Kathy Fletcher and David Simpson have a son named Santi. He has a friend who sometimes goes to school hungry. So Santi invites him to occasionally eat and sleep at his house.
That friend has a friend and that friend has a friend, and now when you go to dinner at Kathy and David's house on Thursday night there might be 15 to 20 teenagers gathering around the table, and later there will be groups of them crashing in the basement or in the small bedrooms upstairs. The kids who show up at Kathy and David's have suffered the pains of modern poverty: homelessness, hunger and abuse.
And yet by some miracle, hostile soil has produced beautiful flowers. Kids come from around the city. Spicy chicken and black rice are served. Cellphones are banned. The kids who call Kathy and David“Momma”and “Dad”, are polite and do the dishes. Birthdays and graduations are celebrated. Songs are performed. At each meal they go around the table and everybody has to say something nobody else knows about him. At each meal the kids show their promise to care for one another.
The adults in this community give the kids the chance to present their gifts.“At my first dinner, Edd read a poem that I first thought was from Langston Hughes, but it turned out to be his own. Kesari has a voice that somehow appears from New Orleans jazz in the 1920s. Madeline and Thalya form a friendship as if it were the highest art form,”George said.
“They give us a gift—complete intolerance of social distance. When I first met Edd,I held out myhand to shake his. He looked at it and said, ‘We hug here', and we' ve been hugging since,”Kesari said.
Bill Milliken, a veteran youth activist, is often asked which programs turn around kids' lives. “I still haven't seen one program change one kid's life,”he says.“What changes people is the relationship. Somebody is willing to walk through the shadow of the valley of adolescence.”Souls are not saved in bundles. Love is the necessary force.
1. Why do kids come to Kathy and David's house on Thursdays?| A．To help the homeless at first hand. |
| B．To experience the feeling of home. |
| C．To learn about the modern poverty |
| D．To plant beautiful flowers in poor soil. |
| A．Kids need to tell stories about themselves. |
| B．Kids are expected to care more for each other. |
| C．Kids have to share housework around the home. |
| D．Kids prepare songs for birthdays and graduations. |
| A．The practice of the art form. |
| B．The pleasure of enjoying jazz. |
| C．The chance to listen to poems. |
| D．The zero distance between souls. |
| A．Love has the power to change a kid's life. |
| B．Money is needed to start programs for kids. |
| C．A program can change a group of kids' lives. |
| D．Kids change their relationships in a program. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】How many of us have heard that question, “Where was GOD when the World Trade Center (世贸中心) and the Pentagon (五角大楼) were attacked?” Well, I know where my GOD was the morning of September 11, 2001, and He was very busy!
He was trying to discourage anyone from taking these flights. Those four flights together held over 1000 passengers and there were only 266 aboard.
He was on 4 commercial flights giving frightened passengers the ability to stay calm. Not one of the family members who were called by a loved one on one of the hijacked (被劫持的) planes said that passengers were screaming in the background. On one of the flights he was giving strength to passengers to try to overtake the hijackers.
He was busy trying to create obstacles (阻碍) for employees at the World Trade Center. After all, only around 20,000 were at the towers when the first jet hit. Since the buildings held over 50,000 workers, this was a Miracle in itself. How many of the people who were employed at the World Trade Center told the media that they were late for work or they had traffic delays.
He was holding up 2-110 story buildings so that 2/3 of the workers could get out. I was so amazed that the top of the towers didn’t fall when the jets crashed. And when they did fall, GOD made them fall inward, as many more lives would have been lost.
So when anyone asks, “Where was your GOD on September 11,” you can say “everywhere”! And yes, although this is without a doubt the worst thing I have seen in my life, I see God’s miracles in every bit of it. I can’t imagine going through such a difficult time and not believing in GOD — life would be hopeless. So shines a good deed in a weary world!
1. In what way the author tried to prove his point in the passage?| A．By telling a story. | B．By giving examples. |
| C．By answering questions. | D．By performing experiments. |
| A．There were three planes together hijacked in the attack. |
| B．The passengers on the planes were not frightened at all. |
| C．Many people working at WTC were delayed by traffic jams on Sept. 11. |
| D．Many more people were killed in the buildings than we could imagine. |
| A．Something funny. | B．Something important. |
| C．Something reliable. | D．Something unbelievable. |
| A．Everyone has a GOD. |
| B．Where was the GOD? |
| C．Never forget September 11 |
| D．September 11 — A Disaster To America |
【推荐2】Selena Gomez’s mother, Mandy Teefey, has opened up about her daughter’s kidney transplant in a touching Instagram post.
Over the weekend, Teefey shared a photo of Gomez with best friend and kidney donor Francia Raisa in the hospital. It was the same photo that the ＂Fetish＂ singer shared last week when she first revealed the news of her kidney transplant.
＂This picture is one of the most impressive images that will live with me forever,＂ Teefey wrote. ＂For all those moments of not knowing if we were going up or going down, I can always come back to this picture and know we can always make it back up.＂
＂As a mother I was helpless, scared and all I could do was pray for both of them, Francia’s beautiful family,＂ she continued, before joking, ＂I am pretty sure I am banned from that hospital. Mama Bear was in high gear.＂
Teefey went on to say that while her daughter gained a kidney, she herself gained another daughter in Raisa. She then made sure to thank everyone for their support.
＂We survived from all the love, prayers and God,＂ she wrote.
Teefey’s post comes just a few days after Gomez went public with the news. In her own post on Instagram, Gomez thanked her ＂incredible team of doctors for everything they have done for me before and after surgery.＂
＂There aren’t words to describe how I can possibly thank my beautiful friend Francia Raisa,＂ she added. ＂She gave me the ultimate gift and sacrificed by donating her kidney to me. I am incredibly blessed. I love you so much, Sister.＂
Raisa also opened up about the surgery, posting the same photo on Instagram and writing, ＂I am beyond grateful that God would trust me with something that not only saved a life, but changed mine in the process.＂
Both Gomez and Raisa have said that there is more to their story, which they plan on sharing soon.
1. What is Gomez?| A．A writer. | B．An editor. | C．A photographer. | D．A singer. |
| A．She prayed for them. |
| B．She gave away her money. |
| C．She sought for a better hospital. |
| D．She tried to comfort her daughter. |
| A．She gave birth to another girl. |
| B．Her daughter regained a new life. |
| C．She regarded the donator as her daughter. |
| D．Her another daughter was found soon. |
| A．Wealth. | B．Gratefulness. | C．Pride. | D．Generosity. |
Right as I was about to give up, a truck stopped and a man got off. He sized up the situation and went back to take a jack. After about two hours, we finished the job with sweats. We were both dirty. His wife produced a large water jug for us to wash our hands in.
I tried to put $20 in the man’s hand, but he wouldn’t take it, so instead I went up and gave it to his wife as quietly as I could. I thanked them up one side and down the other. I asked the little girl, their daughter, where they lived, thinking maybe I’d send them a gift. She said they lived in Mexico. They were in Oregon now so Mommy and Daddy could pick cherries for the next few weeks. After that, they were going to pick peaches, and then go back home.
After I said my goodbyes and started walking back to the Jeep, the girl called out and asked if I’d had lunch. When I told her no, she ran up and handed me a tamale（玉米粽子）. I thanked them again and walked back to my car. When I opened the tamale, what did I find inside? My $20 bill! I ran to the van and the guy rolled down his window. He saw the $20 in my hand, started shaking his head smiling, and with what looked like great concentration said in English: “Today you, tomorrow me.” Then he rolled up his window and drove away, with his daughter waving to me from the back.
This family, working on a seasonal basis where time is money, took a couple of hours to help a stranger while others passed by quietly.
Since then I’ve helped many people like the Mexican family. I didn’t accept money. But every time I was able to help, I felt as if I was putting something in the bank.
1. From the passage we know that __________.
| A．the Mexican man couldn’t speak English |
| B．the author’s car broke down on the road |
| C．the Mexican family came to Oregon for a visit |
| D．$20 was a small amount for the Mexican family |
| A．Because the man had refused to accept it. |
| B．Because the man’s wife needn’t wash her hands. |
| C．Because the author thought the Mexican family was poor. |
| D．Because the author thought the man’s wife would take it. |
| A．it was completely wrong for others to pass by quietly |
| B．it was quite easy to help the author mend the jeep |
| C．it was possible that everyone might get into trouble |
| D．the author was a polite stranger and deserved the help |
| A．He hated those who didn’t offer help. |
| B．He would send a present to the family soon. |
| C．He wondered why they didn’t take the money. |
| D．He considered helping others as saving money in the bank. |
| A．The Mexican family lived a richer life than the author. |
| B．The Mexican family did seasonal work in Oregon each year. |
| C．The author was inspired to help others by the Mexican family. |
| D．What made the writer moved was the tamale given by the girl. |
