實用英語口語(高級) 18.Being a good Samaritan

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ACTIVIST:Have you ever heard of the term 'Good Samaritan'? 這就是我們所說的一個毫不利己對他人行善的人。 But how did this term come about? Who was the 'Good Samaritan'? It's the first century AD, ancient Judea.

ACTIVIST:Night. A man is walking from Jerusalem to Jericho when he is attacked, robbed and badly beaten by thieves. The man is left to die in a ditch. A priest passes ... and doesn't stop to help the man ... another man passes ... and doesn't stop to help. Then, a Samaritan passes.

ACTIVIST:Now, at that time, Samaritans and Judeans were not on friendly terms. In fact, they really didn't like each other. However, the Samaritan stopped, picked up the injured man, carried him on his donkey to an inn, and took care of him. The next day, the Samaritan paid the innkeeper two silver coins to look after the injured man, and left. Why did the Samaritan help the man, when their people were enemies?

ACTIVIST:Los Angeles, 1984. Neighbors have been complaining about a child crying. Apartment manager Leon T. Graves, an African American, opens the door ... to find a seven-month old Korean boy just hours away from death, abandoned in the empty apartment. Graves took the child to hospital.

ACTIVIST:Then, two weeks later, took the little boy home and looked after him. Graves couldn't bear to see the orphaned boy put into the state adoption system. He decided to bring the child up himself. He even learned to cook Korean food and started taking the boy, whose name was Roy Chung, to a Korean church. At the time, the sight of an old black African American carrying a little Korean boy amazed both the black and the Korean communities of Los Angeles.

ACTIVIST:What force made Leon T. Graves pick up that little Korean baby and take care of him? What force made the Good Samaritan help the Judean? Was it the force of human kindness? Many scientists and philosophers would say humans are naturally selfish and that everything we do is to help ourselves.

ACTIVIST:Maybe the Good Samaritan thought he would go to heaven if he was kind. Maybe Leon T. Graves was just lonely. Or is it that we show kindness to others because, if we were in the same situation, we'd hope others would do the same for us?