We all know what it’s like to get that phone call in the middle of the night. That night’s call was no different.
“Hello?” My heart beat hard.
“Mama?” The voice answered. My thoughts immediately went to my daughter.
“Mama, I’ve been drinking. I nearly ran off the road a few miles back. All I could think of was if it would hurt you if a policeman came to your door and said I’d been killed. I want to come home. I know running away was wrong. I know you’ve been worried. I should have called you days ago but I was afraid.”
My senses were clear now, “I think……”
“No! Please let me finish!” She pleaded in desperation (绝望). Before I could go on, she continued. “Are you still there? Please don’t hang up on me! I need you.”
“I’m here, I wouldn’t hang up,” I said.
“I know I should have told you. But, when we talk, you just keep telling me what I should do. You don’t listen to me. You never let me tell you how I feel. Because you’re my mother you think you have all the answers. But sometimes I don’t need answers. I just want someone to listen.”
“I’m listening,” I whispered.
“I called a taxi. I’m coming home, Mama.” There was a click, and the phone went silent.
Tears forming in my eyes, I walked into my 16 -year -old daughter’s room. I wiped the tears.
“We have to learn to listen,” I said to my husband.
He studied me for a second, and then asked, “Do you think she’ll ever know she dialed the wrong number?”
I looked at our sleeping daughter, and then back at him. “Maybe it wasn’t such a wrong number.”
38. The girl called at midnight because she _____.
A. wanted to make trouble with that family
B. met with trouble and wanted to come home
C. wanted her mother to know about her anger
D. she drank too much to drive to her boyfriend’s home
39. How many people appear in this story?
A.2 B. 3 C. 4 D. 5
40. What a lesson did the writer learn from the girl?
A. Children should be taken good care of.
B. Children need a firm hold keeping on them.
资*源%库 C. Parents and children should be equal to each other.
D. Parents should be good listeners to their children.