Spreading Happiness

杨庆春

爱心是一泓甘泉，它滋润着干涸者的心田;爱心是一支拐杖，它给予颓唐者站起来的力量;爱心是一束花朵，它指明荒漠跋涉者春天的方向……本文主要讲述两位美术老师和学生一起开展“PepToc”项目帮助人们走出心理困境的故事。

Jessica Martin and Asherah Weiss are art teachers in a primary school. They thought their students might have the magic words that could bring calm to people in difficult times， so they created a project called “PepToc” with their students. The project had two parts—one was setting up a hotline， and the other was making encouraging posters. The two teachers had the same basic question for all the students：“What could you say to help or encourage someone else？”

Students working on the hotline thought of what they would like to say. Then Ms. Martin recorded each one， and sorted out（分类）the recordings into different parts of the telephone hotline. When people call the hotline， they can hear happy voices of children of different ages sharing positive（積极的）messages. For example， pressing 1 brings ideas for people who are “feeling mad or nervous”. Helpful suggestions include：“listen to music” or “go get a cookie”. Pressing 2 results in “words of encouragement and life advice”. This includes messages like：“The world is a better place with you in it. ” And “You are okay！”By pressing 3， you can hear a group of children saying together：“You can do it！Keep trying， don’t give up！”

Other students made encouraging posters and hung them up around the town. Many posters had strips of paper. When people passed by，they could tear off（撕掉）the strips and take with them. For example， one poster said “If you are mad， think of positive thoughts”， and had strips reminding people to “Be happy”.

Ms. Martin thought the project would only attract interest from people near the school. But in its first six weeks， the hotline got 5 million calls from around the world. It has become very popular with stressed adults， patients in hospitals， and others who just want to hear the happy voices of children. For Martin and Weiss， the project shows students that small acts can have a big influence. “If you have an idea， just try to do it and see what happens， ”Weiss says. Students now know that they have amazing power. They’re already thinking about new messages to record for the PepToc Hotline.

根据短文内容，回答下列各题：

1.Who created the project “PepToc”？

2. What are the two parts of the project？

3. How did Ms. Martin and the students set up the hotline？

4.What could people do when they passed by the posters？

5.What is the last paragraph mainly about？

Keys：

1. Two art teachers，Jessica Martin and Asherah Weiss，and their students.

2. Setting up a hotline and making encouraging posters.

3. The students thought of positive messages. Then Ms. Martin recorded them and sorted out the recordings into different parts of the hotline.

4. They could tear off the strips and take with them.

5. The influence of the project on other people and the students.