I Have Two Names
Oyindasola means “Honey poured into my wealth.” It's a fairly common Nigerian (尼日利亚的) name, mainly used for girls.____1____, I’m known as Oyindasola, but my nickname is Chelsea. Some ask why I don’t use my real ____2____ and I tell them what my father told me: a story about him ____3____ Chelsea, South West London a year after I was born. I tell them that this nickname spoke to him so much that it ____4____ on every birthday cake of mine.
When I was seven, inside the brick walls of our townhouse in New York, we decided to ____5____ to Nigeria. And my mother needed to know what my family there would call me. The nickname I’d been called for as long as I could ____6____ or the complex name on my passport? A simple question. But it tore me apart.
A week later we found ourselves at an airport with groups of Nigerians speaking as we ____7____ for our cab. After a week of getting used to the spicier foods, and sharper scents, I fell into ____8____. Soon, my memories of Disney in America were ____9____ with sounds of Nigerian music. My tongue grew heavier with a Nigerian _____10_____, and the words shared between my mother and grandmother in their native tongue finally _____11_____. But I still wasn't Nigerian enough. Their unfriendly looks and _____12_____ were a constant reminder of who I was: an American girl with the westernized name. So I wasn't _____13_____ sad when my mother announced our back to America for her work.
On the first day of middle school in America, _____14_____ coursed through me because I knew my birth name wouldn't _____15_____ the attendance list just as I couldn’t fail to draw others’ attention. I was _____16_____ when the teacher mispronounced my painfully long name and my classmates laughed.
But with every passing year, came new _____17_____. Every new attendance roll (考勤) call was responded with a braver voice and a _____18_____ smile. That long name, mispronounced or not, is mine. The Nigerian accent slipping through is mine. Who I am is simple: a Nigerian girl with _____19_____ to the American dream, a girl with two _____20_____ and two names.
1. A. Luckily B. Frankly C. Legally D. Obviously
2. A. origin B. name C. identity D. signature
3. A. visiting B. describing C. abandoning D. leaving
4. A. competed B. happened C. passed D. appeared
5. A. drive B. move C. pace D. walk
6. A. imagine B. predict C. remember D. survive
7. A. headed B. answered C. changed D. turned
8. A. conversations B. chaos C. desperation D. routine
9. A. connected B. replaced C. faced D. decorated
10. A. recreation B. lifestyle C. accent D. diet
11. A. made sense B. took shape C. died away D. ran out
12. A. gifts B. decisions C. negotiations D. remarks
13. A. rarely B. really C. perfectly D. nervously
14. A. anxiety B. disappointment C. rudeness D. shock
15. A. form B. throw C. ruin D. escape
16. A. guilty B. regretful C. embarrassed D. confused
17. A. sympathy B. confidence C. generosity D. honesty
18. A. kinder B. weaker C. wider D. friendlier
19. A. reaction B. objection C. response D. access
20. A. languages B. advantages C. degrees D. occupations
