Question

I’m 47 years old. Two days ago, you sent me an email, which I did not answer. I didn’t answer it, in part, because I am 47 years old.

I almost answered your email after bedtime, which is when I have often answered emails. My laptop was put on my bedside table. My husband sat on his side of the bed, and he leaned back and asked me if I’d given any thought to whether the chickens would need to be kept away from the apple trees after he sprayed them with something to keep the bugs away.

We moved on to the children’s math grades, then to the way they just take their socks off and leave them, inside out, no matter where they are. I looked at the clock and saw that it was not as early as I’d thought, not for a lot of things, and so we turned off the light, and I did not answer your email.

Your email sat among emails from bosses and editors and orthodontists all through the next workday. My children were at school, and I had not yet managed to write 300 words nine more times. I thought about answering your email in the afternoon, while my older daughter and I waited outside the school for her sister to finish a piano lesson. My daughter probably would not have minded. She is almost 13, and sometimes, when she sits in the house texting while I try to talk to her, I sprayed her with the bottle I keep on the counter to spray the cats when they start scratching the back of the sofa. I could have answered your email then. I admit it. We could have sat there, in peaceful silence, each staring at our phone. I had time to answer your email, and I did not.

I snuggled(依偎) my youngest son at bedtime that night, because he asked. I snuggled him even though your email was calling, and some part of me wanted to pull away from the tedium of bedtime and reply. Replying would have felt fresh and new, while bedtime felt old and stale. I would like to say I snuggled my son and did not give your email one single thought, but that would not be true, and it would also be rude, even though it is a state of mind to which many of us aspire. Instead, I hovered(悬停) somewhere between presence in the bedtime moment and awareness of your email and many others. I spend a lot of time in that gap, sometimes drafting mental responses to emails, which I am later surprised and sad to find I have not actually sent.

It is possible that I will answer your email later, in a few hours, or in a few years, maybe when I am 57, and I will be so happy to have your email. We will trade words, and those words will again seem so real to me, a whole world in my laptop, where I live, sometimes, because there is so much that is attractive in there, where time moves fast and yet never moves at all. I will take my laptop outside and I will sit among the trees, listening for the voices of children who are no longer home, and I will answer your email.

It is also possible that I will not — that I, in fact, will never answer your email. If that is the case, if the people and the places and the things around me still press upon me with more urgency than your email and so many others, I hope that you will forgive me. I have already forgiven myself.

1.Why does the author mention chickens and the children’s math grades?

A. Because daily routines took up most of her time.

B. Because she was troubled by many unimportant things.

C. Because she was more concerned about her family.

D. Because she often put off answering email till bedtime.

2.What can be learnt from the author’s description of her daughter?

A. The author used to answer emails while waiting for her daughter.

B. The author would rather play with her daughter than answer emails.

C. The author and daughters liked to use their phone alone.

D. The author regretted the time spent on the phone.

3.What tone does the author use in answering emails after snuggling her son?

A. humor    B. embarrassment

C. apology    D. happiness

4.What do the last two paragraphs mainly tell us?

A. Learn to forgive yourself for not answering emails in time.

B. The world outside is so attractive that we should enjoy it now.

C. I will surely answer emails without children around.

D. Answering emails is a thing of little urgency.

Answer

1. C

2. B

3. A

4. C

【解析】

本文是一篇记叙文。文章叙述的是关于不回复短信的看法。如果作者周围的人、地方和事情仍然比你的电子邮件和其他许多事情更紧迫地压在他身上，作者希望能原谅。

1.推理判断题。根据第二段中asked me if I’d given any thought to whether the chickens would need to be kept away from the apple trees after he sprayed them with something to keep the bugs away.和第三段中We moved on to the children’s math grades, then to the way they just take their socks off and leave them, inside out, no matter where they are.可知，作者提到鸡和孩子们的数学成绩是因为她更关心她的家庭。故选C。

2.推理判断题。根据第四段中My daughter probably would not have minded. She is almost 13, and sometimes, when she sits in the house texting while I try to talk to her, I sprayed her with the bottle I keep on the counter to spray the cats when they start scratching the back of the sofa. I could have answered your email then. I admit it. We could have sat there, in peaceful silence, each staring at our phone. I had time to answer your email, and I did not.可知，从作者对她女儿的描述中我们可以了解到作者宁愿和女儿一起玩也不愿回电子邮件。故选B。

3.推理判断题。根据第五段中I would like to say I snuggled my son and did not give your email one single thought, but that would not be true, and it would also be rude, even though it is a state of mind to which many of us aspire.可知，作者抱着儿子回邮件时用的是幽默语气。故选A。

4.推理判断题。根据最后两段中I will take my laptop outside and I will sit among the trees, listening for the voices of children who are no longer home, and I will answer your email.可知，我一定会在没有孩子的情况下回复邮件。故选C。