Passage Three

    Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage.

    The word “generosity” has been devalued（贬值） somewhat recently. A millionaire man may give his friend a house in the beautiful suburb（市郊）; A rich man could fly halfway round the world to meet his friends for his birthday party. In this case, generosity is more an action of showing off than a sincere action of giving. And such showing off lacks the most important quality of real generosity to offer kindness and love without expecting anything in return.

     Real generosity, when you meet it is simply so pleasant. And as a quality, it belongs equally to the rich and the poor. A traveler in a faraway place felt it when he shared bread, room, even bed with a farmers family, whose general principle is “A guest in the house is God in the house”.

     Another story is about a university student from Oxford. He did something out of his natural sense of generosity when he learned that his roommate couldnt afford an impossibly expensive textbook, a book which was very rare in second-hand shops. Knowing that his roommate was far too proud to accept such a book as present from him, the rich student bought a new copy for 35 pounds at Blackwells bookshop. He dirtied it up a bit and tore off the paper cover, made a few dog-ears（卷页） and pencil marks against what he thought might be important parts, and wrote an invented name in the front. He even remembered to age the ink by putting it over fire. Then he went back, looking extremely proud of himself and claiming to have got the book in a second-hand bookshop. “Beaten them down to two pounds!” To make his friends believe him, he showed a receipt（收据）for the money by buying himself another book at the same place. Ten years later, the poorer student got to know the truth. Actually he was suspicious at the very beginning, though he didnt force his richer friend to tell the truth. He appreciated the invaluable generosity as well as the valuable book.

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