B
What are the basic ingredients of good manners? A strong sense of fairness is one of them.
A friend once told me an experience that he had. When he was driving along a one lane, unpaved mountain road, the car ahead of his produced clouds of choking dust, and it was a long way to the nearest paved main road. Suddenly, the car ahead stopped at a wider place on the road.
My friend thought there must be something wrong with the car ahead. He stopped and asked if anything was wrong. "No," said the other driver. "But you've endured my dust so far. I'll endure yours the rest of the way."
Another ingredient is empathy. It makes a person see into the mind or heart of someone else. Recently I happened to read such a story in a book.
A man was having dinner alone, and he was trying to open a bottle. But he failed. Then he asked a waiter for help. The waiter took the bottle, turned his back and opened it without difficulty. Then the waiter closed it again and turned back. He pretended to make a great effort to open the bottle without success. Finally he took it into the kitchen and returned very soon. He told the man that he managed to open it, but only with a tool.
Yet another ingredient is the ability to treat people alike. No matter who he is and what he does, everyone is worth respecting.
理解
1. What are the three important ingredients of good manners according to the passage?
A strong sense of fairness, empathy and the ability to treat people alike.
2. Which of the three ingredients of good manners do you value most? Why?
As a student, I value the sense of fairness most. I hope I will be treated by the teachers and my classmates fairly.
