Outside our hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, a seemingly ancient woman waited beside the door with her hand outstretched. Every day I put my hand in hers as our eyes met. She never failed to return my smile, my grasp, and my greeting.
On the last day of our visit, I found myself alone on a busy corner across the street from our hotel. Bicycles and motorbikes rushed in front of me. As I hesitated on the sidewalk, I felt a hand on my elbow and looked down to see the smile of my small beggar friend looking up at me. She nodded her head toward the street, indicating that she would take me across. Together, we moved slowly into the chaos.
Then we moved on toward the sidewalk, where she pulled my face down to hers, kissed me on both cheeks, and then left, still smiling and waving back to me.
Traveling in poorer nations, I have witnessed a variety of ways to deal with beggars. The most common response of tourists faced with the poverty-stricken is to ignore them and focus their eyes elsewhere. I have seen people push away an outstretched hand in angry annoyance. A few may drop a few coins into the hand in a hurry, hoping that other ragged pursuers won’t immediately appear on the scene.
For many reasons, giving money is not the best response to an outstretched hand. Many world travelers have discovered that the greatest gift they can give is their time and respect. Everyone needs recognition, to be seen as worthy of being known, to feel appreciated and loved. And I believe that everyone is worthy and worth knowing.
小题1:The woman beggars helped the author go across the busy street because __________.
A．the author gave her material assistance
B．the author treated her kindly and friendly
C．the author would help her as a reward
D．the author was a foreigner小题2:From the story, what position of the beggars in the author’s mind might be?
A．equal
B．superior
C．lower
D．valuable小题3:In common cases, people will do the following things to the beggars EXCEPT for ________.
A．pretending to see nothing
B．handing out some money
C．refusing them angrily
D．greeting them normally小题4:According to the author, the most important things beggars really need are _________.
A．mercy and pity
B．money and food
C．smile and greeting
D．attention and respect小题5:The purpose of the passage is to _________.
A．show how poor the beggars are in Vietnam
B．offer some advice on dealing with begging
C．express what we should offer the beggars
D．describe an experience with a beggar
