书城教材教辅智慧教育活动用书-爱岁心动
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第1章 A Full Box of Kisses

The story goes that some time ago, a man punished① his three-year-old daughter for wasting a roll② of gold wrapping③ paper. Money was tight and he became infuriated④ when the child tried to decorate⑤ a box to put under the Christmas tree.

Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to her father the next morning and said, “This is for you, Daddy.” He was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction⑥, but his anger flared⑦again when he found the box was empty. He yelled at her, “Don’t you know that when you give someone a present, there’s supposed to be something inside the box?”

The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and said, “Oh, Daddy, it is not empty. I blew kisses into the box. all for you, Daddy. ”

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little girl, and he begged for her forgiveness. It is said that the man kept that gold box by his bed for years and whenever he was discouraged, he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.

In a very real sense, each of us as humans has been given a gold container filled with unconditional⑧ love and kisses from our children, friends, and family. There is no more precious possession that anyone could hold.

① punishv. 罚,惩罚,处罚

② rolln. (一)卷,卷状物

③ wrappingn. 包装纸,包装材料

④ infuriatedadj. 十分生气的,大怒的

⑤ decoratev. 装饰,修饰

⑥ overreactionn. 过度反应

⑦ flarev. 突然发怒(或激动)

⑧ unconditionaladj. 无条件的,绝对的

满满一盒吻

故事是这样的:一位父亲惩罚了三岁的女儿,只因为她浪费了一卷金色的包装纸。家里本来就经济拮据,所以当父亲发现女儿在用这些纸装饰放在圣诞树下的礼物盒时恼怒不已。

尽管如此,小女孩还是在第二天将这个礼盒拿给了父亲,“这是给您的,爸爸。”父亲为自己早先的行为感到惭愧,但当他发现盒子里什么也没有时,他的火气又上来了。他冲女儿吼道:“你难道不知道送礼物时盒子不能是空的吗?”

小女孩眼里噙满泪水,抬头看看父亲说:“爸爸,这个盒子不是空的。我把我的吻放在里面了,都是给您的,爸爸。”

做父亲的愧疚极了。他紧紧抱住女儿,并祈求她的原谅。据说父亲从此将这个金色的盒子一直放在床边,每当遇事不顺的时候,他都会从这个盒子里拿出一个想象中的吻,并想起往盒子里放吻的那个孩子的爱。

老实说,每个人都曾收到过这样的盒子,盛满来自孩子、朋友和家人无私的爱。没有人能够拥有比它更珍贵的礼物了。