Being online is no
2 . “If you could have any three things, what would you want?”
Eleven-year-old Ruby Kate Chitsey loves asking that question, but it’s not a game she plays at recess（课间）. She asks it at nursing homes in the Harrison, Arkansas, where she lives. Even more amazing, she then sets out to make the residents’ wishes come true.
Ruby Kate often tags along with her mother, Amanda, who works at nursing home in the summer. “I’ve never found them scary at all, so I’m able to just go up to them and ask if they need anything,” she says.
Last May, Ruby K ate noticed a resident named Pearl staring out a window. She seemed sad. “What are you looking at?” Ruby Kate asked. Pearl said she was watching her dog being led away by his new owner after a visit. Pearl didn’t know when she would see her dog again. Pearl was a medicaid recipient, who got only $40 a month to spend on personal items. Ruby Kate and Amanda asked around and discovered that many residents are unable to afford even the smallest luxuries. So Ruby Kate decided to do something about it.
She started by asking residents what three things they wanted most. “That’s a lot simpler than going, ‘Hey, what do you want?’” she explains. “They can understand you better.” Amanda worried that people would ask for things an 11-year-old wouldn’t be able to provide. Instead, they asked for chocolate bars, McDonald’s fries, and even just a prayer.
“It broke me as a human,” Amanda says. “We left the nursing home that day and went straight to a store and bought as many items as we could.”
Using their own money, the Chitseys granted the wishes of about 100 people in three months. Then they started asking for donations. The good people of Harrison responded enthusiastically, and they raised $20,000 in 24 hours and more than $250,000 in five months.
1. Why does Ruby often ask the same question?| A．She likes hearing everyone’s stories. |
| B．It makes her famous in the community. |
| C．She finds it amusing to repeat the question. |
| D．She wants to help residents in nursing homes. |
| A．Pearl was in good health. | B．Pearl couldn’t afford to keep her dog. |
| C．Pearl was too old to raise a dog. | D．Pearl sold her dog for small luxuries. |
| A．The residents’ gratitude for Amanda’s assistance. |
| B．The popularity Ruby achieved for her good deeds. |
| C．The simplicity and sincerity of the residents’ requests. |
| D．The residents’ enthusiasm and optimism in difficult times. |
| A．Action speak louder than words. | B．A friend in need is a friend indeed. |
| C．Kindness is the language of the heart. | D．Nothing is difficult to a willing heart. |
8 . The benefits of gratitude have long been championed in religious and philosophical thinking. In recent years, the science has been catching up: it shows that people who feel most grateful generally get a psychological boost as a result. They also have greater life satisfaction, fewer visits to the doctor and better sleep. This has led to gratitude becoming part of our daily routine, starting a trend of gratitude journals, in which you record things you are thankful for, and meditation practices in which you focus thoughts on them. However, the benefits of actually expressing this gratitude have received less attention. Now evidence is stacking up that shows turning our inner gratitude into action can make our lives even better.
For instance, a simple thank you can build relationships, even with strangers. Take people who have received a note of thanks for something they have done from a peer they don’t know. They are more likely to share their contact details with that person in an attempt to continue the relationship than people who receive a note that doesn’t contain thanks. A simple thank you seems to signal interpersonal warmth.
Expressing gratitude to a friend also changes your view of that relationship, making it feel stronger. In 2010, Nathaniel Lambert, at Florida State University, and his colleagues found that people who simply thought grateful thoughts about a friend, or even took part in positive interactions with them, didn’t experience the same effects.
But the benefits go further than just strengthening social bonds, they can have an impact on health, too. A study of more than 200 nurses working in two Italian hospitals found that gratitude expressed by patients could protect nurses from burnout. That was especially so in the emergency room, where personal interactions with patients are typically shorter and less rewarding. This positive feedback from patients reduced feelings of exhaustion among nurses, says Mara Martini at the University of Turin, who carried out the work.
1. What do the underline words “stacking up” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．disappearing | B．approaching. | C．ringing. | D．increasing. |
| A．Building stronger relationships |
| B．Sleeping well during the night. |
| C．Getting a psychological boost. |
| D．Having attractive body shapes. |
| A．Nurses should require positive feedback from patients. |
| B．Patients should speak out their appreciation to nurses. |
| C．Doctors should improve their interpersonal skills |
| D．Hospitals should protect nurses from burnout. |
| A．Friendship is worth sparing every effort. |
| B．Gratitude journals work for people who act. |
| C．Positive feedback helps improve health service |
| D．Thankfulness in action has unexpected benefits. |
The reason
| A．should have done | B．need have done | C．must have done | D．could have done |
