鄭琴琴

To pay for his education， a poor boy usedto sell goods from door to door. One day， theyoung boy found he was really hungry but hadno money to buy any food. He decided to askfor something to eat when he knocked on thefront door of the next house.

A beautiful young woman opened thedoor， and the boy lost his nerve. He simplyasked for a drink of water， too embarrassed toask for food. The young woman brought him aglass of milk， which the boy greedily drank.

The boy asked her how much he owed，but she simply smiled and said her mother hadtaught her to be kind to others and never expectanything in return.

The young boy left the woman’s homewith a full tummy and a heart full of renewedstrength to push on with his education and con tinue working hard. Just when he was ready toquit， the woman had instilled in him newfoundfaith and fortitude.

Years later， in a big city， renowned surgeon Dr. Howard Kelly was called to consulton a woman who was suffering from a rare dis ease. When the woman told him the name ofthe small town where she lived， Dr. Kelly felt afaint memory arise in his mind， and then suddenly recognition dawned on him. She was thewoman who had given him the glass of milkmany years ago.

The doctor went on to provide the womanwith the very best care and made sure she re ceived special attention. In fact， it was his skillsas a doctor that saved her life.

After a long and difficult hospitalization，the woman was finally ready for dischargehome. The woman was worried it would takeher years to settle her account with the hospital.

Her serious illness and long hospital stay hadproduced a substantial bill. However， when shereceived the bill， she found that Dr. Kelly hadpaid the entire bill himself and written a smallnote for her.

The note simply stated： Paid in full with aglass of milk.

為了支付學(xué)費(fèi)，一個(gè)窮小子挨家挨戶地賣(mài)東西。一天，窮小子覺(jué)得餓極了卻沒(méi)錢(qián)買(mǎi)任何吃的。當(dāng)他敲響下一棟樓的第一扇門(mén)的時(shí)候，他決定要點(diǎn)吃的。

一個(gè)漂亮女孩開(kāi)了門(mén)，窮小子沒(méi)了勇氣。他只是要了點(diǎn)水，要吃的太讓他難堪了。女孩給了他一杯牛奶，男孩兒貪婪地喝完了。

男孩兒?jiǎn)栠@需要多少錢(qián)，女孩微笑著說(shuō)媽媽告訴她要與人為善，不求任何回報(bào)。男孩兒帶著飽飽的肚子和重新充滿力量的心離開(kāi)了女孩家，并繼續(xù)堅(jiān)持為了上學(xué)努力工作。就在他想要放棄的時(shí)候，女孩兒給了他重新開(kāi)始的信心和勇氣。

幾年后，在一個(gè)大城市里，著名的外科醫(yī)生，霍爾德凱里醫(yī)生被叫來(lái)商議一個(gè)身患

罕見(jiàn)病的女人的治療方案。當(dāng)女人告訴他她生活過(guò)的小鎮(zhèn)的名字的時(shí)候，凱里醫(yī)生腦中浮現(xiàn)了一段模糊的記憶，然后一下子明白了。這個(gè)女人就是許多年前給他牛奶的那個(gè)女孩兒。

醫(yī)生一直給女人最好的照顧而且保證了她得到特殊的關(guān)照。事實(shí)上，是他用精湛的醫(yī)術(shù)挽救了她的生命。

經(jīng)過(guò)很久很艱難的住院治療，女人終于可以出院了。她很擔(dān)心自己可能要花許多年去還清這筆醫(yī)藥費(fèi)。她的病重程度和長(zhǎng)期住院治療一定是一筆大數(shù)目的賬單。然而，當(dāng)她拿到賬單時(shí)，她發(fā)現(xiàn)凱里醫(yī)生為她支付了全部醫(yī)藥費(fèi)而且給她留了一個(gè)小紙條。

紙條上只寫(xiě)了一句話：這是一杯牛奶的價(jià)錢(qián)。

【讀文章學(xué)單詞】

embarrass [?m'b?r?s] vt.使窘迫;使尷尬;使為難

vi. 窘迫

instill[?n'st?l] vt.逐漸灌輸;滴注

consult [k?n's?lt] v. 查閱;請(qǐng)教;商討;就診

hospitalization [?h?sp?t?la?'ze??n] n. 醫(yī)院收容;住院治療