Pete Richards was the loneliest man in town on the day
that little Jean Grace opened the door of his shop.
Pete's
grandfather had owned the shop until his death. Then the shop became Pete's. The
front window was full of beautiful old things: jewelry of a hundred years ago,
gold and silver boxes, carved figures from China and Japan and other nations.
On
this winter afternoon, a child stood there, her face close to the window. With
large and serious eyes, she studied each piece in the window. Then, looking
pleased, she stepped back from the window and went into the shop. Pete himself
stood behind the counter. His eyes were cold as he looked at the small girl. “Please,”
she began, “would you let me look at the pretty string of blue beads in the
window?” Pete took the string of blue beads from the window. The beads were
beautiful against his hand as he held the necklace up for her to see.
“They
are just right,” said the child as though she were alone with the beads. “Will
you wrap them up in pretty paper for me, please? I've been looking for a really
wonderful Christmas present for my sister.”
“How
much money do you have?” asked Pete.
She
put a handful of pennies on the counter. “This is all I have,” she explained
simply. “I've been saving the money for my sister's present.”
Pete
looked at her, his eyes thoughtful. Then he carefully closed his hand over the
price mark on the necklace so that she could not see it. How could he tell her
the price? The happy look in her big blue eyes struck him like the pain of an
old wound.
“Just
a minute,” he said and went to the back of the shop. “What's your name?” he
called out. He was very busy about something.
“Jean
Grace,” answered the child.
When
Pete returned to the front of the shop, he held a package in his hand. It was
wrapped in pretty Christmas paper.
“There
you are,” he said. “Don't lose it on the way home.”
She
smiled happily at him as she ran out of the door. Through the window he watched
her go. He felt more alone than ever.
Something
about Jean Grace and her string of beads had made him feel once more the pain
of his old grief. The child's hair was as yellow as the sunlight; her eyes were
as blue as the sea. Once upon a time, Pete had loved a girl with hair of that
same yellow and with eyes just as blue. And the necklace of blue stones had
been meant for her.
But
one rainy night, a car had gone off the road and struck the girl. After she
died, Pete felt that he had nothing left in the world except his grief. The
blue eyes of Jean Grace brought him out of that world of self-pity and made him
remember again all that he had lost. The pain of remembering was so great that
Pete wanted to run away from the happy Christmas shoppers who came to look at
his beautiful old things during the next ten days.
When
the last shopper had gone, late on Christmas Eve, the door opened and a young
woman came in. Pete could not understand it, but he felt that he had seen her
before. Her hair was sunlight yellow and her eyes were sea-blue. Without
speaking, she put on the counter a package wrapped in pretty Christmas paper. When
Pete opened the package, the string of blue beads lay again before him.
“Did
this come from your shop?” she asked.
Pete
looked at her with eyes no longer cold. “Yes, it did,” he said.
“Are
the stones real?”
“Yes.
They aren't the best turquoise(绿松石), but they are real.”
“Can
you remember to whom you sold them?”
“She
was a small girl. Her name was Jean. She wanted them for her sister's Christmas
present.”
“How
much were they?”
“I
can't tell you that,” he said. “The seller never tells anyone else what a buyer
pays.”
“But
Jean has never had more than a few pennies. How could she pay for them?”
“She
paid the biggest price one can ever pay,” he said.
For a
moment there was no sound in the little shop. Then somewhere in the city,
church bells began to ring. It was midnight and the beginning of another
Christmas Day.
“But
why did you do it?” the girl asked.
Pete
put the package into her hands.
“There
is no one else to whom I can give a Christmas present,” he said. “It is already
Christmas morning. Will you let me take you to your home? I would like to wish
you a Merry Christmas at your door.”
And
so, to the sound of many bells, Pete Richards and a girl whose name he had not
yet learned walked out into the hope and happiness of a new Christmas Day.
1.When
Pete saw Jean Grace, he was ______.
A. very enthusiastic, hoping for some business to be
done
B. cold but he still served the young customer
C. cold, unwilling to serve the young customer
D. very warm to the young customer though he did not
want to sell anything to her
2.Pete
did not say the price of the necklace because ______.
A. the seller never tells anyone else what a buyer
pays
B. he priced the necklace too high
C. he knew it would disappoint the girl
D. he didn't want to sell the necklace
3.The
eyes of Jean Grace brought Pete out of his world of self-pity and he ______.
A. tried to forget the memory of his sweetheart
B. began to look at the world optimistically
C. remembered his lost love
D. no longer felt the pain in him
4.A
young woman came into the shop because ______.
A. she was afraid that there might be some mistake
B. she thought that the stones she had bought were not
real
C. she was not sure if she could get more stones like
those
D. she did not like what she had once bought
5.By
saying “She paid the biggest price one can ever pay,” Pete meant that
Jean Grace .
A. gave the most money for the necklace
B. gave all she had with her for the necklace
C. appreciated the value of the necklace
D. wanted to have the best thing in the shop
6. At
the end of the story we see that Pete _____.
A. found another girl that he could trust
B. met someone who truly loved him
C. found a place to go at last
D. regained his ability to love
