Adults usually do not remember most of the things that
are taught by their teachers at school. But this story is one such lesson that
I will never forget. Every time I drift off course, I think of this story.
It was a normal Monday morning, and my teacher was
teaching us on important things in life and about devoting ourselves to what is
important to us. This is how the story went:
An old man lived in a certain part of London, and he
would wake up every morning and go to the subway. He would get onto the train
right to Central London, and then sit at the street corner and beg. He would do
this every single day of his life. He sat at the same street corner and begged
for almost 20 years.
His house was dirty, and a stench (恶臭) came out of the house and it smelled terrible. The
neighbors could not stand the smell any more, so they called for the police
officers to clear the place. The officers knocked down the door and cleaned the
house. There were small bags of money all over the house that he had collected
over the years.
The police counted the money, and they soon realized
that the old man was a millionaire (百万富翁). They
waited outside his house expecting to share the good news with him. When the
old man arrived home that evening, one of the officers told him that there was
no need for him to beg any more as he was a rich man now, a millionaire.
But the old man said nothing at all; he went into his
house and locked the door. The next morning he woke up as usual, went to the
subway, sat at the street corner and continued to beg.
Clearly, this old man had no great plans, dreams or
anything significant (有意义的) for his life. We learn nothing from this
story other than staying focused on the things we enjoy doing.
1.The neighbor called the police because ______.
A．the old man
kept begging money from them every day
B．there was
something dangerous in the old man’s house
C．the old man
wouldn’t buy tickets for the train
D．they couldn’t bear the smell from the old man’s house
2.When the old man knew he was a millionaire, he
______.
A．remained calm B．became
excited
C．felt worried D．became
nervous
3.What lesson do we learn from the story?
A．Make great
plans for your life.
B．Keep on doing
what you like.
C．Do something
that is good to society.
D．Depend on
yourself rather than others.
