It's a sad and familiar sentence from a beggar that we often hear．Usually, when asked“Can you spare some 1 ? ”, I've been struck with a feeling of 2 if I passed by without giving a coin or two．
My conscience was hurt again when I was making a 3 in Venice in 2006．I was sitting in a quiet cafe．Outside the care on the street was an old woman on her knees, 4 ．Steady streams of 5 were walking past her．A young backpacker stood away from the crowd drinking something．but I noticed he was also 6 the woman．
She knelt motionlessly, her head almost touching the ground, a worn blanket providing little 7 against the cold．The sight was especially 8 when compared with the signs of the 9 city around her．
A tourist group hurried along the street, 10 at the woman and walked on．Another group of tourists arrived, 11 again, walked past her．The backpacker watched．Then, as I prepared to leave, I stopped at the sight ofthe backpacker 12 and placing some money in the woman's cup．He did this rather 13 ．just before the arrival of another tourist group．I watched 14 the leader of the group stopped and put some money in the cup．With the young man 15 the way, other tourists followed suit．
The young backpacker 16 this process in front ofthe next tour party going past．Once again, the subtle peer(同伴)pressure 17 on the tourists, who all added coins to the cup．His work done, the young man walked over to the old beggar woman and said, “I hope that 18 a bit．”
I placed some money in the woman's cup and 19 my tour, light-bearted after witneaaing such a 20 act of caring．
After the first World War, a small group of old soldiers returned to their village in Britain．Most of them managed to 1 fairly well, but one－Francis Binstering, who had been wounded and never recovered his 2 was unable to work regularly． 3 he became very poor．Yet he was too 4 to accept anything from the people in the village．
Once these old soldiers held a reunion dinner in the home of Jules Grandin, who had made 5 money．Grandin produced a curiosity(稀奇的东西)－a large old 6 coin．Each man examined it with 7 as it passed around the long table．All, 8 , had drunk wine freely and the room was full of noisy talk, 9 the gold piece was soon forgotten．Later, when Grandin 10 it and asked for it, the coin was gone．
One of them suggested everyone be searched, 11 which all agreed, except Blustering．“You 12 , then?” asked Grandin．Blustering said with a red face, “Yes, I cannot allow it．”
One by one, the others turned out their pockets．When the coin was 13 to appear, attention was focused on poor Blustering．Under the 14 stares of his friends, he walked out and returned to his home．
A few years later, Grandin had his house repaired．A workman found the gold coin 15 in dirt between planks(板)of the floor．Hurrying to Blustering’s home, Grandin apologized to him．
“But why didn’t you allow yourself to be 16 ?” Grandin asked．
“Because I was a 17 , ”Blustering said brokenly．“For weeks we had not enough to eat and my pockets were full of 18 , that I had taken from the table to 19 home to my wife and 20 children．”