Mystery of the white gardenia 栀子花之谜

周艳霞

父爱是什么？父爱是巍峨的高山，让孩子挺起了做人的脊梁;父爱是辽阔的苍穹，让孩子铸就了宽广的胸襟;父爱也是春日的细雨，润物无声。

父爱可以是孩子失落时一句鼓励的话，也可以是孩子成功时默默的祝福，还可以是偶尔的怒气与惩罚。尽管表达方式不同，但这些都体现着父亲对孩子的爱。

子欲养而亲不待，树欲静而风不止。今年的父亲节，让我们一起共读美文，共念亲恩吧。请在阅读情境中思考：本文中父爱的内涵是什么？该如何回报为我们日夜操劳的父亲呢？

全文511词，建议用时7分钟。

阅读目标

1. 梳理并概括故事，掌握文章按时间顺序叙述故事情节和呈现人物特征的手法。

2. 分析作者及其父亲情感变化的原因，并由此分析父亲的人物形象。

3. 理解文章中栀子花的象征意义，感悟父爱的内涵与伟大。

阅读预热

Ⅰ. Video time

Have you ever watched the film Ocean Heaven？ Watch the trailer（预告片） and think： What does the film tell you？ What is the theme of this film？ Can you find any other way to represent the theme？

Ⅱ. Discussion

Have you ever received any presents from your father？ If any， what were they？ Why did your father choose those presents for you？ What present are you going to give to your father for the coming Fathers Day？ Why？

From the time I turned 12， every year on my birthday， a mysterious white gardenia（栀子花） was delivered to my house. No card or note came with it. Calls to the flower store were always in vain—it was a cash purchase. After a while I stopped trying to discover the senders identity and was just delighted with the beauty and fragrance of that magical， perfect white flower placed in soft pink tissue paper.

However， I never stopped imagining who the unknown giver might be. But it always failed me. My father contributed to these imagining. And at that time， hed ask me if there was someone for whom I had done a special kindness to show appreciation. As a teenager， I had more fun imagining that it might be a boy I fell in love with or one who had noticed me even though I didnt know him.

When I was 17， a boy broke my heart. The night he called for the last time， I cried myself to sleep. When I awoke in the morning， there was a line of words on my mirror in red lipstick. I thought about it for a long time and until my heart healed I went to get the glass cleaned. Knowing everything was all right again， my father smiled at me， as if a big stone had been removed from his shoulder.

One month before my high school graduation， my mother died of a heart attack. My feelings ranged from grief to abandonment， fear and overwhelming anger. My mother was missing some of the most important events in my life. I became completely uninterested in my coming graduation， the play and the prom（畢业舞会）. But my father， in the midst of his own grief， would not hear of my skipping any of those things.

The day before my mother died， my father and I had gone shopping for a prom dress. Wed found a spectacular， and impressive one， with dotted Swiss in red， white and blue. It made me feel like a film star， but it was the wrong size. I felt quite sorry for it. The next day， my mother died and I had no time to deal with the dress， so I threw it at random. However， until the day before the prom， I found a new dress was hung in the living room. It was the right size！My father did it. Relief and gratitude filled my heart.

He always loved his children all the way. He not only would come up with a variety of ways to meet his childrens needs， but also would be very artistic to show his love to his children. For example， delivering a white gardenia to my house every year on my birthday was a magical and mysterious incident to me all the time. But I didnt know the truth until my father died because the gardenia stopped coming after that year. And at that time， I could not stop my tears of gratitude rolling down.