英语 热门试卷

B

I went through a very hard time several years ago, when my daughters were nine and six years old. Though I had just divorced and had very little money, I managed to get a job in a nursing home as an aide(护工) for the elderly and moved in with a “friend” to share living expenses.

But one day, when I came home with my daughters after work, I found the whole house empty. And later, I found that my “friend” had run away with the half of the rent I had paid her the day before and the deposit(押金) of $300.As a result, I had to leave the house, because I had only about $11 left, and payday was three days away—I was unable to pay the rent, and I didn't know anyone to turn to. I slept in the car in a park nearby with my daughters for the night, and called the manager of the nursing home the next morning, hoping that she could pay me early. Fortunately, she agreed.

Then I bought something for my daughters for breakfast, and when we sat down at a table in the park, an old man—dirty, needing a shave, and smelly—sort of a beggar, handed me all the money in his pocket, saying that he was sorry to overhear my story and that he wanted to be of some help. I started crying, and I folded his hand back over the money, hugged him as tightly as I could and told him we were going to be just fine.

I will never forget that day, when God showed me what true generosity meant and when he showed me love from the most unexpected place, in the most unlikely way. On that day I saw the face of an angel, and the way I viewed others changed forever.

C

As we have seen, the focus of medical care in our society has been shifting from curing disease to preventing disease—especially in terms of changing our many unhealthy behaviors, such as poor eating habits, smoking, and failure to exercise.The line of thought involved in this shift can be pursed further.Imagine a person who is about the right weight, but does not eat very nutritious foods, who feels OK but exercises only occasionally, and who has no chest pains or abnormal blood counts, but sleeps a lot and often feels tired. This person is not ill. He may not even be at risk for any particular disease. But we can imagine that this person could be a lot healthier.

The field of medicine has not traditionally distinguished between someone who is merely “not ill” and someone who is in excellent health and pays attention to the body's special needs. Both types have simply been called “well”.In recent years, however, some health specialists have begun to apply the terms “well” and “wellness” only to those who are actively attempting to maintain and improve their health. People who are well are concerned with nutrition and exercise, and they make a point of monitoring their body's condition. Most importantly, perhaps, people who are well take active responsibility for all matters related to their health. Even people who have a physical disease or handicap (缺陷) may be “well”， in this new sense, if they make an effort to maintain the best possible health they can in the face of their physical limitations.“Wellness” may perhaps best be viewed not as a state that people can achieve, but as an ideal that people can struggle for. People who are well are likely to be better able to resist disease and to fight disease when it strikes. And by focusing attention on healthy ways of living, the concept of wellness can have a beneficial influence on the ways in which people face the challenges of daily life.