Compassion is a desire within us to help others. With effort, we can translate compassion into actions. An experience last weekend showed me this is true. I work part-time in a supermarket across from a building for the elderly. These old people are our main customers, and it’s not hard to lose patience over their slowness. But last Sunday, one aged gentleman appeared to teach me a valuable lesson. This untidy man walked up to my register(收款机)with a box of biscuits. He said he was out of cash (现金), had just moved into his room, and had nothing in his cupboards. He asked if we could let him have the food on trust. He promised to repay me the next day.
I couldn’t help staring at him. I wondered what kind of person he had been ten or twenty years before, and what he would be like if luck had gone his way. I had a hurt in my heart for this kind of human soul, all alone in the world. I told him that I was sorry, but store rules didn’t allow me to do so. I felt stupid and unkind saying this, but I valued my job.
Just then, another man, standing behind the first, spoke up. If anything, he looked more pitiable. “Charge it to me,” was all he said.
What I had been feeling was pity. Pity is soft and safe and easy. Compassion, on the other hand, is caring in action. I thanked the second man but told him that was not allowed either. Then I reached into my pocket and paid for the biscuits myself. I reached into my pocket because these two men had reached into my heart and taught me compassion.
1.The aged gentleman who wanted to buy the biscuits_________ .
A. hoped to have the food first and pay later
B. promised to obey the store rules
C. forgot to take any money with him
D. could not afford anything more expensive
2.Which of the following best describes the old gentleman?
A. kind and lucky B. friendly and helpful
C. poor and lonely D. hurt and disappointed
3.The writer acted upon the store rules because_________ .
A. he felt no pity for the old gentleman
B. he considered the old man dishonest
C. he expected someone else to pay for the old man
D. he wanted to keep his present job
4.What does the writer learn from his experience?
A. Wealth is more important than anything else
B. Experience is better gained through practice
C. Obeying the rules means more than compassion.
D. Helping others is easier said than done
Dear Michelle,
Why can't my daughter manage her life better? She is 17 and an honor student, but she seems to be wasting her life away with a boyfriend who is holding her back.
He consumes every waking minute of her precious time and smooth-talks her as well.
His goal is to get her to agree to go to the college of his choice, not her choice, and because his grades are lower, his choice will be limited.
A worried mother
Dear Mother of a 17-year-old Girl,
Hmmmmm. What's the matter with kids today? Remember that song from "Bye Bye Birdie"?
Well if you do not, let me fill you in about teenagers and their life-management skills. Do not expect too much too soon because at the ripe age of 17, life-management is not within their reach, nor should it be.
Life experience creates both the conditions and the skills for management, and if management went before experience, there would be little of it.
Your daughter is an honor student for good reasons. She is smart, studies with intelligence and you have given her good values.
When the time comes for her to apply for college, and she visits the ones that are specifically designed for students at the top of their grade, she will most likely break away from her boyfriend's influence.
It is rare for an honor student to change the path of their academic career for puppy love. That being said, there might be some adolescent wisdom in her behavior after all.
Perhaps she is choosing to worry you, her parents, for unconscious reasons. Being such a good girl and being a steady source of joy might have become a bit too much for her.
Let your daughter have her own private moment of 11th grade rebellion. She deserves a break from perfection.
Michelle
1.From the mother's letter we can learn that her daughter _________ . .
A. is being fooled by the boy
B. has fallen behind in her studies
C. doesn't talk much with her mother
D. has chosen which college to attend
2. According to Michelle, 17-year-old teenagers _________ . .
A. are too young to manage their life
B. are old enough to live their own life
C. should have management before experience
D. have reached the age of an adult
3.The underlined word "puppy-love" refer to_________ . .
A. false love B. foolish love C. pure love D. adolescent love
4.Michelle seems to believe that the daughter will finally_________ . .
A. come up with the right decision
B. follow her boyfriend's advice
C. worry her parents for unconscious reasons
D. influence her boyfriend's behavior
What is intelligence anyway? When I was in the army I_____an intelligence test that all soldiers took, and, against _____of 100, scored 160.
I had an auto-repair man once, who, on these intelligence tests, could not ______ have scored more than 80. ____, when anything went wrong with my car I hurried to him -- and he always _____ it.
Well, then, suppose my auto-repair man____questions for some intelligence tests. By every one of them I'd prove myself a _____. In a world where I have to work with my ____, I'd do poorly.
Consider my auto-repair man_____.He had a habit of telling ____. One time he said, "Doe. a deaf-and-dumb (����) man______some nails. Having entered a store, he put two fingers together on the counter and made ______ movements with the other hand. The clerk brought him a hammer. He ______ his head and pointed to the two fingers he was hammering. The clerk ______ him some nails. He picked out the right size and left. Well, Doe. the______man who came in was blind. He wanted scissors. ______ do you suppose he asked for them?" I lifted my right hand and made scissoring movements with my first two fingers. He burst out laughing and said, "Why, you fool, he used his ______ and asked for them. I've been ______ that on all my customers today, but I knew ______ I'd catch you." "Why is that?" I asked. "Because you are so goddamned educated, Dr. I knew you couldn't be very______.
And I have an uneasy feeling he had something there.
1.A. failed B. wrote C. received D. chose
2.A. an average B. a total C. an exam D. a number
3.A. always B. possibly C. certainly D. frequently
4.A. Then B. Thus C. Therefore D. Yet
5.A. fixed B. checked C. drove D. changed
6.A. answered B. practised C. designed D. tried
7.A. teacher B. doctor C. winner D. fool
8.A. brains B. effort C. hands D. attention
9.A. again B. as usual C. too D. as well
10.A. lies B. jokes C. news D. tales
11.A. bought B. tested C. found D. needed
12.A. cutting B. hammering C. waving D. circling
13.A. nodded B. raised C. shook D. turned
14.A. brought B. packed C. sent D. sold
15.A. clever B. other C. right D. next
16.A. What B. How C. Who D. Which
17.A. imagination B. hand C. voice D. information
18.A. trying B. proving C. practising D. examining
19.A. for sure B. at once C. in fact D. right now
20.A. clear B. silly C. slow D. smart
Everyone in the village is very friendly. It doesn’t matter ___ you have lived there for a short or a long time.
A. why B. how C. when D. whether
She has never done anything for them, _______ they have done everything for her.
A. when B. whereas C. as D. because
You can’t expect a baby to ________ your existing routine.
A. fit in with B. fit on C. fit up with D. fit in