Question

It was a cold night in Washington, D.C., and I was heading back to the hotel when a man came to me. He asked if I would give him some money so he could get something to eat. I’d read the signs: “Don’t give money to panhandlers (乞丐）.” So I shook my head and kept walking.

I wasn’t prepared for a reply, but he said, “I really am homeless and I really am hungry! You can come with me and watch me eat!” But I kept on walking.

I couldn’t forget what happened to me that day for the rest of the week. I had money in my

pocket and it wouldn’t have killed me to hand over a dollar or two even if he had been lying. On a very cold night, no less, I thought the worst of a fellow human being. Flying back to Anchorage, I still couldn’t help thinking of him.

I was the writer of a weekly garden column (专栏）at The Anchorage Daily News. One day, out of the blue, I came up with an idea. Bean’s Cafe, the soup kitchen in Anchorage, feeds

hundreds of hungry people every day. Why not try to get all my readers to plant one row in their

gardens for Bean’s? Plant a row and take it down to Bean’s. Clean and simple.

We didn’t keep records back then, but the idea began to take off. People would call me when they took something in. Those who only grew flowers gave them away. Food for the spirit.

In 1995 , the Garden Writers Association of America ( GWAA) held their meeting in Anchorage and alter learning of Anchorage’s program, Plant a Row for Bean’s became Plant a Row for the Hungry. The idea was to have every member of the Garden Writers Association of America write or talk about planting a row for the hungry.

As more and more people started working with the program, many companies gave free seed to customers and had the logo (商标）seen in public.

Garden editor Joan Jackson raised more than 30,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables her first year, and showed the public how the program could really work. Texas fruit farms gave away food to their local food bank alter hearing about Plant a Row. Today the program continues to grow.

I am shocked that millions of Americans are threatened by hunger. If every gardener in

America - and we’re seventy million strong - plants one row for the hungry, we can make a difference in the number of neighbors who don’t have enough to eat. Maybe then I will stop feeling guilty (愧 疚) about walking past a hungry man I could have helped.

1.Did the writer give money to the hungry man?

2.How did the writer feel alter flying back to Anchorage?

3.What did the writer try to get his readers to do?

4.What did the GWAA do for the “Plant a Row” program?

5.What is the purpose of the program?

1.No, he didn't. 2.He felt guilty. 3.He got his readers to plant a row in gardens for Bean,s. 4.It had every member write or talk about planting a row lor the hungry. 5.The purpose is to c...

Answer 1