無家可歸兒童的圣誕派對一托福閱讀機經(jīng)背景

1、智課網(wǎng)TOEFL備考資料無家可歸兒童的圣誕派對一托福閱讀機經(jīng)背景 Christmas is a festive time, especially for children. Families gather to celebrate the holidays with delicious meals and wrapped gifts. But for children whose families have no home of their own, Christmas can be a sad time. 圣誕節(jié)是個歡快的時光，對孩子們來說尤其如此。家人團聚在一起，互贈禮物、分享美食。但是，

2、對無家可歸的孩子來說，圣誕節(jié)可能是一個悲傷的日子。 To put a smile on homeless children's faces at this time of year, one man in New Orleans, Louisiana, organizes a Christmas party for what he calls the "Forgotten Angels." 為了讓這些孩子在節(jié)日里能露出笑容，一個新奧爾良的男子為那些他稱之為“被遺忘的天使”們組織了一個圣誕派對。 Getting started When Clarence Adams

3、applied to be a counselor at a New Orleans homeless shelter 16 years ago, he knew very little about homelessness. 16年前，當(dāng)克萊倫斯·亞當(dāng)斯在新奧爾良無家可歸者庇護中心申請一個顧問職位時，他對無家可歸幾乎沒有任何概念。 "After the interview, they gave me a tour in the building and it was lunch time," Adams says. "And I saw childre

4、n there. That really bothered me. I just never thought about a child being homeless." 他說：“面試后，他們領(lǐng)我在庇護中心里參觀了一圈，那時正好是午飯時間。我看到那些孩子，覺得非常難過。我從來沒想過，一個孩子也會無家可歸。” Adams got the job and took it upon himself to help the kids coming to the shelter in any way he could. He went with their parents to registe

5、r them for school and organized donation drives for school supplies. One day as the holidays neared, he talked to a friend about what it might be like for homeless children to celebrate Christmas. 亞當(dāng)斯得到了那份工作，他開始把幫助無家可歸的孩子們當(dāng)作自己的責(zé)任。他和孩子家長一起去學(xué)校注冊，組織為孩子們捐獻學(xué)習(xí)用品的慈善活動。一年的圣誕節(jié)前，他和一個朋友談?wù)摕o家可歸的孩子們是如何過圣誕節(jié)的。 &quo

6、t;Basically the only thing that these kids had to look forward to was having their Christmas dinner in the shelter with hundreds of people who they didn't know," he says. "I mentioned to my friend that if I ever got rich, I would just have a big party for homeless children. She said, &

7、#39;Well, let's do it.'" 亞當(dāng)斯說：“基本上，這些孩子只能在庇護所里和數(shù)百個他們不認識的人一起吃頓圣誕晚餐。我說，如果我有錢了，我就為無家可歸的孩子們舉辦一個盛大的派對。我的朋友說，好啊，就這么干?！?That's how the Christmas for Forgotten Angels party started 12 years ago. 于是12年前，“被遺忘的天使們的圣誕節(jié)”活動就這樣開始了。 Christmas for Forgotten Angels "The first year we had approxi

8、mately 50 children. And I had my food service manager from the shelter cook the meal," Adams says. "We had fried chicken and macaroni and cheese. We had some desserts and we were able to give all the kids toys and we had Santa Claus." 亞當(dāng)斯說：“第一年有大概50個孩子參加。我讓庇護所的食品服務(wù)部主任準備飯菜。我們準備了炸雞、意大利通

9、心粉和奶酪，還有甜點。我們給每個孩子準備了玩具，我們還請來了圣誕老人?！?But organizing that party all alone, he says, was overwhelming. 但是，亞當(dāng)斯回憶說，準備這么大的派對非常辛苦。 "I swore I would not do that again because it was too much work," he says. "But at the party, seeing the faces on these kids, having them come up and give me a

10、hug and say, 'Thank you,' to see how much joy this brought to these children who would otherwise have nothing. I determined at the end I had to do this every year." “我發(fā)誓再也不干了，因為事情太多了。但是在派對上，我看到孩子們的笑臉，他們走過來擁抱我，感謝我，看到這個派對為這些原本什么都沒有的孩子們帶來了那么多的快樂，我最后決定我必須每年都這么做?！?Reports about his Christmas

11、 party now appear in local newspapers every year. That's resulted in having dozens of volunteers contact Adams to donate their time as well as clothing, toys and food. This year, however, a weak economy has impacted the party. 當(dāng)?shù)貓蠹埫磕甓紩髮?dǎo)亞當(dāng)斯組織的圣誕派對，幾十名志愿者和他聯(lián)系，愿意捐獻自己的時間、衣服、玩具以及食物。 "I do see t

12、he donations this year down somewhat from last year but people are still very generous," Adams says. "We had a group of volunteers that came for like three years in a row from Georgia. I know that last year, we got checks from four different states. I had a family that brought some toys la

13、st week. Their 7-year-old son had a $20 bill that he had saved up money from his allowance all year so he could help." 亞當(dāng)斯說：“和去年相比，人們今年捐獻的東西少了一些，但他們?nèi)匀环浅？犊Ｓ袔讉€喬治亞州的志愿者連續(xù)3年來幫忙。去年，我們收到來自4個州的捐贈支票。上星期，有一個家庭送來了一些玩具，他們家7歲的兒子捐了20塊錢，那是他一年來從他的零花錢里省下來的?！?Helping out Volunteers who can't afford to dona

14、te money come and help wrap the gifts and prepare for the party. Tiffani Hicks, a 29-year-old single mother, helped out for the first time this year. 那些不能捐錢的志愿者來幫助包裝禮品，準備派對活動。蒂芬尼·?？怂故俏?9歲的單親媽媽。 "It's a very family atmosphere," she says. "We have other volunteers that are help

15、ing. We're all sitting around, talking. It's a very warm, loving atmosphere." 她說：“這里充滿家庭氣氛，有很多志愿者來幫忙。大家坐在一起，說話，做事，氣氛非常溫馨融洽?！?Doing something to make homeless children happy is important to Hicks. She says she knows exactly how they feel at Christmastime, because she was homeless as a ch

16、ild herself. 對希克斯來說，為了讓無家可歸的孩子們快樂而盡一份力，非常重要。她說，自己非常了解孩子們在圣誕節(jié)期間的感受，因為她小時候就是一個無家可歸的孩子。 "I felt like I wasn't loved. I felt like I didn't deserve it," Hicks says. "I just felt like nobody cared about me. My Mom died when I was five years old and my aunt, she took care of us. She

17、did what she could do for us. So we never really had a Christmas or whatever like that. It just makes you feel awful. Then after the holidays you have to go back to school and everyone is talking about what they got for Christmas, so you're kind of making up things that you wish you would have g

18、otten, so you can fit in." 她說：“我覺得自己是一個沒人愛的孩子，沒人在乎我。我5歲的時候媽媽去世了，姨媽照顧我們。她盡她的所能照顧我們，但是我們從來沒有真正過過一個圣誕節(jié)，這讓人感覺很糟。過完節(jié)回到學(xué)校，同學(xué)們都在談?wù)撟约旱玫搅耸裁词フQ禮物，而我們只能拿我們希望得到的禮物來說事兒，這樣才能顯得和大家一樣。” With dozens of volunteers like Tiffani Hicks, Clarence Adams says they were able to serve more than 200 homeless kids this year. The Christmas for Forgotten Angels organizer says he'd like to see his community's support and commitment to making homeless children feel special