A woman repeated a bit of gossip (流言) about a neighbor. Within a few days the whole neighborhood knew the story. The neighbor was deeply hurt. Later the woman learned that it was completely untrue. She was very sorry and went to a wise old man to find out what she could do to repair the harm.
“Go to the market,” he said, “and buy a chicken, and have it killed, then on your way home, pick its feathers(毛) and drop them one by one along the road.” Although surprised by this advice, the woman did what she was told.
The next day the wise man said, “Now, go and collect all those feathers you dropped yesterday and bring them back to me.”
The woman followed the same road, but she was so discouraged when she found the wind had blown all the feathers away. After looking for hours, she returned with only three in her hand.
“You see,” said the old man, “it’s easy to drop them, but it’s impossible to get them back. So it is with gossip. It doesn’t take much to spread（散布） a gossip, but once you do, you can never completely undo（弥补） the wrong.”
【小题1】Why did the woman feel sorry?

A strong earthquake has hit the town of Galta 200 kilometres north of Madras. The earthquake hit the town at 7:15 yesterday evening. The earthquake measured(量出) 7.2 on the Richter scale(里克特震级), the strongest for five years.
The earthquake happened as most people were having their evening meal at home. There were very few people outside in the streets. Buildings fell down and many fires started. The electricity and water were cut off.
As it was dark, the emergency services had a lot of problems. There was no electricity for lights, and there was no water to put out the fires. Early this morning, planes flew over the town to see the damage.
The emergency services are now trying to reach the town. The nearest airport is at Bandel, about 100 kilometers away. The railway station at Galta is closed, because four bridges fell down in the earth. The nearest train station is 32 kilometres away at Solan. We shall have more reports for you during the day. 
【小题1】What were the most people doing when the earthquake hit the town?

A woman repeated a bit of gossip (流言) about a neighbour. Within a few days the whole neighbourhood knew the story. The neighbour was deeply hurt. Later the woman responsible (负责) for spreading the gossip learned that it was completely untrue. She was very sorry and went to a wise old man to find out what she could do to repair the harm.
“Go to the marketplace,” he said. “and buy a chicken, and have it killed, then on your way home, pluck (拔) its feathers and drop them one by one along the road. ” Although surprised by this advice, the woman did what she was told.
The next day the wise man said, “ Now, go and collect all those feathers you dropped yesterday and bring them back to me. ”
The woman followed the same road, but she was so discouraged when she found the wind had blown all the feathers away. After searching for hours, she returned with only three in her hand.
“ You see, ” said the old man, “it’s easy to drop them, but it’s impossible to get them back . So it is with gossip. It doesn’t take much to spread a gossip, but once you do, you can never completely undo the wrong.”
【小题1】The woman was very _________ the harm she had done to her neighbour.

A woman repeated a bit of gossip（流言） about a neighbor. Within a few days, the whole village knew the story. The person she talked about was deeply hurt and angry.
Later, the woman spreading the rumor（谣言） learned that it was completely untrue. She was very sorry and went to a wise man to find out what she could do to repair the harm.
"Go to the marketplace," he said, "buy a chicken, and have it killed. Then on your way home, pick its feathers and drop them one by one along the road." Although surprised by this advice, the woman did what she was told.
The next day the wise man said, "Now, go and collect all those feathers you dropped yesterday and bring them back to me."
The woman followed the same road, but she was so discouraged when she found the wind had blown the feathers all away. After searching for hours, she returned with only three in her hand.
"You see," said the wise man, "it's easy to drop them, but it is impossible to get them all back. So it is the same with gossip. It doesn't take much to spread a rumor, but once you do, you can never completely undo（ 弥补） the wrong."
【小题1】Why did the the woman feel sorry ?