阅读理解
One day, Susie was
unhappy when she came home from school. "What's the matter, my dear?"
asked her mother, drawing her to her side and smiling.
"All our
class must hand in compositions tomorrow. We must write 12 lines at least. But
I can never write one. I'll have to go to school without a composition, for I
won't copy one from a book, or ask you or papa to write one for me."
"That's
right," said her mother. "You'll be happier with a poor composition,
if it's your own, than with a fine one written by somebody else. But cheer up.
Run into the garden and play. I'll call you in half an hour. Don't think about
your composition now. Just have a good time."
It seemed just a
few minutes to Susie before she heard her mother calling her. She went into the
house immediately — her hands full of sweet flowers, and her face red with
exercise.
Then her mother asked her to sit by the
window with a nice piece of paper and a pencil, and write something about what
she could see. "Never mind your composition; do this to please me, and we'll
talk about that later."
Although Susie
thought her mother's request was strange, she knew she always had a good reason
for everything she did. So she did as her mother requested.
As she looked
out, she first saw the western sky and some bright, sunset clouds. "Oh,
mother, what a sunset!"
"Don't
talk. Just write."
The pencil began
moving rapidly across the paper. She wrote about the sunset clouds, the look of
the distant hills, the streets, the river, the garden with its flowers, and the
birds flying past the window. She forgot all about the terrible composition!
Just as she had
reached the bottom of the page, her mother came in and said with a smile, "Well,
Susie, how does that composition come on?"
"Composition!
You told me not to think about it, and I've never thought of it once. I've had
such a nice time writing about what I could see from the window."
Mrs. Smith took
the paper and read what Susie had written. She said, "There, Susie, that's
a very nice composition, really."
"A
composition! Is that a composition?" Susie asked in surprise.
"Yes, my
dear, and a very good one, too, if we find a title for it," replied her
mother. Then she added, "I'm sure it will please your teacher, as it does
me. You see, it's easy enough to write a composition if you have anything
interesting to write about."
