砍柴亦能暖人心

陆鹏飞

华盛顿有很多树木，也有很多壁炉和烧火柴的炉子，但是如果你住在这里，自己不能砍柴也负担不起请人砍柴，那你应该怎么办呢？

1. furnace /fns/ n. 熔炉;火炉

2. effusive /fjusv/ adj. 感情横溢的

Washington is home to lots of trees—it is the Evergreen State， after all—and lots of fireplaces and wood burning stoves too. But what if you lived there and couldn t chop wood or couldn t afford to pay someone to do it？ Luckily， Shane McDaniel and his twin sons， Harrison and Henry McDaniel， 21， are happy to lend an ax. The three men chopped truckloads of wood—then donated it to those in need.

The idea started as a father son bonding project. “I had to cut wood with my dad. He just loved doing it，” said Shane， 48. The result was a great wall of wood piled up around their house in Lake Stevens， 35 miles outside of Seattle. To buy that much wood would cost about  10，000. It was too much for the McDaniels to use themselves. Shane started thinking of others. He posted on Facebook： “If you are in need of firewood and cannot afford it， please contact me！”

The response was immediate. One man offered to donate a wood burning furnace. Others raced over to Norm s， the mini mart Shane owns， with more wood for the pile. One woman， noticing the photo of the McDaniel men in the Facebook post， started to feel warm in other ways： “Please post more pictures of you in sleeveless shirts. I don t need the wood. But truly I appreciate the eye candy！” Single mom Katelyn Ticer， 29， and her four year old daughter rely on a wood burning stove as their sole source of heat， so it was a relief to receive a truckload of firewood from the McDaniels. “To get that much wood brought me to tears，” she said. “So much stress is off my shoulders. I couldn t be more thankful.”

Not every recipient is effusive. “Some even aren t friendly. They are mad at the world and mad that they had to ask for help. They just have no other option than freezing，” Shane said. But Shane is OK with that. “Giving is the reward. It has nothing to do with how well it s received; it s about how much it s needed，” he said.

1. What s the function of paragraph 1？

A. To arouse the reader s concern.

B. To summarize the whole passage.

C. To state the importance of firewood.

D. To introduce the topic of the passage.

2. What s the attitude of most people to the post on Facebook？

A. Neutral. B. Supportive.

C. Worried. D. Critical.

3. What can we learn from the last paragraph？

A. Giving is an extra reward actually.

B. It is better to give than to receive.

C. People are often mad at the world.

D. To ask for help is a difficult thing.

Sentence for writing

So much stress is off my shoulders. I couldn t be more thankful. 我肩上的壓力都消失了。我非常感激。

【信息提取】“否定词+比较级”表示最高级。

【句式仿写】这是个非常棒的计划，我再同意不过了。