一、INTRODUCTION 选文简介:“桌边的谈话”选自美国作家诺尔马·福克斯·梅泽尔(Norma Fox Mazer)的小说《一个比喻》(A Figure of Speech)。这部小说通过描写少女珍妮一家和祖父生活在一起所经历的种种矛盾和隔阂,用少女的眼睛透视了衰老、死亡等人生问题。珍妮是孤独的祖父唯一的朋友,她喜欢听祖父重复那些陈年往事。珍妮的父母却总是不耐烦,他们要珍妮学会面对生活中的现实,而现实却常常是残酷的。一天,在晚餐桌上,祖父又一次回忆起他童年的故事。珍妮的妈妈粗暴地打断了祖父的回忆,喋喋不休地淡论起上周发生的一起车祸和那个惨死在车轮下的弱智孩子。珍妮深爱她的祖父,也熟悉那可怜的孩子,她逐渐意识到衰老和死亡都是不可回避的。更重要的是老人也是人,也有自己的 1. INTRODUCTION Introduction to the essay: “The conversation at the table” is selected from the novel “A Figure of Speech” by the American writer Norma Fox Mazer. This novel illustrates the life problems of aging and death through the eyes of young girls by describing the contradictions and gaps that girls Jenny family and grandfather have lived together. Jenny is the only friend of a lonely grandfather. She likes to listen to her grandfather to repeat the past. Jenny’s parents are always impatient, they want Jenny to learn to face the reality of life, but the reality is often cruel. One day, at the dinner table, my grandfather recalled his childhood story again. Jennie’s mother roughly interrupted his grandfather’s memories and chattered about the car accident that had occurred last week and the mentally handicapped child who had died under the wheels. Jenny deeply loved her grandfather and was acquainted with the poor child. She gradually realized that aging and death were unavoidable. What’s more important is that the old people are also human and have their own