Difficult times often bring out the best in people. Many well-known people come to help those who are in trouble. And this was the case for basketball player Yao Ming. He hosted a television show in Shanghai and raised US $ 300,000 to help researchers (研究员) find a medical cure. Fund-raising, or charity, is an act of goodwill(好意) towards others.
Charities in the West have more ways. Look at a typical day for Ruth, a rich woman in the UK, for example. Ruth wakes up in the morning and collects her post. There’s a letter addressed to her with a picture of a half-dead, beaten(筋疲力尽的) horse. It’s from a charity asking Ruth to donate money to save the animals. She turns on the television, and sees a picture of a wide–eyed child dying of hunger in Africa with a request (请求) for money to help the child. The tickets for the charity shows often cost her a lot of money, but she doesn’t mind because most of the money is going to a charity that fights AIDS. She feels good about going because she’s helping the sick.
Edna, a little old lady, looks after a second-hand shop—a charity shop. Any profit (收益) it has made goes to a cancer(癌症) charity. Now that she doesn’t have to work, she has lots of time to offer her services for free.
For people like Yao Ming, Ruth and Edna, charity is a virtue (美德) that holds the same importance in life as faith and hope. “As you look back on your life, the moments that stand out are the moments when you have done things for others,” said Scottish writer Henry Drummond.
【小题1】Yao Ming hosted a television show to _____.

1.Li Yundi, took part in the 14th Chopin International Piano Competition in     and won first prize in his group. ?

2. Harbin holds a (an)      in winter every year.?

3.They are all American cities EXCEPT      .?

4.I hope to see Niagara Falls  in      some day. It’s said to be wonderful.?

5.What did Alexander Graham Bell say when he answered the telephone for the first time??

6. The following are all e-mail English EXCEPT    . ?

A Nice Clean Plate
It’s Saturday evening. Bruce is having a birthday party. There are a lot of children at the party. They play together for an hour. Then Bruce’s mother gives them some food. But she forgets to give Sam any.
Sam feels wronged(委屈) but then he remembers his mother’s words, “Be polite.(礼貌). Don’t ask for food.” So he waits for a few minutes, then he holds his plate up over his head and says loudly, “ Does anyone want a nice clean plate?”
【小题1】What day is it?