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GIVING HANDS
I work for a private school that has an auction every year as its main fund-raising activity. It is a very successful event for our small school of 130 students.
The first year that my son went to this school, his class made a beautiful quilt to auction off. It had all the children’s hand prints on it. While at the auction, I started bidding on the quilt. The bidding kept getting higher and higher until it reached, $500 which was my limit.
After the last bid, I looked around the room to see who was bidding against me. It was a grandmother of one of the children in my son’s class. I was still glad because I thought it went to someone who would cherish it.
The following year, my son’s class again made an item for the auction. This time it was two pillows with the children’s hand prints on the back. After a few rounds, another person and I bid against each other. Again I looked around to see who it was and found it was the same woman. Again I stopped bidding.
Two weeks after the auction, this woman came into my office and we had a talk. She had a bag with her and she handed it to me, saying “Happy Mother’s Day”.
I unwrapped the bag, and there were the pillows. She told me that she wanted me to have them. I thought that she must have been aware of my participation in the two auctions, so she decided to do this wonderful thing for me. She paid several hundred dollars for these two pillows, but I could clearly see her delight of being able to give them to me.
I will never forget her kind act, and I have tried to live up to her generosity by giving what I can to others as well.
【日積月累】
◇auction n. & v. 拍賣
◇fund-raising n. 籌款，募款
◇bid v. 出價；祝愿；投標
◇participation n. 分享，參與
【參考譯文】
伸出援助之手
我工作的那個私立學校每年都舉行一次拍賣，這是學校主要的籌款活動。按我們這所只有130個學生的小學校的標準看來，它辦得很成功。
我兒子在這所學校讀書的第1年，他們班為拍賣會做了一床漂亮的被子，上面有所有孩子的手掌印。在拍賣會場上，我開始喊價。我出價越來越高直到500美元——我的極限。
最后一次出價報完后，我環視全場看是誰在和我爭。原來是我兒子同學的奶奶。所以我還是很高興，因為我知道被子會到珍惜它的人手里。
第二年，我兒子的班級又為拍賣會做了東西。這一次是一對枕頭，背面有孩子們的手掌印。幾輪過去了，我和另一人針鋒相對地出價。當我轉頭看是誰的時候，發現還是那位女士。所以我不再叫價。
拍賣會后的第3周，那位女士走進我的辦公室，和我聊天。她把隨身帶著的包遞給我，說：“母親節快樂！”
我打開包，看到那對枕頭。她告訴我，希望我能保管它們。我想她肯定知道我參與了那兩次投標，所以她決定為我做這件好事。她為這對枕頭付了700美元，而我卻真切地感覺到了她送給我時那愉快的心情。
我永遠不會忘記她的善舉，為了不辜負她的慷慨，我也會力所能及地為其他人付出。
【人生啟迪】
一條我們永遠都琢磨不透的真理就是：不求回報地幫助別人的同時能得到快樂。把別人的善行傳播出去，你也就把快樂傳播了出去。做一個快樂使者何樂而不為呢？
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