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When a tornado touched down in a small town nearby, many families were left completely destroyed. Afterward all the local newspapers carried many human-interest stories featuring some of the families who suffered the hardest.
One Sunday, a particular picture especially touched me. A young woman stood in front of an entirely
shattered mobile home, a depressed expression twisting her features. A young boy, seven or eight years
old, stood at her side, eyes downcast. Clutching (紧握) at her skirt was a tiny girl who stared into the
camera, eyes wide with confusion and fear.
The article that went with the picture gave the clothing sizes of each family member. With growing
interest, I noticed that their sizes closely matched ours. This would be a good opportunity to teach my
children to help those less fortunate than themselves. I taped the picture of the young family to our
refrigerator, explaining their difficulty to my seven-year-old twins, Brad and Brett, and to three- year-old Meghan.
" We have so much. And these poor people now have nothing," I said."We'll share what we have with
them."
I brought three large boxes down from the room upstairs and placed them on the living room floor.
Meghan watched seriously, as the boys and I filled one of the boxes with canned goods and foods.
While I sorted through our clothes, I encouraged the boys to go through their toys and donate some of
their less favorite things. Meghan watched quietly as the boys piled up discarded toys and games.
"I'll help you find something for the little girl when I'm done with this," I said.
The boys placed the toys they had chosen to donate into one of the boxes while I filled the third box
with clothes. Meghan walked up with Lucy, her worn, faded, much-loved rag doll hugged tightly to her
chest. She paused in front of the box that held the toys, pressed her round little face into Lucy's flat, painted-on-face, gave her a final kiss, then laid her gently on top of the other toys.
"Oh, Honey," I said."You don't have to give Lucy. You love her so much."
Meghan nodded seriously, eyes glistening with held-back tears. '"Lucy makes me happy, Mommy.
Maybe she'll make that other little girl happy, too．"
Swallowing hard, I stared at Meghan for a long moment, wondering how I could teach the boys the
lesson she had just taught me. For I suddenly realized that anyone can give their cast-offs away. True
generosity is giving that which you value most.
Honest benevolence (善行) is a three-year-old offering a valuable, though shabby, doll to a little girl
she doesn't know with the hope that it will bring this child as much pleasure as it brought her. I, who had
wanted to teach, had been taught.
The boys had watched, open-mouthed, as their baby sister placed her favorite doll in the box. Without a word, Brad rose and went to his room. He came back carrying one of his favorite action figures. He
hesitated briefly, clutching the toy, then looked over at Meghan and placed it in the box next to Lucy.
A slow smile spread across Brett's face. Then he jumped up, eyes twinkling as he ran to fetch some
of his prized Matchbox cars.
Astonished, I realized that the boys had also recognized what little Meghan's gesture meant.
Swallowing back tears, I pulled all three of them into my arms.
Taking the cue from my little one, I removed my old jacket from the box of clothes. I replaced it with the
new hunter green jacket that I had found on sale last week. I hoped the young woman in the picture would love it as much as I did.
It's easy to give that which we don't want any more, but harder to let go of things we cherish, isn't it?
However, the true spirit of giving is to give with your heart..
1. Why does the author give a detailed description of a particular picture in the Sunday newspaper?
A. To create an atmosphere of fear and depression brought by the tornado.
B. To appeal to unconcerned people to donate for the poor families.
C. To show the helplessness and hopelessness of the family mentioned in the paper.
D. To stress what touched her and made her decide to help the hopeless family.
2. Why did Brad and Brett also donate their favorite things finally?
A. They were encouraged to donate some valuable things by the mother.
B. Meghan's decision inspired them to donate their favorite things.
C. They also wanted to show generosity by giving away their valuable things.
D. Meghan's gesture reminded them to replace their favorite things with new ones.
3. By " swallowing hard", the writer means that _ _ .
A. she was deeply puzzled by what the little girl did
B. she had trouble persuading Meghan not to give away Lucy
C. she was greatly moved by Meghan's unexpected decision
D. she was uncertain what consequences Meghan's action would bring about
4. It is suggested in the sentence "the true spirit of giving is to give with your heart" that ______.
A. sincere donation means offering help to others whole-heartedly
B. true giving means giving others what you treasure most
C. true generosity means helping others at the cost of your own benefit
D. honest benevolence means devoting yourself to the career of donation
5. What's the best title for this passage?
A. The Greatest Love
B. A Beautiful Heart
C. True Generosity
D. A Precious Gift
