晨读英语美文 Taking Children to College

Taking Children to College

[00:09.14]It's September again. 

[00:16.68]Again, I see the different facial expressions of the parents 

[00:20.50]taking their children to college.

[00:22.15]It's mostly the male parents who perform this duty. 

[00:25.54]Sometimes both parents come. 

[00:27.29]The highly personalized faces 

[00:30.43]which usually differ from each other in a thousand 

[00:32.87]and one ways fade at this moment into each other, 

[00:36.04]and display the same look: fatigue, exhaustion, 

[00:39.47]the timidness and cautiousness of a new comer, 

[00:43.03]and the concernedness and fear 

[00:44.81]that their offspring might be treated unfairly.

[00:47.30]Such long and exhausting journeys over here! 

[00:50.59]So many complicated and time-consuming procedures! 

[00:53.86]They corrode people's lan. 

[00:55.62]The gleefulness and dizziness usually found in 

[00:59.51]eighteen-year-old youngsters who've made it 

[01:01.37]disappear altogether. 

[01:02.90]Close on the heels of their parents, 

[01:05.08]they shuffle from place to place in the campus. 

[01:07.93]To go through one formality, 

[01:10.10]they have to walk long distances

[01:12.47] and ask many questions of many people, 

[01:14.25]and their parents have to smile politely all the time. 

[01:17.09]Everywhere they have to line up and to pay. 

[01:20.05]The sun being blazing,

[01:22.25] they find themselves perspiring all over. 

[01:23.98]They have to sit by the roadside for a rest 

[01:26.83]and satisfy their thirst by drinking bottled water 

[01:30.22]whose prices soar because of scarcity. 

[01:32.08]No matter how dignified and classy

[01:35.55] one may look on other days, 

[01:36.57]one has to, for the sake of one's children, 

[01:38.97]humble oneself, put up with inconveniences, 

[01:42.36]and show ones best smiles to find out what to do.

[01:44.98]I saw a father carrying a huge bed-roll. 

[01:48.70]Bent with the heavy burden on his shoulder, 

[01:50.45]he had to strain for a look ahead

[01:54.04] in order to see the way forward. 

[01:54.28]His son, head hanging low, 

[01:57.29]followed behind with only a small bag. 

[01:58.76]It won't be long before

[02:01.21] his boy will help the girls with their bags.

[02:02.70]I also saw a father and son

[02:05.90] coming near hand in hand from the fork of a road. 

[02:08.17]A mere glance told me 

[02:10.57]that they are from one of the poor rural areas. 

[02:12.33]Both wore cheap T-shirts and had crew-cuts. 

[02:15.50]Even smaller in build, 

[02:17.79]the old man has graying hair and a tan. 

[02:19.66]An arrogant taxi sped towards them 

[02:23.17]and was on the point of knocking down the oldster. 

[02:24.58]The poor man quickly jumped aside. 

[02:27.20]It was a near escape. 

[02:29.06]Then, only then, was he separated from his son. 

[02:32.35]When the car shot past, 

[02:34.94]they joined hands again, 

[02:35.73]continued on their way, 

[02:37.96]each being the others support.

[02:38.58]The sight nearly brought tears to my eyes.