My father was always a good gardener. One of my earliest memories is standing without shoes in the freshly tilled(翻耕的) soil, my hands blackened from digging in the ground.
As a child, I loved following Dad around in the garden. I remember Dad pushing the tiller(耕作机) ahead in perfectly straight lines. Dad loved growing all sorts of things: yellow and green onions, watermelons almost as big as me, rows of yellow corn, and our favorite--- red tomatoes.
As I grew into a teenager, I didn’t get so excited about gardening with Dad. Instead of magical land of possibility, it had turned into some kind of prison. As Dad grew older, his love for gardening never disappeared. After all the kids were grown and had started families of their own, Dad turned to gardening like never before. Even when he was diagnosed with cancer, he still took care of his garden.
But then, the cancer, bit by bit, invaded his body. I had to do the things he used to do. What really convinced me that Dad was dying was the state of his garden that year. The rows and rows of multicolored vegetables were gone. Too tired to weed them, he simply let them be.
For the first few years after he died, I couldn’t even bear to look at anyone’s garden without having strong memories pour over me like cold water from a bucket. Three years ago, I decided to plant my own garden and started out with just a few tomatoes. That morning, after breaking up a fair amount of soil, something caught the corner of my eye and I had to smile. It was my eight-year-old son Nathan, happily playing in the freshly tilled soil.
21. Why did the author like the garden when he was a child?
A. He wanted to be a garden-crazy like his father.
B. He loved being in the garden with his father.
C. The garden was full of his favorite food.
D. The garden was just freshly tilled.
22. When all the kids started their own families, the author’s father _____.
A. stopped his gardening
B. turned to other hobbies
C. devoted more to gardening
D. focused on planting tomatoes
23. What happened to the garden when the author’s father was seriously ill?
A. There was a great harvest.
B. The garden was almost deserted.
C. No plant grew in the garden at all.
D. The author’s son took charge of the garden.
24. Why did the author start his garden with tomatoes?
A. He wanted to honor his father.
B. His son liked the fields of tomatoes.
C. He only knew how to grow tomatoes.
D. He thought tomatoes were easy to manage.