专四阅读详解 天才意味着不懈的努力.doc

星期1 Monday Genius only means hard-working all ones life .天才只意味着终身不懈的努力。 We should have had her spayed right after Roberta gave her to us. But it was one of those things — we just didn’t get around to it. So one August afternoon, Peach gave birth to 14 puppies. The kids were thrilled, but it crossed my mind once or twice that I had no idea how we’d find good homes for so many adorable mutts. The kids and I had a blast with the pups, but as our lovely friends grew, the cleanup job on the backyard lawn increased as well. I usually ended up with the housework after the kids had left for school in morning, and after eight weeks the job was getting old. Besides, the time had come to start to get them settled into permanent homes. So one weekend the kids and I piled into the truck, puppies in the rear, yipping and playful biting each other’s ears and tails, and we headed for the local humane society. I didn’t think I had the patience to deal with all the phone calls a newspaper ad would bring. But in northern California at that time, shelters were full of animals, and if they weren’t adopted quickly they were put to sleep. I tried stifling that bit of information, but it wouldn’t stay submerged; I cried the whole way. When we arrived at the shelter, I dried my tears and smoothed my puffy eyes. I walked alone (the kids were not cooperating) up to the counter and cheerfully announced I had 14 wonderful puppies for them. The woman, without looking up from her paperwork, roared, “We don’t take puppies.” I cried all the way home, this time with the tears of relief. So I placed an ad for “free puppies” in the newspaper. I don’t think we got a single phone call. In the meantime, the kids and pups grew more inseparable. Only our two cats were allowed to spend the nights inside, but from the laughs and the look of the blankets in the morning, some pups had been overlooked at bedtime. The gate on our backyard fence opened onto the elementary school’s grass field. Every afternoon, s