Last year,Karen Wooldridge and his friend Laura Hogan had an idea: Take unsold flowers which will be thrown away and send them to old people.“We started working on our kitchen island, and we were really proud of sending flowers,“Wooldridge said. Soon, Hogan added,“We developed.”
Now, they send a thousand unsold bunches of flowers a month, with 150 volunteers working five days a week. Their organization,Bluebirds &. Blooms,is named after their childhood youth troupe(剧团)The Bluebirds.Their flowers brighten 30 communities—mostly homes for seniors who are losing their memories.
Vellie Larson has lost some of her memories, but her daughter Karen Schwartz was in the same Bluebirds troupe as Wooldridge and Hogan, and Larson taught them all music.“When they send flowers to her,”Schwartz said,“She’ll describe them to me and give me a flower report every day.”
“The flowers are also a hint that someone cares,”said Shery Hassan, the center’s director.“They’re sad, and just having such a simple thing as a bunch of flowers brightens their days,”Hassan said.“Families will come in, and they’ll say,’Oh who got you flowers?This is beautiful.’And it says’Thinking of you.’The seniors can just say,’Oh,somebody was thinking of me!’”
For Wooldridge,the act of kindness brings back great memories of her father,who had Alzheimer’s(老年痴呆).“I know he would have loved visits from these women,”Wooldridge said. And while some might find it difficult to work so closely with those fighting with memory loss, Hogan said,“It makes us happy. We’re doing something good.”
4. What idea did Wooldridge and Hogan have last year?
A.Making profits by recycling unsold flowers. |
B.Turning unsold flowers into gifts for seniors. |
C.Aiding seniors by selling flowers for a living. |
D.Recovering lost memories by sending flowers. |
5. What can we learn about Bluebirds &.Blooms?
A.It sends flowers on a day-to-day basis. |
B.It is named after a best children’s drama. |
C.It has grown into a national organization. |
D.It mainly serves the old with memory loss. |
6. What does the underlined word“hint”in Paragraph 4 mean?
A.Reminder. | B.Commitment. | C.Responsibility. | D.Routine. |
7. How do the flowers influence the receivers?
A.They promote family harmony. |
B.They make their life worthwhile. |
C.They cure them of their diseases. |
D.They create a sense of well-being. |