When I was approaching 50， I announced to my three grown children that I no longer wanted to celebrate my birthday， and that they could phone me instead of sending a gift. At first they protested①， but finally they agreed to go along with my wish. So when the doorbell rang on the morning of my birthday， I was surprised to see the florist②delivering a huge， beautiful plant. Suddenly， without a word， she rushed back to the truck and with a sad look， turned once to glance at③me. Puzzled， I read the card attached④to the plant：“To Mom—with lots of love—on your very last birthday.”
① protestv. 反对
② floristn. 花商，经营花卉业者
③ glance at瞥视，匆匆一看
④ attachv. 附上，系上
最后的生日
接近五十岁的时候，我对我的三个成年孩子宣布说我不再想庆祝我的生日，并说他们可以给我打电话，不要再送礼物。开始他们反对，但终于他们同意随我愿。所以我生日那天早上门铃响的时候，我惊奇地发现花店营业员送来一束又大又美的鲜花。突然她一声不响地跑回到车上，并回过头来悲哀地看了我一眼。我感到纳闷，我看了一下花上的卡片，上面写着：“献给妈妈——无尽的爱——在您最后的生日里。”