The arrow that saved my life救命之箭

李全忠

难词探意

1. grill /ɡrl/ n. 烤架

2. patio /pti/ n. （房屋外面或后面的）露台;平台

3. compound /kmpand/ adj. 复合的

4. benign /bnain/ adj. 良性的

It was a warm April evening， and I had gotten home from work about an hour earlier. As I often did after a long day， I went straight to my backyard and did some work in my flower garden before deciding to light the grill to make dinner for my husband and myself. I had only just walked a few steps on the patio when I suddenly felt a horrifying blow to the right side of my neck. It felt as though someone had hit me with a baseball bat. I knew that no one was in the yard with me， so no one could have hit me. Totally confused， I reached up and， to my shock and horror， realized that I had been shot—with an arrow.

I grabbed the arrow which had pierced my neck and ran inside， screaming my husbands name. Ed was in the back of the house talking to our daughter， Keila， on the phone. He dropped the phone and ran to me. Ed grabbed me by the shoulders to stop me from running and told me to lie down on the couch. Then he went to call 911. I didnt know if there was any way that I could survive. The arrow had come from a young man practicing with a compound bow， used for hunting， in his backyard. Luckily， he was using a practice arrow， which is smooth and rounded; a broadhead arrow for hunting would have killed me.

As I was being taken to surgery to remove the arrow， my family entered a waiting room full of people！ The morning after my twohour surgery， the surgeon came in. He checked the wound and told us something that rocked our world. He said that the CT scan had revealed that I had a brain tumor. The surgeon said they were almost certain the tumor was benign， but it was located in a very difficult place， which would have resulted in a massive stroke. The brain surgery was successful， and in less than a week I was back home. I was discouraged and feeling horrible. Thankfully， that didnt last too long. All my adventures would continue to take a toll， and I needed a time of healing and rest.

1. Why did the author go to her backyard？

A. To take a walk.

B. To phone her daughter.

C. To practice using arrows.

D. To work in her flower garden.

2. What can we know about the arrow hitting the author？

A. It was a broadhead arrow.

B. It was used to practice hunting.

C. It hit the authors brain tumor.

D. It resulted in a massive stroke.

3. What does the underlined part “take a toll” mean in paragraph 3？

A. Cause a lot of suffering.

B. Pay to treat serious diseases.

C. Pay for the use of a particular road.

D. Have a positive influence on someone.

Sentence for writing

I had only just walked a few steps on the patio when I suddenly felt a horrifying blow to the right side of my neck.

【信息提取】had just done...when...意為“刚做完某事，这时……”。

【句式仿写】他刚睡着电话铃就响了。