4.2 An afternoon in the park 公园里的一个下午

There once was a little boy who wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived,so he packed his suitcase and started his journey.

When he had gone about three blocks, he met an old woman. She was sitting in the park just staring at some pigeons¹. The boy sat down next to her and opened his suitcase. He was about to take out some drink when he noticed the old laday looked hungry,so he offered her some cookies. She gratefully² accepted them and smiled at him. Her smile was so pretty that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered her some drink. Once again she smiled at him. The boy was delighted.

They sat there all of the afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word. As it grew dark ,the boy realized how tired he was,and he got up to leave, but before he had got some more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the old woman and gave her a hug. She gave him her biggest smile ever.

When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. She asked him, "what did you do today that made you so happy?" He replied, "I had lunch with God." But before his mother would responsed, he added³, "you know what? She've got the most beautiful smile i've ever seen."

Meanwhile, the old woman was also radiant⁴ with joy returned to her home. Her son was curious about the look on her face,and he asked ,"mother, what did you do today that made you so happy ?" She replied," I ate cookies in the park with God",but before her son resonseded ,she added,"you know, he's much yonger than I expected."

1 pigeons   

n. 鸽子 名词pigeon的复数形式

参考例句：

• the sound of pigeons cooing 鸽子咕咕的叫声
• The boy frightened away the pigeons from the roof. 那男孩把屋顶上的鸽子吓飞了。

2 gratefully   

adv.感激地；感谢地；令人快意地；舒适地

参考例句：

• "Oh,thank you!'she enthused gratefully."You're a real gem,a diamond of the first water.” “谢谢！”她表示感激热情洋溢地说，“你真是一个被人尊敬的人，第一流的好人。” 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I gratefully acknowledge financial support from several local businesses. 我对本地几家企业的资助表示感谢。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 added   

adj.更多的，附加的，额外的

参考例句：

• They have added a new scene at the beginning.在开头他们又增加了一场戏。
• The pop music added to our enjoyment of the film.片中的流行音乐使我们对这部电影更加喜爱。

4 radiant   

adj.容光焕发的，光芒四射的，辐射的

参考例句：

• He gave a radiant smile when he heard the news.他听到这个消息后露出欣喜的微笑。
• She was radiant with joy.她高兴得容光焕发。