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第十七组(建议用时：25分钟)阅读理解A The lights go out—another power failure.“Get the candles，” Mom says, and I do.My younger brother and I search every room to collect the tall candles and votives (烛台) spaced around the house.I hurry from shelf to shelf gathering wax(蜡) sticks in my arms and place them in the living room, t really, I am enjoying the stillness.I like to watch the candle burn and feel that life is simple.I like to look out of the window into an immediate darkness unspoiled by unpleasant light.I love these silent moments when I feel as if I can live the way they lived, the people of the past—the Egyptians，the Pilgrims(朝圣者), ght, in this disturbed state, is the closest a person can get to experiencing the past. So, what was night really like for them? Night, as we know it now, is a pleasant, loving thing compared to the incomprehensible darkness that covered Earth抯 first peoptle.Even its beauty seemed unmatched. What did a farmer抯 family do at night?e Of course, the darkness must have brought them together, forced them into each other抯 company as it has done to us tonight梔eveloped a close relationship in a time of fear and pluncertainty.A fire probably burnt brightly in a central room where the family gathered to talk and relax. Night was a time when men and women were liberated from work and socialized.They had no computers or TVs, and had to make do with books, religion, and conversation.At their bedside, they prayed to God, and felt a sense of security that they were out of the darkness and harm抯 reach. | 
