When I was young, I lived in a small village in Melaka. The spirit of neighborliness was very strong then. The village had a variety of trades to serve the needs of the villagers. There was a barber, tailor, coffee shop owner, grocer, and so on. All of us were quite poor but we got by. However, one family which could be considered as living a marginal existence was the Lim family living in the bicycle shop opposite our dwelling.
Mr. Lim, the bicycle mechanic, had a large brood of children — twelve to be exact. My mother was a kind-hearted soul. Often, she would remark that his children were dressed in ragged clothes and looked malnourished (营养不良的). My family was relatively better off in the village. My parents would bring over whatever food we could spare to the Lim family.
I remember one particular year when times were very hard. Even my family had to make do with two meals a day. We stopped the practice of giving food to Mr. Lim. One day, I noticed my mother looking troubled. She had learned that the Lim family had not been eating for the past two days. She decided to sacrifice a portion of our meals to the family despite the protests (抗议) from my brothers that were too hungry. Fortunately, the lean spell (困难时期) did not last long, and the children in our family resumed our three meals a day again.
As time went on, the number of customers at Lim's shop had increased rapidly. Business at his shop took off like a rocket as Japanese bikes were very useful and popular for transport. They were much better off than before.
It was at this time that my father's health was worsening. We were confused by the mysterious illness he was suffering from. Because of lack of attention to his provision shop (食品店), the business became worse. My father then sold our family car to pay off the mounting bills. My brothers and I had to stop schooling because we could not afford the fees.
注意：1.续写词数应为150左右；2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
They say that one good deed deserves another.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________With the help of Mr. Lim, the situation in my family took a turn for the better.
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