雪中梅
喜歡用文字描述身邊的生活，同時用一詩一圖的形式來描述大自然的美麗。
一個真實的故事
（1－2－16）
閑著沒事的時候，自己收拾了一下堆在角落的?幾本書。忽然發現了一本初級英語讀物。想起來大約也有二十年了吧。這本書講的都是真實的小故事。是一個名字叫Sandra Heyer的作者編輯起來的。作者從報紙和雜誌上收集到了一些真實的故事後，然後再編集起來；給那些初學的學生們作為學習的材料。書中的故事短小精悍且具有趣味性，所以會使讀者們受到啟發和鼓舞。另外還會促使初學者從中學到一些詞匯，幫助閱讀和理解；進而提高學生們的閱讀能力。
自己把這本書的小故事又讀了一下。發現在最初讀這本書的時候，有些字詞在當時是不認識的。時光似箭，一晃二十年過去了。自己當時在書上作生詞記號的詞，現在已經不再是生詞了。但是自己的英文語言水平還是差得太遠。盡管自己在社區大學半耕半讀的學習了六年多，所選修的課程也超過了100分。可是語言的方麵卻依然很差。因為自己所選修的課程很多都是有關醫學方麵的基礎課等等。比如：放射線學，人體解剖學，生物學，微生物學，化學，組織學，數學等等。
後來在學習的過程中，自己發現語言的好壞對學習是起著非常關健的作用的。這也是美國高中生SAT的成績成為能否進入一個好大學一個很重要的參考項目。如果誰想要申請有關醫學方麵的專業：比如：護士，牙齒保健師，藥物工作人員，或者申請醫學院等等。這些科目的錄取對學生語言能力方麵的要求是很高的。自己在讀書期間深深的體會到了語言的重要性。
到了今天，自己還是感到非常的愧疚，因為來美已有二十多年了，可是語言方麵提高的速度甚緩。因為沒有在語言學習方麵狠下功夫。所以如果想要提高語言方麵的能力，那就要多讀，多聽和多寫等等。
下麵就是曾經讀過有趣的英語小故事之一。
“On January 24,1988. Joel Gonzalez kissed his wife goodbye. Joel is a fisherman, and he was going on a short fishing trip. 'I'll see you in a week.' he said. But Joel
did not see his wife again for a long long time.
Joel left his house and went to the harbor in Puntarenas. Costa Rica. He got on a fishing boat. Four other fishermen were on the boat, too. The boat left the harbor, and the men began to fish.
The first few hours on the ocean were not unusual. Then there was a terrible
storm. The storm continued for 22 days .When the storm finally stopped, the men checked their boat. Their fishing nets were gone. The engine and the radio
didn't work. There was no food, and there was no fresh water.
Without their nets, the men couldn't fish. But they could reach out of the boat and catch big turtles. The men didn't want to eat raw turtle meat, so they needed a fire for cooking. They tore down the boat's wood cabin and made a fire with pieces of the cabin.
They needed protection from the sun and rain, so they built a simple roof. The roof held rainwater, too. The men could drink rainwater from roof.
For the next five months the men ate turtles--when they caught them. They drank rainwater--when it rained. Often there was no food and no water, and the men were hungry and thirsty. Sometimes they thought, 'We are going to die soon.'
Joel wrote a letter to his wife. 'My dear Edith,' Joel wrote, 'if I die, I hope someone will send you this letter. Then you will know how I died. I had the
best in life--a great woman and beautiful children. I love you , Edith. I love you .'
In June it didn't rain for a long time, and the men ran out of water. They were thin and weak, and they thought, 'We are going to die now.' They put on their best clothes, lay down, and closed their eyes. After a while it began to rain. The men stood up and licked the water from the roof. Then all five men began to cry.
Then days later, on June 15, a Japanese fishing boat found the men. They were 4,000 miles from Costa Rica.
Nobody sent Joel's letter to his wife. He showed it to his wife himself. Joel will always keep the letter. The letter, he says, helps him remember. 'On the ocean I realized that I love my wife and children very, very much. My family is everything to me. I don't want to forget that."
（故事來自:［More true stories]
--A beginning reader
By Sandra Heyer
其中兩個圖片也是來自書中。
