阅读理解

　　My father made a deal with me that he would match whatever I could come up with to buy my fir st car．From the time I wa s a saver．My allowance, back in tho se day s, wa s twenty five cent s a week．I grew up on a farm near a small town called Ventura．In tho se day s the area wa s mo stly agricultural．The climate wa s and still i s a s clo se to perfect a s you could get．I earned some of my money picking one crop or another．When I wa s about ten, a school friend' s family owned walnut orchard s(果园)and it wa s harve st time．She told me we could earn five dollar s for every bag of walnut s we picked．I certainly learned about picking walnut s that day．Not surprisingly, that wa s my fir st and la st time a s a walnut picker．

　　In 1960 my grandmother pa s sed away．She left me 100 share s of AT＆T．One hundred share s of stock don't seem like much today but back then tho se share s paid me＄240 per year in dividend s(利息)．That wa s huge for a kid my age．

　　By the time I wa s seventeen．I had saved up ＄ 1, 300 and I knew exactly that I wanted．Ithink my father wa s somewhat suri sed when I announced I had saved up ＄ 1, 300 and wa s ready to buy my new car．I'll never forget the evening my father said, “Let' s go see about that car”．I wa s so excited．

　　My father could have ea sily ju st given me the car but he alway s in si sted that hi s children work for what they got．Thi s wa s not a bad thing．I learned self-reliance．Self-reliance i s equal to freedom．Now that I think about it I need to be thanking my father．

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阅读理解

　　One Tuesday evening in the beginning of the fall 1996 semester at Shippensburg University, sirens(警笛)sounded．These sirens were not in celebration; they were a cry to the university that something was wrong．A house, only one block away, was on fire．Nine of the university's students lived there．

　　From the minute the word got out that help was needed, it seemed like everyone showed up．The victims of the fire were offered endless invitations for housing for the night．The very next day, everyone got into gear to do their part in helping them．Flyers(小传单)were posted with items that were immediatelyneeded, just to get these students through this next couple of days．Boxes for donations and money jarswere placed in every residence hall(学生宿舍)．

　　As a residence director，I went before the students in my hall to ask them to do what they could．I knew that college students don't have much, but I asked them to clo their best：“Every little bit will help．" I really didn't think they could do much．l．was proved wrong．

　　At the hall council meeting the night after the fire, my residents decided to have a wing competition, where each wing of the building would team up to see who could bring in the most donations．l announced．that the wing who won would receive a free pizza party．

　　Thursday evening we announced over the PA system that we were beginning the wing competition．Within minutes, the place exploded．The single large box that I had placed in the lobby(太厅)was over-flowing．We quickly grabbed more boxes, and we watched in amazement as they, too, filled to the brim．Members of the resident assistant staff and I began t．o count the items．l was astonished by what I saw, andI was inspired by these kids．

　　When we came to the final tally(得分), the winners tumed to me and announced that they would like to donate their winnings as well．They wanted the victims of the fire to have their pizza party．

　　Tears welled up in my eyes．I had watched these students jump to action, work tirelessly and donateall that they could．And then, as if that were not enough, they handed over their reward．l was touchedand so very proud of them．

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