My father used to work in the city and seldom stayed at home. But he would come back help to harvest rice every year.

One autumn， he promised to help our neighbor， who lost his arms in a traffic accident in 1999， to harvest his rice. After Father harvested our own， his little rice picker broke. What's worse， he had to return to work the next day because his partner was ill in hospital. It meant that Father wouldn't be back in a few days. It now seemed impossible to help out the neighbor.

Father told us that he wouldn't let the neighbor's rice rot in the field. He decided to harvest it by hand without a machine. “If tonight's weather is clear， I think I can do it.” added my father. In fact， he was rather tired after a day's harvest work.

After dinner， Father had a short rest and made his way to the field. A full moon was glowing in the sky and the weather was cold but clear. He spent the whole night keeping his word.

I would never forget the image： Father was cutting rice in the light of the harvest moon. Behind him， row after row of rice stocks stood at attention， showing respect for a man who kept his word.

1.Did Father always stay with the family？

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2.What happened to the neighbor in 1999？

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3.Why was Father required to return to work？

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4.How did Father help the neighbor harvest rice in the field？

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5.How long did Father spend in harvesting the neighbor's rice？

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Key：

1.No， he didn't.

2.He lost his arms in a traffic accident in 1999.

3.Because his partner was ill in hospital.

4.By hand.

5.He spent the whole night in harvesting the neighbor's rice.

譯文

信守諾言的爸爸

我的父親過去在城里工作，很少待在家里，但每年都會回來幫助收割水稻。

一個秋天，他答應幫我們的鄰居收割水稻，鄰居在1999年的一次交通事故中失去了雙臂。在爸爸收割完我們自己的水稻之后小割稻機壞了。更糟糕的是，爸爸第二天必須趕回去上班，因為他的搭檔生病住院了。這意味著爸爸在幾天內不再回來，現在幫鄰居收割水稻似乎不可能了。

爸爸告訴我們，他不能讓鄰居家的水稻爛在地里。他決定沒有機器就手工收割水稻，他又加上一句“如果今晚天氣晴朗，我想我能做到?！笔聦嵣?，他在一天的收割工作之后已經是相當累了。

晚飯后，爸爸休息了片刻，然后就去了田地。天空一輪明月，天氣寒冷卻明亮，他用了一整夜時間幫鄰居收割水稻，實現了他的諾言。

我永遠不會忘記這樣的畫面：在滿月的月光下爸爸正在割水稻。在他身后，一排排的水稻桿立正站著，以示對一個信守承諾的人的尊重。