A few days ago， I got a call from my old college friend whom I haven’t seen for a very long time. The topic was about all the good old times that we had in the college， but he changed to a moving story when he started talking about his father.

His father’s bad health made him stay at the hospital. Because of his illness， his father suffered from insomnia (失眠) and often talking to himself. My friend had not been able to sleep for a few days as he had to keep watching his father’s condition. He became angry and told his father to keep silence and try to get some sleep. His father said that he really wanted to sleep well because he was very tired and told my friend to leave him alone in the hospital if he did not want to be with him.

After his father finished talking， he fell unconscious (失去知覺的) and had to be rushed to ICU (重癥監(jiān)護病房). My friend was very sorry for the ill words he said to his father.

My friend was a strong person， but he cried like a baby on the other end of the telephone. He said that from that moment on， he prayed for his father every day. He pro-mised himself that whatever words came out from his father’s mouth after he got his conscious would be gladly taken. His only hope was that God could give him a chance to correct his past mistake.

We can make promises to ourselves that from now on there will be no more complaints that come out from our mouths when we have to watch or be with our parents. Actually， in the world there are so many unlucky ones who have neither fathers nor mothers. They wish to have the things that we most complain about， but they never have them.

( )1. The writer’s old college friend tele-

phoned to talk about .

A. his fatherB. the past

C. the past and his father

( )2. The writer’s friend was angry because

.

A. his father was seriously ill

B. his father always kept silent

C. his father didn’t go to sleep

( )3. Which of the following word can be

used to describe the writer’s friend?

A. Sad.B. Sorry. C. Regretful.

( )4. What does the writer want to tell us in

the passage?

A. Your parents will keep talking to

themselves when they are old.

B. Be good to your parents when you

still have the chance.

C. You will regret if you don’t respect

your parents.