The Homeless Hero

    For many，finding an unattended wallet filled with £400 in cash would be a source（来源）of temptation（诱惑）．But the    (1)   would no doubt be greater if you were living on the streets with little food and money． All of this makes the actions of the homeless Tom Smith   (2)  more remarkable．

    After spotting a    (3)    on the front seat inside a parked car with its window down，he stood guard in the rain for about two hours waiting for the    (4)   to return．

    After hours in the cold and wet， he   (5)   inside and pulled the wallet out hoping to find some ID so he could contact（联系）the driver， only to   (6)  it contained £400 in notes，with another £50 in spare change beside it．

    He then took the wallet to a nearby police station after  (7)   a note behind to let the owner know it was safe． When the car's owner John Anderson and his colleague Carol Lawrence returned to the car﹣which was itself worth £35，000﹣in Glasgow city centre， they were  (8)  to find two policemen standing next to it． The policemen told them what Mr．Smith did and that the wallet was  (9)  ．

    The pair were later able to thank Mr．Smith for his   (10)  ．

    Mr．Anderson said："I couldn't believe that the guy never took a penny．To think he is sleeping on the streets tonight    (11)  he could have stolen the money and paid for a place to stay in．This guy has nothing and   (12)    he didn't take the wallet for himself；he thought about others  (13)  ． It's unbelievable． It just proves there are  (14)  guys out there．"

    Mr．Smith's act  (15)   much of the public's attention． He also won praise from social media users after Mr．Anderson   (16)  about the act of kindness on Facebook．

    Now Mr． Anderson has set up an online campaign to   (17)    money for  Mr．Smith and other homeless people in the area， which by yesterday had received ￡8，000． "I think the faith that everyone has shown  (18)   him has touched him． People have been approaching him in the street； he's had job   (19)  and all sorts， "Mr．Anderson commented．

  On one of her trips to New York several years ago，Eudora Welty decided to take a couple of New York friends out to dinner．They settled in at a comfortable East Side cafe and within minutes，another customer was approaching their table．

“Hey，aren’t you from Mississippi？”the elegant，white﹣haired writer remembered being asked by the stranger．“I’m from Mississippi too．”

 Without a second thought，the woman joined the Welty party．When her dinner partner showed up，she also pulled up a chair．

“They began telling me all the news of Mississippi，”Welty said．“I didn’t know what my New York friends were thinking．”

    Taxis on a rainy New York night are rarer than sunshine．By the time the group got up to leave，it was pouring outside．Welty’s new friends immediately sent a waiter to find a cab．Heading back downtown toward her hotel，her big﹣city friends were amazed at the turn of events that had changed their Big Apple dinner into a Mississippi.

“My friend said：‘Now we believe your stories，’”Welty added．And I said：‘Now you know．These are the people that make me write them．’”

Sitting on a sofa in her room，Welty，a slim figure in a simple gray dress，looked pleased with this explanation．

“I don’t make them up，”she said of the characters in her fiction these last 50 or so years．“I don’t have to．”

    Beauticians，bartenders，piano players and people with purple hats，Welty’s people come from afternoons spent visiting with old friends，from walks through the streets of her native Jackson，Miss，from conversations overheard on a bus．It annoys Welty that，at 78，her left ear has now given out．Sometimes，sitting on a bus or a train，she hears only a fragment（片段） of a particularly interesting story．

What happened when Welty was with her friends at the cafe？

What can we learn about the characters in Welty’s fiction？

I had one trip last year where I was caught by a hurricane in America．I picked up the stem cells in Providence，Rhode Island，and was meant to fly to Washington then back to London．But when I arrived at the check﹣in desk at Providence，the lady on the desk said：”Well，I’m really sorry，I’ve got some bad news for you﹣there are no fights from Washington．”So I took my box and put it on the desk and I said：”In this box are some stem cells that are urgently needed for a patient﹣please，please，you’ve got to get me back to the United Kingdom．”She just dropped everything．She arranged for a flight on a small plane to be held for me．re﹣routed（改道）me through Newark and got me back to the UK even earlier than originally scheduled．

For this courier job，you’re consciously aware than that box you’re got something that is potentially going to save somebody’s life．