고등학교 영어Ⅰ (NE능률 오선영) 연계 글

Last April, after weeks of persistent begging, my seven-year-old sister, Haon, won the privilege of walking to school alone. That same week, Grandpa took up birdwatching, though the only bird he had ever cared about was the chicken in his soup. Every weekday at seven forty-five sharp, he set off with Dad's old binoculars and a pocket notebook. He came back an hour later, humming and more cheerful than we had seen him in years.

Grandpa assured us that he was studying a rare bird that lived around the stepping stones on the stream near our apartment. It was small but remarkably loud, wore a bright yellow cap, and preferred hopping to flying. Oddly, it kept a strict routine: it crossed the stream at about ten past eight, greeted the ducks, and never appeared on weekends.

Eager to see the bird for myself, I consulted three field guides and several birdwatching websites. When I offered to accompany him, Grandpa refused, insisting that the bird was so shy that it would vanish at the sight of a stranger. Mom suspected that he was simply lonely and kept urging him to join a chess club. By late April, I had concluded that the bird must have existed only in Grandpa's imagination.

One Wednesday in May, my exam started late, so I walked to school along the trail by the stream. Soon I spotted Grandpa crouching behind a willow near the stepping stones, with his binoculars aimed not at the treetops but at the water. Midstream, a small figure in a yellow cap was hopping from one stone to the next, pausing to greet the ducks. It was Haon. Peeking at his notebook, I read the latest entry: "8:11, crossed safely, greeted the ducks, waved at the willow again, probably at a sparrow."

With a sigh, Grandpa confessed that his head had agreed she was ready to walk alone, but his heart had not. "A grandfather who follows a child to school is a worrier," he explained, "but a grandfather with binoculars is a scientist." Before I left, he made me promise to keep his research a secret.

That evening, Haon proudly announced that she had walked to school alone every weekday for a month. She then revealed her own secret: every morning she waved at the willow because Grandpa concealed himself behind it and pretended to watch birds. Grandpa suddenly became very interested in his soup, and none of us could keep a straight face. The rare bird, it turned out, had been watching the birdwatcher all along.