I first heard this story a few years ago from a girl. Probably the story is one of those mysterious bits of folklore that reappear every few years. However, I still like to think that it really did happen, somewhere, sometime.
They were going to Fort Lauderdale-- three boys and three girls -- and when they boarded the bus, they were carrying sandwiches and wine, dreaming of golden beaches and sea tides as the gray, cold spring of New York vanished behind them.
As the bus passed through New Jersey, they began to notice Vingo.
He sat in front of them, dressed in a plain ill-fitting suit, never moving, his dusty face masking his age. He kept chewing the inside of his lip a lot, frozen into complete silence.Deep into the night, the bus pulled into Howard Johnson's, and everybody got off except Vingo. He sat rooted in his seat, and the young people began to wonder about him: perhaps he was a sea captain, a runaway from his wife, an old soldier going home. When they went back to the bus, one of the girls sat beside him and introduced herself.
¨We're going to Florida," she said brightly. “I hear it's really beautiful. "
"It is," he said quietly, as if remembering something he had tried to forget.
“Want some wine?" she said. He thanked her and retreated again into his silence. After a while, she went back to the others, and Vingo nodded in sleep.
In the morning, they awoke outside another Howard Johnson's, and this time Vingo went in. The girl insisted that he join them. He seemed very shy, and ordered black coffee and smoked nervously as the young people chattered about sleeping on beaches. When they returned to the bus, the girl sat with Vingo again, and after a while, slowly and painfully, he began to tell his story. He had been in jail in New York for the past four years, and now he was going home.
¨Are you married?"
“I don't know. "
“You don’t know?" she said.
“Well, when I was in jail I wrote to my wife," he said. ¨‘I told her that I was going to be away a long time, and that if she couldn't stand it, if the kids kept asking questions, she could just forget me. I'd understand. Get a new guy, I said - she's a wonderful woman – and forget about me. I told her she didn't have to write me. And she didn't. Not for three and a half years. "
"And you're going home now, not knowing?"
" Yeah," he said shyly. ‘‘Last week, when I was sure the parole was coming through, I wrote her again. There's a big oak tree just as you come into town, I told her that if she didn't have a new guy and if she'd take me back, she should put a yellow handkerchief on the tree, and I'd get off and come home. If she didn't want me, forget it - no handkerchief, and I'd go on through. "
"Wow," the girl exclaimed. "Wow. "
She told the others, and soon all of them were in it, caught up in the approach of Brunswick, looking at the pictures Vingo showed them of his wife and three children.
Now they were 20 miles from Brunswick, and the young people took over window seats, waiting for the approach of the great oak tree. Vingo stopped looking, tightening his face, as if fortifying himself against still another disappointment.
Then Brunswick was 10 miles, and then five. Then, suddenly, all of the young people were up out of their seats, screaming and shouting and crying. All except Vingo. Vingo sat there stunned, looking at the oak tree. It was covered with yellow handkerchiefs —20 of them, 30 of them, maybe hundreds. As the young people shouted, the old con slowly rose from his seat and made his way to the front of the bus to go home.
小題1:According to the passage, which statement is TRUE?
| A．The young people are travelling from Florida to New York. |
| B．Vingo was put in prison ten years ago, and now he was set free to go home. |
| C．The young people around Vingo were quite curious about his silence. |
| D．At last, Vingo went home together with the three boys and three girls. |
小題2:From the underlined sentences in Para 3, we can infer that _____.
| A．Vingo was nervous because he didn't know whether his wife would accept him. |
| B．Vingo was very disappointed because his wife didn't answer his letter. |
| C．Vingo was very shy because he knew someone was watching him. |
| D．Vingo was excited because he could go home and meet his wife and children. |
小題3:The underlined word "fortify" in the passage has the same meaning as that in Sentence___.
A. The French soldiers are working hard to
fortify airbase.
B. The food has been
fortified with Vitamin C.
C. People in the whole city were
fortified by the moving story about their hero.
D. We had to drink some more coffee to
fortify ourselves for the journey.
小題4:Which word do you think can best describe Vingo's wife?
| A．humorous | B．loyal | C．generous | D．hard-working |
小題5:After reading the whole story, we can probably make a conclusion that_____.
| A．Young people are always curious about everything new around them. |
| B．Home is always the first place a person wants to go. |
| C．Don’t laugh at a person who has no home. |
| D．It is impolite to ask questions about one's privacy that he or she doesn't want to tell. |
小題6:What's the best title for the passage?
| A．A story of a poor man | B．The power of love |
| C．Help from strangers | D．Going home |
