爱的柠檬摊

周艳霞

美国俄亥俄州的四个孩子几年前开始捐助该州的辛辛那提儿童医院。如今，他们的柠檬水小摊和在线筹款活动已经筹集到了超过30万美元的善款。

1A few years ago， four kids from Indian Hill， Ohio， teamed up to open a lemonade stand in their neighborhood. The Zerbe family's two sons and the Weidner family's two daughters set up their stand and earned their first check—$148. Instead of keeping the money， the kids decided to donate it instead.

2Moms Amanda Zerbe and Hillary Weidner thought this was the perfect moment to teach their children how to be charitable with their earnings， and they didn't have to think very hard when it came to selecting an organization.

3When Hillary's daughter Beatrice was just 6 months old， she needed a kidney transplant （移植）. Hillary donated one of her own kidneys to her little girl， and the doctors， nurses， and staff at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center helped them get well again. Beatrice is now a healthy， happy first⁃grader！

4After the two families delivered their first check of $148 to the hospital， the moms shared what they'd done on social media. Suddenly， friends， family members， and total strangers were opening their wallets and donating， too. Before they knew it， their small donation ballooned to $205，000！ Even as COVID⁃19 led to shutdowns and social distancing in 2020， the lemonade stand and online fund⁃raiser managed to get in another $10，000！

5In 2021， the kids set a goal to raise $20，000 for Cincinnati Children's Hospital， but they didn't make their mark. Instead， they blew right past it and pulled in another $77，000！ That's over $300，000 total in just three years！

6“It's crazy，” Hillary said. “I mean， it's just， there's no amount of money that we can ever raise to acquaint （使了解） what we have received from the hospital. So， even if we could donate $45 million， it wouldn't even touch how grateful we feel to them.”

Reading Check

Choose the best answers according to the text

Detail 1. How did the four children make money according to the text？

A. By selling lemonade together.

B. By working for a lemonade stand.

C. By working in their neighborhood.

D. By doing something in a hospital.

Inference 2. What did the moms think of their children's donation？

A. It was meaningless. B. It was educational.

C. It was interesting. D. It was relaxing.

Inference 3. What can we learn from paragraph 3？

A. The kidney transplant cost lots of money.

B. Hillary saved an unknown little girl.

C. Beatrice's surgery was successful.

D. Hillary's daughter hasn't been a pupil.

Detail 4. What did Hillary's words mean in the last paragraph？

A. She couldn't believe how much money they had raised.

B. She was very appreciative of the hospital's help.

C. She would like to know how the hospital used the money.

D. She expected to continue raising money for the hospital.

Language Study

Discover the useful structure in the text

when it comes to... 意為“当谈到……时”，其中to为介词

...and they didn't have to think very hard when it came to selecting an organization.

……并且在选择一个组织时，他们并不需要绞尽脑汁地思考。