Chopping firewood for those in need

难词探意

1. furnace /'fзːnɪs/ n. 熔炉；火炉

2. effusive /ɪ'fjuːsɪv/ adj. 感情横溢的

Washington is home to lots of trees—it is the Evergreen State, after all—and lots of fireplaces and wood-burning stoves too. But what if you lived there and couldn't chop wood or couldn't afford to pay someone to do it? Luckily,Shane McDaniel and his twin sons, Harrison and Henry McDaniel, 21, are happy to lend an ax.The three men chopped truckloads of wood—then donated it to those in need.

The idea started as a father-son bonding project. “I had to cut wood with my dad. He just loved doing it,” said Shane, 48. The result was a great wall of wood piled up around their house in Lake Stevens, 35 miles outside of Seattle. To buy that much wood would cost about 10,000.It was too much for the McDaniels to use themselves. Shane started thinking of others. He posted on Facebook: “If you are in need of firewood and cannot afford it, please contact me! ”

The response was immediate. One man offered to donate a wood-burningfurnace.Others raced over to Norm's, the mini-mart Shane owns, with more wood for the pile. One woman, noticing the photo of the McDaniel men in the Facebook post, started to feel warm in other ways: “Please post more pictures of you in sleeveless shirts. I don't need the wood. But truly I appreciate the eye candy! ” Single mom Katelyn Ticer, 29, and her four-year-old daughter rely on a wood-burning stove as their sole source of heat, so it was a relief to receive a truckload of firewood from the McDaniels. “To get that much wood brought me to tears,” she said. “So much stress is off my shoulders. I couldn't be more thankful.”

Not every recipient iseffusive. “Some even aren't friendly. They are mad at the world and mad that they had to ask for help. They just have no other option than freezing,” Shane said.But Shane is OK with that. “Giving is the reward. It has nothing to do with how well it's received; it's about how much it's needed,” he said.

Reading

Check

1. What's the function of paragraph 1?

A. To arouse the reader's concern.

B. To summarize the whole passage.

C. To state the importance of firewood.

D. To introduce the topic of the passage.

2. What's the attitude of most people to the post on Facebook?

A. Neutral. B. Supportive.

C. Worried. D. Critical.

3. What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A. Giving is an extra reward actually.

B. It is better to give than to receive.

C. People are often mad at the world.

D. To ask for help is a difficult thing.

Language

Study

Sentence for writing

So much stress is off my shoulders. I couldn't be more thankful. 我肩上的压力都消失了。我非常感激。

【信息提取】“否定词+比较级”表示最高级。

【句式仿写】这是个非常棒的计划，我再同意不过了。