What he saw was 82 children kneeling on the frosty ground scratching
letters in the dirt. Haji Ali, the village headman, explained that the village
had no school and had to share a teacher with a neighboring village. Appalled,
Mortenson declared, “I’m going to build you a school. I will build a school. I
promise.” After returning to California, Mortenson set out to keep that
promise. Over the next few months, he laboriously wrote 580 letters to famous
people asking for money for the school. He received just one check for $100.
In the midst of that discouragement, he received a letter from his
mother, a teacher. Her students had spontaneously started a program called “Pennies
for Pakistan” all on their own to help him. They had collected 62,345 pennies.
He had a start. Then he connected with an eccentric scientist and mountain
climbing enthusiast who also happened to be wealthy. He wrote a check to
Mortenson and mailed it with an enclosed note: “Don’t screw up.” Mortenson had
no intention of doing that, but now he faced the daunting task of actually
constructing the school.
kneel v.跪
frosty a.結霜的、嚴寒的
scratch 劃出、塗寫
dirt 泥、土
appalledàstrong feeling of
hate, dislike or disgust
a.
驚駭的、喪膽的
laboriously
spontaneously
penny 一分、一分硬幣
eccentric 古怪的、反常的
screw up something
daunting àbig and very hard
【Chat room】
I promise. 我承諾、我保證
vow發誓、鄭重的宣布
marriage vows 婚姻的誓言
oath 誓言、誓約、尤其指法庭上的宣示(名詞，不能當動詞用)
【More information】
Pennies for Peace
What started out as “Pennies for Pakistan” has become “Pennies for
Peace.” The program demonstrates that something considered pretty worthless- a
penny – can actually make a difference in the world. There are now “Pennies for
Peace” campaigns in more than 50 countries, which have collected more than 250
million pennies, or 2.5 million dollars!
【Key word】
appalled 感到震驚、驚嚇的
We were appalled at the sight of the burning home.房子著火的景象令我們感到震驚
Gina was appalled to hear that her husband was wounded in the accident.
Gina聽到先生在意外中受傷被嚇壞了
laboriously 辛勤地、辛苦地
labor勞力
The secretary laboriously organized all the files in the office.
秘書很勤奮地把辦公室裡所有的檔案都整理好了
Laborious勤勞的、辛苦的
A laborious housekeeper 很勤勞的管家
spontaneously自發性的
The parents spontaneously go to class to read stories to the students a
few times a year. 家長們自發性的一年幾次到班上去說故事給孩子們聽
spontaneously自動地
The audience spontaneously cheered when the player scored.
球員一進球，觀眾們不由自主地歡呼起來。
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