It was a lazy morning during the Christmas week. We
were enjoying breakfast when the doorbell rang. It was a little girl, standing
at the doorway with a piece of paper and a face that carried an expression of
want, rather a common 1 during
Christmas.
She murmured that the paper was her booklist and that
she was going around 2 money to
buy her schoolbooks. My children went inside and brought some 3 for
her. This kind of incident happens very often in my hometown, 4 during
Christmas.
From where I was seated, I could see her clearly. She
looked about ten years old and she wore a dress too big for her. She spoke in a
5 voice and looked at me
straight in the eye. Something made me get up and 6 her.
In answer to my questions, she said that her mother
made hoppers and she 7 them
before going to school. But the hopper money was not adequate to 8 the
list; therefore, she was going from house to house asking for help.
Her voice told me the story; her eyes told me that it
was 9 . I said I'd buy
her what was on the list.
We drove to a nearby bookstore. She sat 10 ,
with a strange look on her face. When the clerk was taking all the things on
the list, the little girl kept staring as if confused. Perhaps she had never 11 so
many new things before. They were merely exercise books, pencils, pens and such
things. She whispered her 12 to us.
Strange, I hadn't been aware that giving such
13 things to one in need,
could bring me such a lot of happiness.
As we drove back, I could see the little girl in the
mirror. All the gifts I had given in my life never
14 up a face so much. She was grasping the parcel, smiling
to herself. The total event made us all very 15 .
Our Christmas became more meaningful.
1. A.problem B.sight C.moment D.experience
2. A.borrowing B.receiving C.begging D.lending
3. A.clothes B.books C.food D.coins
4. A.absolutely B.casually C.especially D.hardly
5. A.strange B.polite C.serious D.loud
6. A.care for B.speak to C.smile at D.hold to
7. A.sold B.needed C.collected D.used
8. A.buy B.make C.cover D.control
9. A.painful B.true C.moving D.interesting
10. A.happily B.eagerly C.anxiously D.silently
11. A.possessed B.bought C.seen D.accepted
12. A.surpr ise B.satisfaction C.thanks D.pleasure
13. A.simple B.wonderful C.expensive D.useful
14. A.lit B.made C.put D.shut
15. A.confused B.delighted C.amazed D.relieved