A
Winter bamboo
Meng Zong lived with his mother in a small village. They were poor, but they were happy. Meng Zong was a good boy, and he always put his mother's needs and wishes first.
One cold winter day, Mother got really sick. Meng Zong sat by her bed and took care of her day and night. However, nothing helped, and she got worse.
Meng Zong asked, "What can I cook for you to make you well?" Mother answered, "I would love a bowl of bamboo shoot soup."
Winter wasn't the season for bamboo shoots. Meng Zong knew that, but he didn't lose hope. Then he left Mother with a neighbour and went to the bamboo forest.
He found no new shoots there. He knew that Mother would die without the soup. That troubled Meng Zong, so he sat down on the cold, hard ground and cried.
He did that day after day because Mother kept getting worse. He didn't know it, but the bamboo fairy was watching. He felt Meng Zong's love for his mother.
The bamboo fairy felt bad for Meng Zong. The next day, when Meng Zong finished crying, he saw some things in the ground. They were little green bamboo shoots.
His warm tears made the ground wet and helped them grow. Meng Zong was full of joy. He dug them up, hurried home and cooked Mother's soup.
After Mother had the soup, she felt much better. Soon, she was healthy again. From then on, winter bamboo continued to grow in China, and it's also called Meng Zong bamboo.
词汇
take care of 照料
full of joy 满心欢喜
get worse 变得更糟糕
dig /dɪɡ/ v. 挖（过去式 dug）
理解
1. What difficulty did Meng Zong meet when he went out to search for bamboo shoots?
Winter wasn't the season for bamboo shoots and he could not find any shoots.
2. Have you ever done something to make your mum happy? Share it with us.
When my mum was ill one day, I first gave Mum a bottle of water and then went out to buy some medicine for Mum. After Mum took the medicine, she got better and was happy for what I did for her.
