4 . It was one of those moments every new parent dreads (恐惧). My baby son was screaming as if I’d just dipped him in a bucket (桶) of battery acid. It felt as if he’d been screaming like that for years, though he was only two months old. Even worse, this was happening in public— I was sitting with my howling baby in the food court of a Los Angeles mall, despairing (绝望) as other diners silently judged me while watching us over plates of food.
Until, that is, one woman— a complete stranger— did something and taught me a lesson about kindness that lingers to this day. She walked over to me and put her hand on my shoulder. “This won’t last forever,” she said. “I know it doesn’t seem like it right now, but things will get better. He’ll stop crying. You’ll get some sleep.”
It was such a small thing, a tiny kindness, really, but it made all the difference. It was 2001 and I was living in a foreign city with a newborn, without friends or family, and I was terribly lonely. This woman had seen me, if only for a moment, and taken the time to make a human connection. It was just a minute out of her day, but it has stayed with me for nearly two decades.
We all want to be better in the world and more giving to others. But we can easily get hung up on the sheer (完全的) importance of that challenge— making time to regularly volunteer or finding money to donate to a cause. Doing good doesn’t have to be an important task, though; it can be incremental (递增的). It can be as quick as a smile, a word, a phone call, an email. It can be the note you send to a friend who is feeling blue or the baby carriage you help carry down the subway stairs for a parent on their own, even though you’re late for work.
I’m reminded of a line from Brian Goldman’s bestseller, The Power of Kindness: “The opposite meaning of empathy is apathy (冷漠).” That is, the opposite of doing good isn’t doing harm; it’s doing nothing. Every tiny act of generosity— every door held open, every coffee bought for a stranger— builds a bridge to another person. It says, “I see you.” Today, when we spend most of our time looking at our phones, and not at people’s faces, that’s invaluable.
So, while I’m not particularly good at regularly volunteering or running marathons to raise money for charity, I’m committed to small gestures. I try to send a note of praise every day to someone whose work I admire. I’ve become phone friends with a lonely 87-year-old woman who contacted me about something I wrote, and who lives in a city far from her own children and grandchildren. On airplanes, I find the new parents with panicked eyes and offer to hold their babies. I remember what it felt like when the screaming baby was mine. I remember when a tiny kindness felt monumental, enough to change the world.
1. Why did the author mention her baby son’s crying in Paragraph 1?| A．To create a disappointing atmosphere. | B．To prove her opinion. |
| C．To show her helplessness. | D．To introduce the topic. |
| A．Always trying to do important deeds. | B．Being short of time. |
| C．Being lacking in money. | D．Keeping looking at their phones. |
| A．doing harm to others is better than doing nothing |
| B．people are supposed to pay more attention to others’ faces |
| C．every small gesture counts in connecting people |
| D．spending most of our time looking at our phones is invaluable |
| A．The Kind Strangers | B．The Small Mercies |
| C．The Power of Words | D．The Power of Kindness |
6 . You can either travel or read, but either your body or your soul must be on the way. The popular saying has inspired many people to read or go sightseeing. Here are four books that you can take on your trip.
1. On the Road, 1957, by Jack Kerouac
The book is a popular spiritual guidebook about youth. The main character in the book drives across the US continent with several young people and finally reaches Mexico. After the exhausting and exciting trip, the characters in the book begin to realize the meaning of life.
2. Life Is Elsewhere, 1975, by Milan Kundera
Jean-Jacques Rousseau once said, "Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains." The book describes a young artist's romantic but miserable life, about how he reads, dreams and has a relationship during his trip to Central Europe. The book invites you to deeply reflects on your current life and to honor the Czech-born writer Kundera.
3. My Name Is Red, 1998, by Orhan Pamuk
The book, a masterpiece of the Nobel Prize winner for Literature Orhan Pamuk, has been translated into more than 50 languages and published around the world. It tells a story of a young man, who was away from home for 12 years, coming back to his hometown in Istanbul. What embraces him is not only love, but a series of murder cases as well.
4. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, 2013, by Rachel Joyce
The novel tells a story of a 60-year-old man who lived a boring and unhappy life, until one day, he received his old friend's letter who got cancer. In deep shock and sorrow, he went out to send his reply letter. 627 miles in 87 days, he walked depending on one belief that “his friend can survive as long as he walks”.
1. Whose book can make you rethink your own life?| A．Jack Kerouac. | B．Milan Kundera. | C．Orhan Pamuk. | D．Rachel Joyce. |
| A．On the Road. | B．Life Is Elsewhere. |
| C．My Name Is Red. | D．The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. |
| A．He walked to keep healthy. | B．He was in deep shock and sorrow. |
| C．He expected his friend to live longer. | D．He lived a very boring and unhappy life. |
7 . The other day, my sister and I were sitting in the restaurant, trying to have a conversation, but her children, four-year-old Willow and seven-year-old Luca, would not stop fighting. The arguments——over a fork, or who had more water in a glass--never stopped.
Then my sister reached into her handbag, produced two shiny iPads, and handed one to each child. Suddenly, the two were quiet. They sat playing games and watching videos, and we continued with our conversation.
After our meal, as my sister stuffed the iPads back into her bag, she said, “I don’t want to give them the iPads at the dinner table, but if they keep them occupied for an hour so we can eat in peace, I often just hand them over. I am afraid that it’s bad for them. I do worry that it makes them think it’s OK to use electronics at the dinner table in the future.”
Dr. Gary Small, director of the Longevity Center at the University of California, Los Angeles says that the brain is highly sensitive to stimuli(刺激物), like iPads and smartphone screen, and if people spend too much time on one technology, and less time interacting(互动)with people like parents at the dinner table, that could prevent the development of certain communication skills.
“Conversations with each other are the way children learn to have conversations with themselves, and learn how to be alone,” said Sherry Turkle, a professor of science, technology and society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She fears that children who do not learn real interactions, which often have imperfections, will come to know a world where perfect, shiny screens give them a false sense of intimacy(亲密) without risk. However, they need to be able to gather themselves and know who they are. So someday they can form a relationship with another person without a panic of being alone. “If you don’t teach your children to be alone, they will only know how to be lonely,” she said.
1. What did Willow and Luca fight about?| A．Little things. | B．iPads. |
| C．Delicious food. | D．Interesting things. |
| A．She loved doing it very much | B．She was uncertain about its effects. |
| C．She felt it was worth a try. | D．She felt surprised at its effect. |
| A．Provide their children with various technologies. |
| B．Teach their children communication skills. |
| C．Limit their children’s screen time. |
| D．Talk to their children at the dinner table. |
| A．Children are afraid of taking risks. |
| B．Children try to escape from the real world. |
| C．Children can’t deal with time when they have to be alone. |
| D．Children can’t live without electronic devices. |
Romancing the Library
I have a special place in my heart for libraries. I have for as long as I can remember. I was always an enthusiastic reader, sometimes
My first job was working at the Ukiah Library when I was 16 years old,
The library meant more to me as I grew older and had several children. It was a big deal for us to load up and go to the local library,
I always read, using different voices, as if I were acting out the stories with my voice and they loved it! It was a special time to bond with my children and keep them
Libraries offered story hour and I’d take my children, and then my grandchildren there
As an author of romance novels, I’ve found a new relationship with libraries. I see libraries
I could say my first love affair was with books, and I was constantly romancing the library.
