首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Not long ago, Ted Gup opened a battered old suitcase from his mother s attic and discovered a family secret. Inside was a thick
Not long ago, Ted Gup opened a battered old suitcase from his mother s attic and discovered a family secret. Inside was a thick
admin
2015-06-14
66
问题
Not long ago, Ted Gup opened a battered old suitcase from his mother s attic and discovered a family secret. Inside was a thick sheaf of letters addressed to "B. Virdot," all dated December 1933, all asking for help. Also inside: 150 canceled checks signed by the mysterious Virdot.
Gup, a journalism professor at Boston’s Emerson College, quickly got to the bottom of the story: His grandfather Samuel Stone had used the pseudonym to slip money to impoverished people. "At the time, he caused quite a stir," says Gup, who chronicles the story in A Secret Gift: How One Man’s Kindness And A Trove of Letters Revealed the Hidden History of the Great Depression.
Stone wasn’t a mogul, but as the owner of a chain of clothing stores, he was fairly well off. Just before Christmas, 1933, he placed an ad. in his local Canton, Ohio, newspaper, offering money to 75 people who wrote to "B. Virdot" explaining their need. The letters poured in and were so heartrending that he ended up giving 150 people $5 close to $84 in today’s money. "I read all the letters multiple times," says Gup, who was astonished by the raw anguish of the Depression. Then he tracked down the recipients’ descendants. "Most people I contacted wept when they learned about the letters," Gup says. "When they read the letters, they sobbed, and I had to give them room to collect themselves. It brought home what their parents and grandparents had endured" no money for food, shoes, rent, let alone anything to give their kids for Christmas. "There were instances in which the calamity of the Depression was so great that $5 barely made a dent," Gup says. "But there were others for whom it really did make a difference. It provided Christmas dinner, a few presents under the tree...and at least as important, it signaled that somebody cared. In 1933, the New Deal was a glint in FDR’s(Franklin Delano Roosevelt)eye: it was just beginning. There was no net to catch people when they were free-falling."
Some whom Gup contacted finally understood why their parents had been able to serve a fancy meal for just that one holiday: others learned harsh truths. "The children of several letter writers were unaware that their parents had gone to jail," driven by desperation to steal to put food on the table. "That did not diminish their respect or love for their parents," he says, "but it enhanced their understanding."
Gup found out that his grandfather had his own dark past. He’d been born in Romania, not—as he’d claimed—Pittsburgh: his birth certificate was phony, and he’d invented his biography. Gup speculates that, having escaped a childhood of poverty, hunger, and religious persecution(he was Jewish), his grandfather lied to escape bias against immigrants.
That Stone wasn’t a saint, that he’d done whatever it took to escape adversity, helped explain his motives: He understood despair, Gup says, and that "nothing was more precious than a second chance."
On November 5, the descendants of the people Stone helped are scheduled to gather at the Canton Palace Theatre in Canton to share stories and read the original letters. As for Gup, he views the legacy of the Depression as "a real appreciation of family, of collaboration and sacrifice, of respect what we tend to think of as American virtues. The hard times were brutal, but they did create an awareness that saw us through the Second World War and helped usher in a period of prosperity, an awareness I fear was being lost in materialism and self absorption prior to the recent great recession. "No one in his right mind would welcome such times," Gup says. "My family and neighbors have felt the sting of this recession. But our identity as individuals and as a nation is the product not just of good times but also of bad times. They give us our spine, our strength, our gumption, our grit, all those things we take such pride in."I think B. Virdot’s gift is a reminder that we should all be emboldened to make an effort, no matter how modest, to extend ourselves. That’s what makes the difference in all our lives."
According to the passage. Ted Gup
选项
A、is a journalist working for a college.
B、read a story entitled A Secret Gift.
C、found out some of the letter writers.
D、is a descendant of Jewish.
答案
D
解析
细节题。通读全文,第五段末句中的“…(he was Jewish).his grandfather lied to escape…”说明Gup的外祖父对外隐瞒了自己的犹太人身份,所以Gup是犹太人的后裔,[D]正确。
转载请注明原文地址:https://www.kaotiyun.com/show/jNOO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
ThefollowingareAmericanmagazinesEXCEPT
Hewasoneofthemostkind,considerableandtrustworthypeopleIhaveeverhadthepleasuretoknow.
Ifitwereacountry,CaliforniawouldbeonewithmorepeoplethanCanadaandaneconomythesizeofChina’s.Itsscientistssh
Allofthefollowingwordsbelongto"Broadening"insemanticchangeEXCEPT______
Withthemobilephones’entranceintothecommonfamilies,thephonecallsintheclasseshavebecomeahotissue.Somepeoplec
TheofficiallanguagesofNewZealandareEnglishand
Inrecentyears,railroadshavebeencombiningwitheachother,mergingintosuper-systems,causingheightenedconcernsaboutm
Tounderstandthemarketingconcept,it’sonlynecessarytounderstandthedifferencebetweenmarketingandselling.Nottooma
Completethegap-fillingtask.SomeofthegapsbelowmayrequireamaximumofTHREEwords.Make.suretheword(s)youfill.in
ThelongestriverinCanadais
随机试题
萎缩发生时,细胞内常出现
位于曲精小管的管壁上,能支持营养生精细胞、分泌雄性激素、参与形成血一睾屏障的细胞是()。
有一大面积烧伤病人,烧伤已5天,突然发生寒战,继而高热。不久,体温不升,白细胞升高不明显,四肢冰冷,尿少,脉快。根据以上临床表现,诊断为
会计确认是会计核算的第一步,是对单位发生的经济业务事项按一定的标准进行分类和判断,确定其对企业财务状况、经营成果、现金流量的影响及归属于哪类会计要素的过程。()
在施工图设计阶段,根据施工图纸确定的工程量,套用有关预算定额单价、取费率和利税率等编制()。
某企业本期财务杠杆系数1.5,假设公司无优先股,本期息税前利润为450万元,则本期实际利息费用为( )。
企业发生下列各项费用中,应在管理费用中列支的有()。
根据以下资料,回答下列问题。2012年年末,合肥市规模以上工业企业2087户,全年实现工业增加值1653.54亿元,比上年增长17.4%。其中,轻工业增加值653.28亿元,增长16.5%;重工业增加值1000.26亿元,增长18%。战略性新兴产业完成产
(2018年第5题)经济建设是全党的中心工作,坚持以经济建设为中心不动摇,就必须坚持以经济体制改革为重点不动摇。当前,我国深化经济体制改革的重点是
设A=,E为3阶单位矩阵.求方程组Ax=0的一个基础解系;
最新回复
(
0
)