在我们的生命中，亲情最真。亲情就像是黑暗中闪烁的星星，为夜里的行人带来丝丝的光明；亲情就像冬天里的一把火，可以随时温暖受伤的心灵。无论你遇到什么挫折，在亲情的世界里，你会永远感到幸福。

When I was a boy，my family would sometimes gather togetherat my great aunt‘s tiny house over the summer.Relatives from all over the country would come to visit.

The adults would crowd together in the living room，around the kitchen table and on the front porch（门廊）to talk and catch up on each other's lives. ① All of us kids would be sent out onto the front yard to play.

Those were the days before video games and smartphones，so we often ended up playing agood old-fashioned game of tag（捉人）.Iremember one of those times especially.

I was the youngest and smallest of all the kids there，so I got caught first and couldn't catch anyone else.Although Itried my best to chase after my brothers and cousins，they were all too fast for me.I grew more and more frustrated.

Ifinally lunged at one ofmy brothers and fell face first into the dirt.Igot up with tears in my eyes. Then I saw one of my cousins standing there.She started to run but was going much slower than before.I easily caught up and tagged her.Then she turned to me，smiled and said，“I'mit！ You'd better run！”Iran offlaughing with glee while she turnedand started to chase one of my older brothers.

I see now how her act of kindness that day saved me from sadness and returned me to joy. ② It didn't matter that we hardly ever saw each other.We were family and she loved me.Weare all one，we all belong to each other and we are one big，beautiful family.

难点解读：

① 释义：我们所有的孩子都会被指派到前院去玩。 点拨：would + 动词原形，常用于过去将来时，表示从过去某一点看，将来要发生的 动作。 wouldbesent是被动语态的用法。 Iwould be sent to visit some relatives when there were big festivals.

② 释义：我们几乎从未谋面，但这无关紧要。

点拨：It doesn't matter that..意为\"...不重要”，也可用于It doesn'tmatter if / what/how...结构。hardly ever几乎不;很少。

It doesn't matter how far it is，we can go by bike.

Young people nowadays hardly ever go to music shops.

牛刀小试：

1.What did the children usually do？

A.They would sit on the porch to talk.

B.They would play video games together.

C.They would watch videos on smartphones.

D.They would play a game of tag

2.Why did the cousin run slower than before？

A.Tomakefunoftheauthor.

B.To let the author catch her.

C.To lead the author to fall over again.

D.To help the author catch other cousins.

3.Howdoes theauthorfeelabouthiscousin'sbehavior？

A.Frustrated. B. Angry. C. Thankful. D. Sad.