One Good Deed Deserves Another

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, a tailor, a coffee shop owner, a grocer (食品杂货商), 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 — six to be exact. My mother was a kind-hearted soul. Often, she would remark that his children were dressed in ragged (破旧的) clothes and looked malnourished (营养不良的). My family was relatively better off so my parents would take 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 just two meals a day, so we stopped 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 from my brothers that were too hungry. Fortunately, the lean spell did not last long, and the children started to get our three meals a day again.

As time went by, the number of customers using Lim’s shop increased rapidly, which was delightful. Business took off like a rocket because Japanese bikes were very useful and popular for transport. The Lim family was much better off than before.

It was at this time that my father’s health started to get worse. We were confused by the mysterious illness he was suffering from. He paid less attention to his shop and business got worse. My father had to sell our family car to pay off the mounting bills. My brothers and I had to stop schooling because we could not afford the fees.

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.

2 . One of my wonderful memories is about a Christmas gift. Unlike other gifts, it came without wrap (包装).

On September 11th, 1958, Mum gave birth to Richard. After she brought him home from hospital, she put him in my lap, saying, “I promised you a gift, and here it is.” What an honour! I turned four a month earlier and none of my friends had such a baby doll of their own. I played with it day and night. I sang to it. I told it stories. I told it over and over how much I loved it!

One morning, however, I found its bed empty. My doll was gone! I cried for it.Mum wept and told me that the poor little thing had been sent to a hospital. It had a fever. For several days, I heard Mum and Dad whispering such words as “hopeless”, “pitiful”, and “dying”, which sounded ominous.

Christmas was coming. “Don’t expect any presents this year,” Dad said, pointing at the socks I hung in the living room.“If your baby brother lives, that’ll be Christmas enough.” As he spoke, his eyes filled with tears. I’d never seen him cry before.

The phone rang early on Christmas morning. Dad jumped out of bed to answer it. From my bedroom I heard him say, “What? He’s all right?” He hung up and shouted upstairs. “The hospital said we can bring Richard home!”

“Thank God!” I heard Mum cry.

From the upstairs window, I watched my parents rush out to the car. I had never seen them so happy. And I was also full of joy. What a wonderful day! My baby doll would be home. I ran downstairs. My socks still hung there flat. But I knew they were not empty; they were filled with love!

5 . To celebrate the end of our exams, my friends and I went to a fast food restaurant. We________ hamburgers and Coca Colar at the counter. When our ________ came, I started walking towards an empty table. By bad luck, my purse strap (带子) got ________ on a chair and the tray (托盘) that I was holding slipped from my hands and went flying in the air. The tray, and its contents, ________ on a man who was just about to take a bite of his sandwich. I stared, greatly________ , as the drinks soaked (浸湿) his white shirt.

Then I _______ my eyes and prepared myself for his burst of ________ . Instead, he said “It’s OK” to ________ me before he diappeared into washroom.

Still shaky and unsure what to do next, my friends and I went to a table and sat there, trying our best to look________. A moment later, the man came out of the washroom and ________our table. My heart almost stopped________. I though he was going to ask for my father’s ________ and call him.

To my surprise, he merely smiled at us, handed us some cash and said, “ ________ yourself new hamburgers.” He then walked away without even finishing his food.

He could have made what was already an uncomfortable situation worse, but he chose a different way and gave us a reason to believe that there is still   ________in this world. I’ll never________ his actions.

On November 27th last year, I was waiting to check out at a local store.

The clerk(售货员) was very busy because it was Thanksgiving Day. Besides usual snacks and daily necessities, people were buying kinds of food and flowers. It was about 5 p. m. and still light outside, but people seemed to be hurrying back to their cars. As it was the rush hour, with people anxious to get home from work, few of the people in line responded(回应) to the clerk’s greetings(问候). Even fewer people wished the clerk a nice evening.

Surprisingly, one elderly woman who was paying for ice cream and some snacks smiled at the clerk who was taking what seemed to be the woman’s last 20 dollars and 21 cents. The elderly customer nodded in the direction of the flowers and said to the clerk, “I hope someone will bring you some flowers tonight.” The clerk smiled, saying a bit regretfully, “That would be nice, but I don’t think it’s likely to happen. My husband and I both have to work till midnight today.”

Hearing that, the customer seemed to be lost in thought. She accepted her bag, thanked the clerk and then headed towards her old car outside the store.

10 . In 1971 a young man who grew up very poor was travelling across the country, trying to make a new start for himself. Along the way he had completely run out of _______ and was forced to spend the night in his car. This _______ until one morning, after a week of sleeping in his car, he walked _______ into a restaurant and ordered a big breakfast.

After eating his first good meal in _______ , he found himself _______ to the waiter, telling him he had lost his _______ . The waiter, who was also the owner, walked behind the chair where the young man had been sitting. He bent down, _______ a $ 20 bill that looked as if it had fallen on the floor and said, “Son, you must have _______ this,” the owner said. The young man couldn’t believe his _______ ! He quickly paid for the breakfast, left a tip, bought gas with the ________ , and headed West.

On the way out of town, he began to understand what the fellow did. Maybe nobody dropped the money at all. “Maybe that fellow just knew I was ________ and he ________ me in a way that didn’t embarrass(使尴尬)me. So I just made a ________ to help others if I can.”

Later, he worked very hard and became a(an) ________ man. Now, he lives near Kansas City. Each year he ________ thousands of dollars. He is known as the ”Secret Santa“ because at Christmas time each year, he personally hands money out to those on the streets and at restaurants. Last year, he gave more than $ 50,000 away in Kansas City.