英文故事_The Pordigal(附理解练习).docVIP

The Prodigal by Max Lucado Why were they always at each other’s throats? Bill felt as if he hardly knew his son any longer. Josh was demanding the money his mother had left him when she died. That money was for college expenses, and Josh could only have it after he turned eighteen. Now he was eighteen, and he wanted it, but not for college. “It’s mine, isn’t it?” he had shouted. “Of course, it’s yours.” his father had replied. “But it’s college money, not play money.” “I’m not going to play, Dad. I’m just going away.” “Where? For what?” “I don’t know. I just want to get out.” And so the arguments had gone on for weeks. It was only this morning that Billy had made his decision. Long before the sun came up, he went into Josh’s room and sat beside the bed. He didn’t know what time Josh had come in the night before, but the smell of beer suggested it hadn’t been early. Josh hadn’t even undressed. He was sleeping in his jeans. The father stared at his son’s face for a long time. Years ago when he would come in from business trips, he would pull a chair up beside the bed of his sleeping boy. He’d push back the mop of hair form Josh’s forehead and touch the soft cheeks. Everything seemed so simple then. The biggest challenge was airing up a bicycle tire or catching a fly ball. Now the boy was wearing strange clothes and had a weird haircut, it was as if his son lived in a different world, a world the father could not understand--but feared. “We lost something, Josh,” he said to his sleeping son. “Maybe we never had it. Maybe we buried it with your mom.” Bill’s hand was again on the forehead of his son. By the time Josh awoke, Bill knew what he had to do. “I’ll give you the money,” he had told Josh at breakfast. “Get your things. I’ll take you to the airport.” Now as they waited for the plane, Josh interrupted his thoughts. “Dad, they’re boarding.” The two walked toward the gate and stopped. “I guess I’ve got everything,” josh said