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?

On very cold winter days , a group of Japanese children travelled a long way and arrived at a small island where nobody lived. After setting up a camp, they caught fish in the sea, and walked on the snow to find firewood , wild fruit and fresh water. Then they made a fire to do some cooking. They were not homeless children or modern Robinson. They were all pupils from a primary school and campers of special “ hardship (艰苦) camp”.
Every year primary and middle schools in Japan organize such camps to train the children’s spirit of bearing (忍受) hardship. Such places as thick forests and far-off mountains are chosen as camp places.
The Japanese education circles usually think it necessary to give children chances of suffering hardships. Children in Japan now may hardly find times of hardships, because of the rapid growth of national economy and improvement in the people’s living conditions. The experts think that such hardship camps can help children learn to live and develop in the struggle against nature in modern society.
It’s said that such hardship camps are warmly accepted by both Japanese school children and their parents.
【小题1】Many Japanese children set up camps in far-off mountains or forests to ____________.

A passenger told an air hostess that he needed a cup of water to take his medicine when the plane just took off. She told him that she would bring him the water in ten minutes. Thirty minutes later, when the passenger’s ring for service sounded, the air hostess flew busily. She was kept so busy that she forgot to give him the water. As a result, the passenger was held up to take his medicine. She hurried over to him with a cup of water, but he refused it.
In the following hours on the flight, each time the airline hostess passed the passenger she would ask him with a smile whether he needed help or not. But the passenger never paid attention to her. When he was going to get off the plane, the passenger asked the airline hostess to hand him the passengers’ brochure（小册子）. She was very sad. She knew that he would write down sharp words, but with a smile she handed it to him. Off the plane, she opened the booklet, and broke a smile, for the passenger put it, “On the flight, you asked me whether I need help or not for twelve times in all. How can I refuse your twelve sincere smiles?” That’s right! Who can refuse your twelve sincere smiles from a person?
【小题1】What did the passenger need when the plane just took off?

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.