The Patchwork
The Patchwork
Gran's sewing room smelt of ironing and old cardboard. Shelves sagged under boxes of fabric scraps, each one labelled in her meticulous handwriting: Blues, small. Blues, large. Stripes (do not mix with spots).
'Every square in this quilt comes from something we used to wear,' she told Kofi, spreading the half-finished quilt across the bed. 'That yellow was your mother's school dress. That checked one was your grandfather's work shirt.'
Kofi found a dark green square near the middle. It looked familiar. 'Is that my old soccer jersey?'
'The sleeves were frayed beyond saving,' said Gran, 'but the front was perfectly good. I salvaged what I could.'
She handed him a square she had cut from his faded red pyjamas and showed him how to pin it to its neighbour. His first seam wandered across the fabric like a lost ant. He was reluctant to show her, and he held it behind his back for a moment before he did. Gran simply unpicked the stitches, pressed the square flat with the iron and passed it back.
'Again,' she said. 'Slower.'
The second seam was straighter. The third was almost as neat as hers. By the time the light outside began to fade, Kofi's red square sat in the quilt beside the green one, and if you did not know where to look, it was not conspicuous at all.
'Can I put the last square in next weekend?' he asked.
Gran looked at the quilt for a long moment, then at his seams. 'If they stay that straight,' she said.
讲解示例 1
In the first paragraph, the word 'meticulous' most nearly means
- AA.
- BB.
- CC.
- DD.
答案: B
答案:B(careful and exact)
看看奶奶写在盒子上的标签:碎布按颜色和大小分类,甚至还注明条纹不要和圆点混放。只有非常细致、一丝不苟的人才会这样贴标签。
其他选项为什么不对
- 选项 A:这么详细的标签恰恰说明她一点也不匆忙马虎。
- 选项 C:文中没有描写她字的大小。
- 选项 D:房间里确实有旧东西,但 meticulous 形容的是她贴标签有多仔细,而不是标签有多旧。