D

“I'm going home tomorrow,” Michael announced. It was the first time he had talked with Bert Hensley since their argument that morning. He wanted his father to say that he couldn't go, that he wouldn't let him run away. To say that running was no way for a man to live.

    But he replied only, “I figured that's what you'd want."

    Michael began to pack his suitcase. It took only a few more minutes to finish his packing. When Michael finally spoke, his voice was too loud in the small space. "Why'd you invite me?"He asked, "Why'd you call after so many years?" His father answered without looking at Michael.

"I thought it was time," he said.

“Time for what? ” Michael persisted.

"I guess we've let one another down pretty badly in the last couple of days, haven't we?" his father said. "Cil warned me," he continued, "She said I ought to think about it more before I called-about what I was trying to do, going back into your life that way. She said it wasn't fair, me letting some other man raise my son through all those years and then trying to take him back, just when he was getting to be a man."

A man? Michael almost laughed.

"I don't know if you'll understand any of this. You're pretty young." His father went silent, as though there was nothing more to say."

Michael leaned across the table. "Try me," he spoke quietly, but it was almost a command.

His father flashed him a surprised look. "Well, " he said at last, "my life was beginning to feel... sort of temporary, I guess you could say. When you finish a run on the river, it's done. You know? So I guess I found myself thinking about you. A lot. Not just now and then the way I used to."

    Not just now and then! Michael felt rather disappointed. So during all the years he had carried this man in his heart, constantly, day and night-all the "conversations" they'd had--Bert Hensley hadn't been thinking of him equally. Only now and then!

     And now you know, Michael thought. And it doesn't help, does it? He stood, but then he realized there was no place to go.

    "Michael," his father said finally, "You don't have to go, you know," his father said as Michael settled his suitcase into the back seat of Cil's car. Michael looked at his father helplessly. They both knew that he did. What good did it do to start pretending now?

    Not that thing would be any better back in Minnesota. Just that it was impossible to stay on here. "I guess they need me at home," Michael said. "There are always lots to do in the summer."

    "Don't let the old man work too hard, Mike." His father added, trying on a chuckle(輕聲地笑)that slipped immediately away.

    The old man, the man his father had given him over to and then tried to take him back again. Even now, Michael thought, you could ask me to stay. That might make a difference. If you asked like you really mean it.

    But his father didn't ask; Michael had known he wouldn't. They shook hands before Michael climbed into the car. Like two men. Like two frightened men.

67. After all of what had happened Michael still hoped his father could       

    A. apologize for what he had done                B. support his decision

    C. go home with him                           D. ask him to stay

68. Why did Michael feel disappointed with his father?

A. His father abandoned him after he was born.

B. His father went back into his life all of a sudden.

C. His father never thought of him as the way he did.

D. His father said he was young to understand all of this.

69. The characteristic of the father can be described as     

A. responsible          B. insincere             C. caring        D. stubborn

70. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. When the father said "You don't have to go", he meant it.

B. The father never regretted having tried to take his son back.

C. Michael probably wouldn't go back to his father again.

D. The old man was hard on Michael.
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