Everyone Deserves Our Respect

王秀鳳

生活中，每個人都值得我們去尊重。你尊重人，也會因此獲得他人的尊重。

One day， a friend invited us to help serve dinner at Tent City. A number of tents were set up for the homeless in the area. I took my two boys with me. They were 9 and 5 at the time. They had a lot of questions about how poor people lived in the world.

We talked through the reasons people end up in this type of situation and the importance of creating a safety net for them. I explained that oftentimes， the only safety net is other people who are willing to share some of their time and resources（資源）.

The people we served were in age from the young to the elderly. Many of them were missing teeth or had dirty clothes. To my surprise， they were quite thankful that I had brought the boys. Many said how fun it was to have active， joyful children around.

After dinner， I saw my older son sitting together with several elderly gentlemen who were talking about sports in front of a small television set. He was having a great time sharing and hearing stories.

As some people returned to their tents， I heard him tell them， “Thanks so much for coming to dinner with us.” I could see through their facial expressions（表情） that his simple words touched them greatly. I hugged him a little tighter（緊緊地） as we left to go home because it touched me too.

It was a great reminder of how treating（對待） people with respect， no matter who they are， can lift all of us up.

精彩譯文

每個人都值得我們尊重

一天，一個朋友邀請我們去帳篷城幫忙做晚餐。在這個地區為無家可歸者搭建了許多帳篷，我帶著我的兩個兒子一起去了。那時他們一個9歲，一個5歲。他們有很多關于窮人如何生活的問題。

我們討論了人們陷入這種境地的原因，以及為他們建立安全網的重要性。我解釋說，通常情況下，唯一的安全網是那些愿意分享時間和資源的人。

我們服務的對象從年輕人到老年人。他們中的很多人都掉了牙，或者穿著臟衣服。令我驚訝的是，他們很感激我帶來了孩子們。許多人說，有一群活躍、快樂的孩子在身邊是多么有趣。

晚飯后，我看到我的大兒子和幾位老先生坐在一起，他們在一臺小電視機前談論體育運動。他很享受分享和聆聽故事的過程。

當一些人回到他們的帳篷時，我聽到大兒子對他們說，“非常感謝你們能和我們共進晚餐?！蔽夷軓乃麄兊拿娌勘砬榭闯觯瑑鹤雍唵蔚脑捳Z深深地打動了他們。我們離開回家的時候，我緊緊地擁抱了兒子，因為這也觸動了我。

這很好地提醒了我們，尊重別人，不管他們是誰，都能讓我們振作起來。

跟蹤練習

1. Before the dinner， the boys couldn’t understand .

A. why some kids ate in the tents

B. why they should go to the tents

C. why the homeless were not happy

D. why poor people lived that way

2. What did the older boy do with the homeless？

A. He helped them clean their teeth.

B. He helped them wash their dirty clothes.

C. He fixed their television set.

D. He listened to their stories.

3. After hearing the boy say “Thanks so much for coming to dinner with us”， the homeless felt very___________.

A. excited ? ? ? ? ? ? ?B. moved ? C. nervous ? ? ? ? ? D. annoyed

4. Which best describes the story’s main point？

A. Be ready to serve anyone.

B. Don’t be afraid of difficulties.

C. Meet all kinds of people.

D. Treat everyone with respect.