《2025年情景导学高中英语必修第一册外研版》

When it comes to presents, I've never been the kind of person to say, "It's the thought that counts." That was until a couple of weeks ago, when my kids gave me a present that made me feel very surprised.
For years now, I've been wanting to sell our home, the place where my husband and I raised our kids. But to me, this house is much more than just a building.
In the front room, there's a wall that has hundreds of pencil lines, marking the progress of my kids' growth.
Every growth stage is marked in grey, with each kid's name and the date when they were measured. Of all the objects and all the memories, it's this one thing in a home that is the hardest to leave behind. Friends I know have returned home after work only to discover their wall of heights has been freshly painted over. A new paint job wouldn't normally be greeted by tears, but erasing that evidence of motherhood (母亲身份) hurts more than it should. Our kids grow in so many ways, but the wall is physical evidence of their progress, right there for everyone to see.
Over the years, I've talked about how much I would hate leaving that wall behind when I moved, even though the last marks were made 10 years ago when my kids stopped growing.
So one day, while I was at work, my kids decided to do something about it. They hired a professional photographer whose work is about capturing (记录) the beautiful things in life.
She came to our house while I was at work, and over several hours, took photos of the hundreds of drawings and lines, little grey fingerprints (指纹), and old marks. Somehow, she managed to photograph all those years of memories perfectly. Afterward, she put all the photos together into one image, transforming them into a beautiful history of my family.
Three weeks later, my kids' wonderful present made its way to me — a life - size (与实物大小一样的) photo of the pencil lines and fingerprints that represents entire lifetimes of love and growth.
阅读完以上段落,让我们一起来讨论以下问题吧！
1. What present did the author receive from her kids? How did she feel about it?
2. What does "Family" mean to you? Please share a story about your family matters with your classmates.

答案： 1. The author received a life-size photo of the pencil lines and fingerprints from her kids. She felt very surprised.
2. (For reference) "Family" means a warm harbor where we can get love and support. Once, when I was ill, my parents took turns to look after me all night, preparing medicine and hot water. Their care made me feel that family is the most important thing in the world.