Issue in society

Issues in society

1. Helping Others

Is helping strangers a good idea? Read the story and find out: What happened to this taxi driver when he tried to help?

扶危济困对不对呢？看看这位见义勇为的司机吧。

A crazy man with three swords took over a city buss with 15 passengers and drove it wildly throught the streets. But taxi driver Dal Chong Yang did not stop to think.

Driving his taxi as fast as possible, he caught up with the bus. He then drove in front of the bus for three kilometers, honking his horn and warning people to get out of the way. The bus hit his taxi five times, as the crazy man tried to kill Mr. Yang.

Finally, the bus hit a tree and came to a stop with all of its passengers safe. The crazy man was arrested by police.

Mr. Yang’s action helped save many lives,police said. They believe that the crazy man wanted to run down as many people as he could with the bus.

The taxi driver, Mr. Yang, is now a hero.Everybody knows his name and praises his courageous act. “I was afraid, of course,” said Mr. Yang. “But I knew I had to do it or a lot of people would be hurt, maybe killed.”

But some believe that what Mr. Yang did was wrong. “Ordinary people should not be trying to stop runaway buses and robberies,” says the chief of police.“They really do not know how to do that, and they can get themselves injured or killed.”

In fact, Mr. Yang was injured and nearly killed when the bus hit his car. He spent four month in the hospital and two months at home. Now he is back driving his taxi. But he can drive only for four or five hours each day because of the pain from his injuries, not like the 14 hours a day before his good deed.

2. A Woman’s Place

Professor Max Karlov has some controversial ideas about the role of women in society. Read this interview and find out: What message is Professor Karlvo trying to

give to the audience?

Interviewer: Congratulations, Professor Karlov, on your new book, A Woman’s Place.

I just finished reading it, and you really have strong ideas.

Professor Karlov: Yes. But my ideas are based on facts. Societies all over the world are in trouble. Now, you have to think, why are societies in trouble? Interviewer: According to your book, Professor Karlov, you think the difficulties in today’s world are caused by a change in the natural order. Could you explain that for our audience?

Professor Karlov: With pleasure. By a change in the natural order I mean the changes in our society in the roles and responsibilities of men and women.

As everyone knows, what women do in society-their roles and responsibilities-has changed a great deal in the past 50 years.

Interviewer: OK, I think everyone would agree with that. But so what?

Professor Karlov: Women in many societies no longer stay at home and take care of children. They have jobs outside the home. This means they no longer have the time to take care of their children. In today’s world, children grow up with so many problems. They drop out of school, they take drugs, they steal. Today’s children are lazy and confused. They need the guidance, love and support that only mothers who are in home can give. Women should return to raising and educating children. They are naturally suited to do so. Men should continue to have the main responsibility for earning money for the family. We know from history that men are suited for leadership and women are suited for raising children.

A woman’s place is in the home, raising the children and keeping the home.

A man’s place is outside the home, working to support the family. I know this

is and old-fashioned, or out-of-date, belief. But it is the one that fits the natural order.

3. To Tell or Not to Tell

Arafat, an employee of a large paper company, has made a shocking discovery. Read

this letter to his brother and find out: What is happening at his company?

阿拉法特——一名大型造纸公司的员工——发现了一件令人震惊的事情，这是一封他写给哥哥的信，公司到底在做什么呢？

Dear Mohammed,

Thanks for the phone call yesterday; it was good to talk with you. You asked me if something was wrong, and I said no. But you were right, older brother-something is bothering me, troubling me greatly.

After talking to you yesterday, I decided to write you a letter. Writing often helps me organize my thoughts and see life more clearly.

I accidentally discovered that my company is dumping a chemical into a river near one of its factories in the countryside.At first, I wasn’t concerned about this. I knew that the owners of the company wre fine men and would not do anything illegal.

But then I read a story in the newspaper about factories illegally dumping chemicals into rivers and how many of these chemicals are harmful. One chemical is very dangerous to humans because, over time, it can cause cancer. And this is the same chemical that my own company is dumping into that river!

I was puzzled at first. So I checked carefully and found out that I was right. The company has been dumping this deadly chemical for about 18 months, and the owners know about it!

Well, Mohanmmed, I am confused and upset. Of course, I could tell my boss. But then he might tell the owners and they would fire me, the troublemaker. Should I talk to officials of the government? The owner are powerful men and might bribe the officials, and then I would lose my job. Perhaps I could talk to the journalist who wrote the story in the newspaper.

As you know, I plan to retire in four more years. I am too old to quit and find a new job. Besides, I like my work. Well, I used to like my work. Now I am feeling very strange. It is getting difficult to continue my work as if nothing were wrong.

Please help me, older brother. I don’t kno w what to do.

Yours,

Arafat

4. Finders Keepers

David always thought that he was an honest person. But something happened to him to make him wonder. Read the story and find out: What happened?

戴维一向认为自己是诚实的人，但有件事却使他怀疑起来，是什么事呢？

Suddenly it was raining money. Money was falling from the sky and beginning to cover the ground lie green snow.

David thought he was dreaming. He saw $100 bills everywhere. All he had to do was reach out and take a handful. He did. He did it again. And again. Soon he had more $100 bills than he could hold. David saw an empty paper bag on the ground. He filled it up with more $100 bills.

He looked up and saw, on the bridge over his head, an overturned truck. The truck had smashed into another truck. The accident was so bad that all of the money the truck was carrying spilled into the road. The wind was blowing hard, so the bills were floating all over.

David saw people running from everywhere. They were shouting to each other to hurry up. They were gathering money and putting it in purses and bags. He had never seen people working so quickly.

David then heard the sirens and saw the flashing lights on the police cars as they raced to the accident on the bridge. He left quickly.

When he got home, David counted the money he had picked up-almost $25,000. He had never seen so much money. And it was his! It belonged to him!

Or did it? David began to think about that. Did it really belong to him? If it wasn’t his, then whose money was it? Well, thought David, it might belong to the bank. It was th e bank’s truck that crashed, and the money came from that truck.

But the money was just floating around. He had not robbed a bank or stolen the money from somebody. What he had done was different. And nobody knew

him. Nobody could say that he had picked up the money. And then David thought of all of those other people who were picking up the money, just like he had done.

But David was worried. He wondered if he should return the money.

5. A Mother’s Story

Have you ever wished that another person were dead? This mother did. Read the story and find out: Why did she want a man to die?

你曾盼望过一个人死掉吗？这位母亲就是。她为什么想要那个人死呢？

My heart jumped with joy when he was dead. I knew then, when the electricity was sent into that man’s body, that I would finally have peace.

Am I a monster? Am I thirsty for blood? Do I get excited when people are killed? No, no, no! I am not a monster. I am a mother whose 18-year-old son was killed during a robbery.

Before Wang was killed, I had not thought much about capital punishment. Maybe I thought it was wrong. After all, killing someone who has killed someone else rea lly doesn’t help much. The other person is still dead, and killing the murderer just adds to the violence.

But that all changed when my only son was killed. It happened five years ago. Wang was working at a grocery store.

He had just finished high school and was going to go to a good university in a month. He was working to earn money to help pay for his education.

Two men entered the store. They told my son to take all the money from the cash registers and put it in a bag. He did this. Then they ordered Wang to open the safe. Wang told them that he did not have the key. One of the men had a gun and threatened to shoot Wang. My son pleaded with him and told him that only the owner had the key. The gunman then shot him five times in the face and heart. My son died instantly.

Both robbers were captured. The one who shot my son was sentenced to death in the electric chair. I asked to see him die. I wanted to be there. My son’s death had to be repaid.

So I watched when they strapped him in. I saw him begging for his life. Good, I

thought, beg all you can. You must die for what you did.

I think about capital punishment often now. Killing is wrong. But if you kill, you should pay with your own life.It’s the only way we can stop all the violence.