When I was in the third grade, I was picked to be the princess(公主)in the school play. For weeks
my mother had helped me practice my lines. But once onstage, every word disappeared from my head.
Then my teacher told me she had written a narrator's(解说者的)part for the play, and asked me to
change roles. Though I didn't tell my mother what had happened that day, she sensed my unhappiness
and asked if I wanted to take a walk in the yard.
It was a lovely spring day. We could see dandelions(蒲公英)popping through the grass in bunches,
as if a painter had touched our landscape with bits of gold. I watched my mother carelessly bend down
by one of the bunches. "I think I am going to dig up all these weeds," she said. "From now on, we'll have
only roses in this garden."
"But I like dandelions," I protested. "All flowers are beautiful---even dandelions!" My mother looked
at me seriously. "Yes, every flower gives pleasure in its own way, doesn't it?" she asked thoughtfully. I
nodded. "And that is true of people, too," she added. When I realized that she had guessed my pain, I
started to cry and told her the truth. "But you will be a beautiful narrator,"she said, reminding me of how
much I loved to read stories aloud to her.
Over the next few weeks, with her continuous encouragement, I learned to take pride in the role. The
big day finally came. A few minutes before the play, my teacher came over to me. "Your mother asked
me to give this to you," she said, handing me a dandelion. After the play, I took home the flower, laughing
that I was perhaps the only person who would keep such a weed.
1. Why did not the girl play the role of the princess? (within 10 words)
2. How did the writer feel about her narrator's part at the beginning? (within 10 words)
3. What does "that" refer to in the passage? (within 10 words)
4. Why do you think the writer's mum give a dandelion to her before the play? (within 15words)
5. What have you learnt from the story? (within 20 words)
