高中英语作文my weekend(合集20篇)

Today, cellphone has been part of people’s live, they use cellphone to keep in touch with friends and family, cellphone is also very helpful in people’s work. As cellphone is so important, so people count on it so much, I think we need to take the right attitude towards cellphone.

今天，手机已经成为人们生活的一部分，他们使用手机来和朋友以及家人保持联系，手机对每个人的工作也很有帮助。由于手机是如此的重要，因此人们很依赖手机，我认为我们需要正确对待手机。

Teenagers especially like to use cellphone, they can’t live without cellphone. Take my brother for example. He carries cellphone all the time, no matter what he does. When we are talking to him, he just lows down his head and says yes, I don’t think he is listening to us. When he is walking on the street, he still keeps his eyes on the screen. My brother is a typical cellphone user, I feel pity for him because he misses so many beautiful moment.

青少年特别喜欢使用手机，他们无法离开手机。就拿我弟弟来说。他随时都带着手机，无论在做什么。当我们和他谈话时，他底下头，嘴里应和着，我不认为他在听我们讲话。当他走在街上时，眼睛仍然在屏幕上。我的弟弟就是一个典型的手机使用者，我为他感到遗憾，因为他错过了很多美好的时刻。

It is very a common situation for the young people to low down their heads to check on the cellphone. They don’t have the real communicate with others, it is not a good behavior. It is better to drop down the cellphone and see the scenery around us.

年轻人低头看手机是很常见的情绪。他们没有和别人进行真正的交流，这是不好的行为。我们最好放下手机，看看周围美丽的风景。

Recently, a Chinese student who studied abroad delivered a speech at the

graduate ceremony. Her speech soon became the hot issue, because she criticized

Chinese air pollution, which was a great threat to her health. Though her speech

had exaggerated the problem, it is true that China has faced many pollution

problems. The haze in Beijing is famous around the world, which is the

punishment for human to ruin the environment. It needs time to fix the problem,

but there is no need to deny our country. Even for the developed countries, they

have once faced such problem before. We can do something in the daily life to

protect it, such as do not throw away the rubbish.

篇一：

The ancient said the world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page. I like travel, because travel not only allows me to enjoy the great rivers and mountains of the motherland, but also brings me knowledge and exercise. Beautiful sceneries make me impressed and friendly people make me warm. Travel is a process of discovery of beauty that would company my whole life. I like the feeling on the road, which greatly enrich my life and fields of vision. Being to different places, seeing different views makes me know how big the world is, so that I won’t bother my trifles. I think a broad mind is extremely important to a person, and traveling is a good way to get it. Maybe some people would say that I travel just because I want to relax. There’s no doubt about that. No matter for what reason, traveling is attractive to us all.

古人云：读万卷书，不如行万里路。我喜欢旅行，旅行不仅让我饱览祖国的大好河山，而且在学到知识的同时还锻炼了自己。美丽的风景让我印象深刻，有好的人们也让我倍感温暖。旅行就是一个发现美的过程，这种美的感受将会陪伴我的终生。我喜欢在路上的感觉，这极大的丰富了我的生活和视野。到不同的地方，看不同的风景会让我知道世界之大，从而不会被琐事叨扰。我认为开阔的胸襟对一个人来说尤为重要，而旅行是开阔胸襟的一个好方式。也许有的人会说，我之所以去旅行，只是因为想得到放松，这是毫无疑问的。不管出于什么原因，旅行总是充满诱惑。

篇二：

As for this essay, I want the person who likes travel to read. And, I also want the person who yearns to the solitary journey to read.

I like travel very much. I often go to travel. It meets a lot of people when traveling. It can touch not only the person but also the region. Therefore, it comes to want to go even times how many.

I was traveling and all the people met had a very warm mind. It was very kind. There is a person who taught variety of land, too. I do not think meeting with two another degrees in the person. However, I do not think that I forget. Because, The reason is that there are a lot of very good memories.

Therefore, travel is not stopped. It went to not only the country but also foreign countries. The communication of the intention can have been done with the person in the country though the word did not run well. However, I thought that the handicap of the word was large. I thought it was good if the word could be understood more many times. Therefore, I think that I should study the language study more. It can meet the one different according to the land when traveling. The tourist spot is, and there is a lot of one not so either. There are a lot of very good points of the place taught to the person in local. Therefore, it is always made to speak. I have not traveled still alone. I want to go out to travel alone sometimes. How about you? Traveling with someone is also good. However, I yearn to the solitary journey very much. It is not, and yearns for the destination to free travel. I want to go out to unrestrained travel some time.

Finally, I yearn to the solitary journey. However, I do not hate tour travel. I think that there is a merit also in the tour. I think that traveling with the person who does not know also has the enjoyment. However, I like independent tour more. Which do you like?

篇三：

The ancient said the world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page. I like travel, because travel not only allows me to enjoy the great rivers and mountains of the motherland, but also brings me knowledge and exercise. Beautiful sceneries make me impressed and friendly people make me warm. Travel is a process of discovery of beauty that would company my whole life. I like the feeling on the road, which greatly enrich my life and fields of vision. Being to different places, seeing different views makes me know how big the world is, so that I won’t bother my trifles. I think a broad mind is extremely important to a person, and traveling is a good way to get it. Maybe some people would say that I travel just because I want to relax. There’s no doubt about that. No matter for what reason, traveling is attractive to us all.

[我喜欢旅行英语高中作文

With the development of Internet, more and more people tend to shop on the

Internet. Online shopping has provided some benefits for us, but it also has

some disadvantages at the same time.

For one thing, online shopping has brought some convenience for consumers.

Instead of going one shop to another, people can choose and buy all kinds of

commodities they like as long as they click the mouse gently. This is not only a

better choice for the old who do not have enough energy to go outside but also a

great convenience for those who have no time to go shopping in person. In

addition, consumers have more choices and can do some comparison when they are

shopping on the Internet. They can glance over various commodities in all

shapes, sizes and colors and decided to buy or not. Furthermore, online shopping

has made a great contribution to the development of express delivery

industry.

However, for another, shopping on the Internet also has some shortcomings.

Firstly, those who shop on the Internet can’t try the goods before they buy.

Sometimes, the real goods are not the same as the goods they see on the

Internet. Secondly, some shops on the Internet are dishonest and they would not

deliver the goods after paying. And if this situation happens, the consumers

would find nowhere to complain and never pull out the money any longer.

Therefore, we should pay more attention when shopping on the Internet.

High school students have come into a sensitive stage, their bodies grow so fast and their minds have to keep up with the change.

The boys and girls start to realize the gender difference, there will be some awkward moments between them.

The troubled adolescent annoys many teenagers, because they have problems all the time. For the girls, they want to look as beautiful as the commercial models, so they go on a diet and struggle with hunger.

For the boys, they want to be as cool as the heroes in the TV, so they pretend to care about nothing and go against the school regulations.

The troubles teenagers meet are very typical, they can talk to their teachers or go to see the psychologist. They need to take the right attitudes towards these problems, or they will go the wrong way.

高中生来到了敏感的阶段，他们的身体快速成长，思想不得不跟上这样的变化。男孩和女孩意识到了性别的不同，他们之间会存在尴尬的时刻。烦恼的青春期困恼着很多青少年，因为他们总是会有问题。

对于女孩来说，她们想要看起来和商业模特那样美丽，因此她们节食，挣扎于饥饿。对于男孩子来说，他们想要和电视上的英雄们那么酷，因此他们假装对一切不在意，违背校规。青少年遇到的麻烦是很典型的，他们可以和老师聊聊，或者去咨询心里医生。他们需要正确对待这些问题，不然容易走歪道。

[高中英语作文：烦恼的青春期

Introducing yourself is very important when you meet new people. You always want to make a good impression when telling others about yourself. Allow me to introduce myself.

My name is Pat and Im from Taiwan. Right now, Im a student. I study very hard every day. I like going to school because Im eager to learn. I enjoy learning English. Its my favorite class. I like to make friends and I get along with everyone. This is the introduction I give whenever I meet new people. It tells people a little bit about me and about what I like to do.

当你认识新的人时，介绍自己是非常重要的。你一定会想要在告诉别人有关自己的事，给别人留下好印象。让我来介绍我自己。

我的名字是派特，我来自台湾。我现在是学生。我每天都很用功念书。我喜欢上学，因为我渴望学习。我喜欢学英文。那是我最喜欢的课程。我喜欢交朋友，而且我和每个人都处得很好。这就是我每次认识新的人时，所作的自我介绍。它可以告诉别人一点关于我的事，还有我喜欢做什么。

With the development ofscience and technology ,different kinds of pollution has been produced andcaused global concern recently.

As we know, people have beenliving on the earth for thousands of years, human activity damaged natural environment, such as excessive abuse of natural resources ,the sewage dischargedfrom factories ,the animal slaughter ,kinds of chemical fertilizers andgreen-house effect. All that is mentioned above has a bad impact on the eco-system .Now, many animals aredying out. We are suffering from unhealthy food and water, we are faced withharmful rays and global warming. It was ourselves who had made a series oftroubles. As you can see, we are the final victim.

Above all, if we human beings cannot recognize theseserious problems and try our best to solve them soon, we would finally lose theenvironment suitable for us to live. So, it is our duty to protect theenvironment ,but what should we do to protect it?

In my opinion, the first and important thing is tounite all forces ,that is to say---gather all hearts together. Next we shouldprotect and plant more trees, which can dispose of the dust in the air. As forfamilies, it is effective to ride bicycles rather than drive cars. Don’t litteranywhere as you like. In addition, sorting and recycling the rubbish also playan essential role in the protection of our earth. We’d better call on everyone aroundus to lead a low-carbon life, as it may make a difference to the environment.

Thus, it’s high time that we did something to improveour surroundings. Everybody should raise the awareness to protect our motherearth. Let’s appeal to more people to join us.

All in all ,there’s no doubt that keeping the balanceof human and nature ,we will benefit a lot.

We are always educated to be an honest person, especially to our parents. While the fact is that every kid will lie to their parents in their lives. For me, my parents are very strict, I am not allowed to go out at night, because the news always reports the bad incidents happen at night. But night activity attracts me a lot, and my friends like to hang out for fun at night, so I choose to lie to my parents and tell them I am doing my homework with my friends. Now as I grow up, I realize it is not right to tell lies, so I decide to be honest to my parents. Once they realize that I am not a little kid anymore, then I will have my right to do what I want.

Im the only child in my family, the apple of my parents eyes. my mother

and father take good care of my and give me a lot of support throughout my

life.

My father is the manager of a company and my mother is a teacher. they are

both well educated and do well in their jobs. they know that knowledge is power.

father often communicates with foreign friends and is good at english. i can

learn a lot from him, especially english. his oninion on education is as

advanced as that of my mothers. they often give me advice on my studies but

never interfere in them. they seldom force me to do what i dont like to. they

permit me to have different opinions. if something is good for me, they will

persuade me to do it as they want. many people of our age say that there is a

generation gap between their parents and them. however, it doesnt exist between

us.

My mother is a math teacher. she is very clever and good at teaching. she

can work out a problem within 10 minutes which would cost me 2 hours. i envy and

admire her. i want to be a math teacher like her.

Im lucky to have such enlightened parents. im lucky to have been brought

up in such a happy family.

20XX年X月X日 晴

Summer holidday is coming.I have a good plan for it.My best friend Tony who is from Britain will spend the holiday with mw.Tom is 17 years old ,he like China very much.

One week ago,I wrote him a letter,inviting him to come to Dalian for the holidays.Tony has accepted my invitation and will fly to Dalian next week.I will go to the airport to pick him up.Then well show him around the city.Well go to the beach to watch the sea first.

Then well visit some insteresing places.Tony will live in my house during the holiday.I hope well have a good time.

"University", a beautiful word, which makes me have much imagination. As

the name "ivory tower" given by people, its a good place to live and study. In

the ivory tower, romantic love just like cherry blossom smiles happily in the

campus.

Many girls have the sweet dream that one day there is a boy who stands

below the windows loud annoucing "I love you", holding a bound of flowers in his

hands. But the most important things is that I can receive the advanced

education systematically, listen to the senior professors experience, attend

many dourses of lectures. To my pleasant, I can be free to spend a whole day in

the library and read every book that Id like, which makes me find the knowledge

is vast considerably. All these let me climb up in the field of science. At the

same time, the people from many parts of motherland get together. Its a big

furnace involved dialects and cluture. Its interesting.

I can find a part time job to experience the life, which is a good way of

contacting society. In short, therere many things waiting for me to learn, and

this is why I come here to be a university student.

Last Sunday, I went sightseeing with my friends in the Fairy Lake Park. I was appreciating the beautiful lake when a scene that didn’t go with its harmony came into my eyes. A couple were cheering loudly on a boat, letting out the noise disturbing all the visitors around. They even threw litter and spat into the water, completely ignoring the sign nearby “No throwing litter into the lake!”

How could they lack public morality so much? I felt sad about them. And I was totally against what they did.

Every individual should think about others’ feelings and avoid polluting the environment while they are enjoying the beautiful scenery; otherwise the Fairy Lake Park would not be fairy at all and lake might be a pool of dirty dead water some day. Therefore we should mind our behavior in public places so that the environment in public places will be more and more beautiful.

译文

上周日，我去和我的朋友在仙女湖公园观光。我很欣赏美丽的湖时，一个场景，不去与和谐进入我的眼睛。一对夫妇被大声欢呼，船上的噪声干扰，让所有参观者。他们甚至扔垃圾，吐入水，完全无视标志附近的“不乱扔垃圾入湖!“

他们怎么可能缺乏公德这么多?我感到悲伤，他们。我是完全反对他们做了什么。

每一个人都应该考虑别人的感受，避免污染环境而他们享受美丽的风景;否则，仙女湖公园不会仙女在所有和湖是一池的水脏死了有一天。因此我们应该注意我们在公共场所的行为，在公共场所的环境会越来越漂亮。

i would like to thank the manpeople, but the most grateful to mfather, from small to large, mfather gave me encouragement and love so many.

mfather iwarm and severe, when holidatime, he liketo join me sitting in bed talking daylater to see if the book later. he told me iso severe! in particular, i do not listen, hieyewere round, sharp eyelike a sword in mbodscan to scan, i immediatelfor the mistakei feel ashamed. i love mfather, grateful to him for mpay, meducation. when i wasick, ito take care of mfather in everpossible way; i am in trouble, the father ikind of nice to help me. he gave me the love iselfless. one sundaevening, i feel listless, had no energto the body. dad found, help me to rest, give me temperature. goodfellas! 39 degree5! at thitime, i also head halo youteng bodcold and hot, uncomfortable bed in dengjiao, the father then took a wet towel on mhead enough, i feel better. in the 3-point night, i did not fire back, the father had no choice but to the clinic to bumedicine for me, a father of seven lianpao clinics, but are not yet open. b6 oclock, mfather turned to the cou

nthospital, the father upstairdownstairto bumedicine for me, pay, i can clearlsee the father of crystal beadof sweat on hiforehead. at thipoint, i reallwanted to sato the father: dad, i thank you! dad inot onlconcerned about mbody, ialso verconcerned about mlearning.

Iusually have a lot of things to do after work. Every day after I come home, Ialways read some English passages, in order to improve my spoken English andfeel the charm of language.

After doing that, I surf the Internet to watch thelatest news and find some useful information for my work.

I think this is aneffective way for me to learn more knowledge and widen my horizon.

Then I beginto learn English by listening to VOA and BBC. There are so many interestingstories in these programs. And the hostesses are very excellent. I can alwayssleep well with their beautiful voices. At weekend, I usually have aget-together with my close friends to share our life experience. Sometimes wealso go out for a walk, so as to enjoy our beautiful nature. In short, I usuallyarrange a lot of activities for myself in my free time, because I want to makemy life more wonderful and interesting.

下班后，我通常有很多事情要做。为了提高我的英语口语以及感受到语言的魅力，每天我回到家后我总是看英语短文。

这样之后，我会上网看最新的新闻，找一些对我工作有用的信息。我觉得这是我学习的知识，开阔了我的视野的有效途径。

然后我开始听VOA和BBC来学习英语。在这些节目中有很多有趣的故事。女主持人是很优秀的。

我总是能听着她们甜美的声音入睡。周末的时候我通常和我关系亲密的朋友聚在一起来分享我们的生活经验。有时我们也去散步，以便享受美丽的大自然。总之，我通常会在我空闲的时间为自己安排很多的活动，因为我想让我的生活更精彩有趣。

[高中英语作文：课后活动

My father is a great person. He is a hero in my heart. He is tall but not strong. He is a driver. He often talks a litte and seems that he is serious. Actually, sometimes he is real serious. In my memory, he never hits me except once. It is because I ignored their forbidding to go swimming in the river alone. I was so sad as my father hit me. But now I understand that it is because he worry about me. Moreover, although our family is not weathy, he will give all the things that I want to me. And he works hard to support our family. I know that he loves us and we also love him.

Thus, my dear friends, do not fear competition. Accept it and enjoy it. With competition, you grow stronger, and you gain so much precious experience worth remembering of, regardless of what the outcome would be. Without competition, you cease to grow; you become a dead moth sealed in its own cocoon.

Competition is a common phenomenon in our society . We compete when we play games, we try to do better than others in our study, and there is constant competition for jobs, fame, wealth and so forth. Therefore,we can say that, in a certain sense, competition is one of the motive forces of the development of our modern society.

It is often believed, that competition and cooperation are in opposition to each other. Some people stress competition, without which, in their eyes, there is no responsibility, no drive and ultimately, no progress. Others advocate cooperation whatever they do. They are of the opinion that the dependence of people on one another has increased, without which the society we live in can not keep going smoothly. In reality, we find that in many cases competition goes hand in hand with cooperation. Lets take a football game for example. During the game, one team is competing against the other, but each member of the team must cooperate with his teammates. Otherwise, they would lose the game no matter how skillful each individual player might be. It is clear that competition has much to do with cooperation.

As far as Im concerned, I do not agree with the view that competition and cooperation are always in conflict with each other. In my opinion, while advocating competition, we should never forget cooperation. In our social life, cooperation is especially necessary because most work is fulfilled with or through other people. So Ive come to the conclusion that competition are equally important.

[高中生关于竞争与合作的英语作文

示例：

Dear_______,

I am . (自我介绍) I feel bad to trouble you but I am afraid that I have to make a complaint about_______.

The reason for my dissatisfaction is _______(总体介绍). In the first

place,_________(抱怨的第一个方面). In addition,____________(抱怨的第二个方面). Under these circumstances, I find it ___(感觉) to ___________(抱怨的方面给你带来的后果).

I appreciate it very much if you could________(提出建议和请求), preferably __________(进一步的要求), and I would like to have this matter settled by ______(设定解决事情最后期限).Thank you for your consideration and I will be looking forward to your reply.

Yours sincerely

Li Ming

我们要保护小动物，特别是小鸡这类弱小的动物，因为小鸡早晨可以叫我们起床，可以生一个又一个圆圆的的鸡蛋，还可以提供鸡肉给我们吃。

We need to protect the small animal, especially this kind of small animal chicken, because chicken morning to wake us up, can have a round egg, can also provide for us to eat chicken.

有一次，我和妈妈上菜市场，听见一位老奶奶在喊：“卖鸡了，今天的鸡又肥又嫩!”妈妈说：“今天，我们买一只鸡回家，炖汤喝。”我说：“好吧。”可又想了想：如果我们吃了鸡，那么就吃不到鸡蛋了，就对妈妈说：“不行，吃了鸡就没有鸡蛋吃了。”“傻孩子，你瞎操什么心啊!”妈妈不由分说地把我拉到卖鸡的那边。卖鸡的老奶奶正在杀鸡，只见她拔下鸡脖子上的毛，拿刀用力地在鸡脖子上划了几下。血喷向了四周，鸡挣扎了几下就死了。“太残忍了，我不要吃鸡!”我向妈妈大声的抗议。“好吧，不买了，我们就去买点蔬菜吧。”也许妈妈也觉得残忍，就同意了。

One time, my mother and I heard the food market, an old woman shouted: "chicken, chicken fat and tender today!" Mother said: "today, we bought a chicken soup to drink at home." I said: "OK." But think again: if we eat chicken, so cant eat the egg, the mother said: "no, not eat chicken egg to eat." "Silly boy, what do you care ah!" Mother allowing no explanation to put me into the chicken. The old woman was a chicken, she pulled out the hair on the neck, a knife in the neck with a few strokes under. Blood sprayed around chicken, struggled and died. "So cruel, I dont eat chicken!" I asked my mother loudly protested. "Well, do not buy, we went to buy some vegetables." Maybe mom was cruel, also agreed.

假如我们的生活中没有了动物，世界就会变得很孤独。我们要保护动物，从自身做起：少吃肉类食品，少穿皮衣毛衣;看见别人欺负动物，要勇敢地站出来劝说他们。

If we live without the animal, the world will become very lonely. We must protect the animal, start from their own: eat less meat, less wear fur sweaters; see others bully animal, we should stand up to persuade them.

保护动物，人人有责!

Animal protection, everyones responsibility!

导语：习主席的“一带一路”是实现国家富强、民族振兴、人民幸福的中国梦而提出的重大战略构想。下面是yuwenmi小编为大家整理的优秀英语作文，欢迎阅读与借鉴，谢谢!

Watching the news today, heard the news, xi jinping, the general secretary is put forward to build the Chinese dream "" area, all the way, I dont understand, ran to ask dad, dad wanted to think, said to me:" in the tang dynasty in China, there is a road, starting from the tang dynasty, the capital chang an, through central Asia, west Asia to Europe, he is a famous "silk road", businessmen through the silk road to China along the silk, porcelain, etc) to sell to people of the country, let them put on beautiful clothes, with exquisite tableware, at the same time also brought all kinds of treasures in other countries. This way is the path of trade, and is also a cultural exchange ".

I wanted to mean to say: "that can put the neighbourhood understanding all the way into the modern silk road, our China all kinds of household appliances, articles for daily use, to other countries, even to the laying of countries along the high-speed rail, build power plants, can also go to support African development of poor countries, such as construction, and then the rest of the oil, minerals, food etc. We need supplies home", the father nodded with a smile.

President xis "One Belt And One Road" is a major strategic vision proposed by the Chinese dream of national prosperity, national rejuvenation and the peoples happiness. The promotion of One Belt And One Road will surely create new opportunities for the realization of the Chinese dream and will bring more new strength and new vitality to the world.

I am Chinese, I have the "Chinese dream"!

【参考译文】

今天看新闻，听到一条新闻，习近平总书记提出“一带一路，筑中国梦”，我不太理解，就跑去问爸爸，爸爸想了想，对我说：“在中国的唐朝，有一条道路，从唐朝首都长安城出发，经过中亚、西亚直到欧洲，他就是大名鼎鼎的‘丝绸之路’，商人们通过丝绸之路把中国的丝绸、瓷器等东西卖给沿线国家的人们，让他们穿上漂亮的衣服，用上精美的餐具，同时也带来了其他国家的各种奇珍异宝。这条路是贸易之路，也是文化交流之路”。

我想了想说：“那可以把‘一带一路’理解成现代的丝绸之路，把我们中国的各种家电、生活用品，带去其他国家，甚至给沿线国家铺设高铁，建造发电厂，还可以去支持非洲等落后国家的发展建设，然后把其他国家的石油、矿产、粮食等我们需要的物资带回家”，爸爸笑着点了点头。

习主席的“一带一路”是实现国家富强、民族振兴、人民幸福的中国梦而提出的重大战略构想。推动实施一带一路，必将为实现中国梦开拓新局面、创造新机遇，必将给全世界加入更多新力量、新活力。

我是中国人，我有“中国梦”!

How to improve network security

As time goes ongoing surfing on the Internet become more and more popular.It is a new phenomenon and sounds an alarm (for online security ).

Network security cover anti- virus network security and hacker protection . Together with the technology of Access Control redundant backup recovery and network security it makes an allround security system . Many companies devote to the information security technology and product research and development production and sales providing advanced network security solutions . Firewall just is an effective measure of network security .如何提高网络安全

随着时间的推移，上网冲浪变得越来越流行，这是一个新的现象，听起来是一个警钟(在线安全)。

网络安全覆盖防病毒、网络安全和黑客保护。结合访问控制技术、冗余备份恢复、网络安全，它使一个全面的安全系统。许多公司致力于信息安全技术和产品的研发、生产和销售，提供先进的网络安全解决方案。防火墙只是是网络安全的一种有效措施。

导语：每个人都有自己的妈妈，你喜欢你的妈妈吗?下面是yuwenmi小编为大家整理的优秀英语作文，欢迎阅读与借鉴，谢谢!

My mother has no idea that her ninetieth birthday is coming up. She has no notion of the time of day, the day of the week. the season of the year, the year of the century. No notion of the approaching millennium. And no idea any longer, who I am. Her forgetting of me happened just a few months ago, after I had been traveling for more than a month and hadnt been to see her. When I came back, she asked me if I were her niece, l said no, I was her daughter. "Does that mean I had you?" she asked. 1 said yes. "Where was I when l had you?" she asked me. I told her she was in a hospital in Far Rockaway. New York. "So much has happened to me in my life." she said "You cant expect me to remember everything."

My mother was once a beautiful woman, but all her teeth are gone now. Toothless. No woman can be considered beautiful. Whenever I visit her in the nursing home, she is sitting at the table in the common dining room, her head in her hands, rocking. Medication has eased her anxiety, but nothing moves her from her stupor except occasional moments of fear, too deep for medication. This is a room that has no windows, that lets in no light, in which an overlarge TV is constantly blaring, sending images that no one looks at where the floors are beige tiles, the walls cream colored at the bottom, papered halfway up with a pattern of nearly invisible grayish leaves. Many of the residents sit staring, slack-jawed, open mouthed. I find it impossible to imagine what they might be looking at.

When I walk into the dining room on the day of my mothers birthday, I see that she has already been served lunch. The staff has forgotten to hold it back. Though I told them a week ago that I would be providing lunch. She hasn’t touched anything on her tray except a piece of carrot cake, which she holds in her hands. The icing is smeared on her hands and face. I dont want my friends to see her smeared with icing, so I wet a paper towel and wipe her. This fills me with a terrible tenderness, recalling, as it does. a gesture I have performed for my children. As I wipe my mothers face, I see that her skin is still beautiful I hold her chin in my hand and kiss her forehead. I tell her its her birthday, that shes ninety years old. "How did that happen?" she asks. "I cant understand how that could happen."

l have brought her a bouquet of crimson, yellow, and salmon-pink snapdragons. She likes the flowers very much. She likes the name. "Snapdragons. It seems like an animal thats going to bite inc. But its not an animal, its a plant. Thats a funny thing,"

I have bought food that I hope will please my mother, and that will be easy for her to eat: orzo salad with little pieces of crayfish cut into it, potato salad, small chunks of marinated tomatoes. I have bought paper plates with a rust-colored background, upon which are painted yellow and gold flowers and blue leaves.

My friends Nola and Gary come for my mothers birthday. When we are about to leave, I tell my mother that Im going on vacation, mat I wont see her for three weeks, that 1 am going to the sea. "How will I stand that, how will I stand thats she says, but I know that a minute after I’m gone shell forget I was there.