____________ .
A．Nan was in a bad state and wept a lot in her daily life.
B．Nan was not on good terms with her children.
C．Nan was worried about how to help Rebeka deal with her death.
D．Nan laid more stress on attending on her patients than her children.小题2:Which of the following scenes was most likely to be seen at Nan’s home before she met Rebekah?
A．The family sat down in a circle and shared an interesting story.
B．After dinner, the children either went out or shut themselves up in their rooms.
C．The son was the headache of the parents while the daughter their comfort.
D．When Eric did poorly at school, the parents comforted him and cheered him up.小题3:Which was the most vital message Rebekah left to her children?
A．Bringing home satisfying school report cards
B．Landing a job after graduation
C．Growing up healthily and happily
D．Accepting their step-mother into their lives.小题4:The writer learnt from Rebekah that a parent’s real concern should be_______. .
A．protecting the children from the dangers they may be trapped in.
B．having encouraging and loving talks with children.
C．making tape records to guide the children in their future lives.
D．tolerating the children’s annoying quirks.
