Lie in bed, by an open window, and listen…

“No air conditioning? How can you sleep?” a friend asks, horrified. I tell her my family has decided to shut the air conditioner off and reduce our electric bill. On this first night of our cost-cutting plan, it’s only 85 degrees. We’re going to suffer, but the three kids complain anyway.

They have grown up in 72-degree comfort, protected from the world outside.

“It’s too hot to sleep,” my 13-year-old daughter complains. “I’m about to die from this heat,” her brother complains down the hall. “Just try it tonight,” I tell them. In truth I’m too tired to turn for long. My face is sweaty, but I lie quietly listening to the cricket choirs outside that remind me of childhood.

The neighbor’s dog howls. Probably a passing squirrel. It’s been years since I took the time to really listen to the night.

I think about grandma, who lived to 92 and still helped with my mom’s gardening until just a few weeks before she died. And then, I’m back there at her house in the summer heat of my childhood. I move my pillow to the foot of grandma’s bed and turn my face toward the open window. I turn the pillow, hunting for the cooler side.

Grandma saw me turn over and over. “If you just watch for the breeze(清风),” she said, “you’ll cool off and fall asleep.” I stare at the filmy white curtain, willing it to move. Lying still, waiting, I suddenly notice the life outside the window. The bug chorus. Neighbors, porch(门廊)-sitting late, speak in unclear words that calm me.

“Mom, did you hear that?” my seven-year-old son cries, “I think it was an owl(猫头鹰)family.”

“Probably,” I tell him, “just keep listening…”

Without the working air conditioner, the house is peaceful, and the natural night noises seem close enough to touch. I hope I’m awake tonight when the first breeze comes in.

小题1:On the first night of the writer’s cost-cutting plan, her children ______.

A．live a comfortable life as usual

B．begin to be unhappy

C．are protected from the world outside

D．are about to die from the heat小题2:The author talks about her grandmother and her childhood to show that ______.

A．people used to live a hard life

B．people at that time were hardworking

C．it’s OK for people to live a simple life

D．she has learned a great deal from her grandma小题3:In the writer’s eyes, her children are ______.

A．free from parents’ protection

B．full of dissatisfaction with life

C．dependable because of parents’ love

D．lacking in real test of hardships in life小题4:Which of the following titles best suits the passage?

A．Waiting for the Breeze.

B．An Interesting Experience.

C．Life at Present and Life in the Past.

D．Different Times, Different Children