When you are little, the whole world feels like a big playground．I was living in Conyers, Georgia the summer it all happened．I was a second grader, but my best friend Stephanie was only in the first grade．Both of our parents were at work and most of the time they let us go our own way．

It was a hot afternoon and we decided to have an adventure in Stephanie' s basement．As I opened the basement door, before us lay the biggest room, full of amazing things like guns, dolls, and old clothes．I ran downstairs,and spotted a red steel can．It was paint．I looked beyond it and there lay even more paint in bright colors like purple, orange, blue and green．

"Stephanie, I just found us a project for the day．Get some paintbrushes．We are fixing to paint．"She screamed with excitement as I told her of my secret plans and immediately we got to work．We gathered all the brushes we could find and moved all of our materials to my yard．There on the road in

front of my house, we painted bit stripes(条纹) of colors across the pavement(人行道)．Stripe by stripe,our colors turned into a beautiful rainbow．It was fantastic!

The sun was starting to sink．I saw a car in the distance and jumped up as I recognized the car．It was my mother．I couldn' t wait to show her my masterpiece．The car pulled slowly into the driveway and from the look on my mother' s face, I could tell that I was in deep trouble．

My mother shut the car door and walked towards me．Her eyes glaring, she shouted, " What in the world were you thinking? I understood when you made castles out of leaves, and climbed the neighbors' trees, but this ! Come inside right now !" I stood there glaring back at her for a minute, angry because she had insulted(侮辱) my art．

"Now go to clean it up!" Mother and I began cleaning the road．Tears ran down my cheeks as I saw my beautiful rainbow turn into black cement．

Though years have now passed, ! still wonder where my rainbow has gone．I wonder if, maybe when I get older, I can find my rainbow and never have to brush it away．I guess we all need sort of rainbow to brighten our lives from time to time and to keep our hopes and dreams colorful．

It can be learned from the passage that parents should_______．

• A.encourage children to paint
• B.value friendship among children
• C.discover the hidden talent in children
• D.protect rather than destroy children' s dreams