【英语趣味课堂】发出的礼物-The Gift of Giving

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Matthew: Hi, this is Matthew White.

MB: And this is MB.

 

Matthew: And we are talking about our experience with Habitat For Humanity¹ and our trip to Papua New Guinea with a group of Japanese students.

 

MB: Right.

 

Matthew: MB, a lot of people ask, you know, you raise money and you give to these people and help out by building these houses but wouldn't it be more efficient just to send the money. Why do you need to spend the money on airfare and go?

 

MB: Right. A lot of people ask me that when I tell them about my experiences and I think that going to a different country and experiencing the culture firsthand is one of the most important parts about learning² about Habitat and about being a part of Habitat. I think if you just donate money to any organization you don't have the firsthand experience and you don't have the chance to make new friends and to learn about a culture and to have such a wonderful time and if I just were writing a check or just sending some money I wouldn't feel like I had really made a difference but by going on these trips and taking students, especially with me, I feel like I'm a part of something and I can see firsthand that I've tried to help make a change and I can see firsthand how much the students have learned³ from it. How do you feel about that?

 

Matthew: I agree. I think that the, maybe more than the money gets donated, is the time of each individual and we all only have so much time on this earth and your presence⁴ is what is appreciated by other people. That's something that you can't experience, you can't feel the appreciation⁵ for what people feel when they actually get to meet you, and I think that maybe when we left at the end of the trip, and all the villagers showed up at the airport to say goodbye to us, it really showed that presence, being there is such an important part of what we do.

 

MB:Right. Yeah, I really agree. One thing that I always do when we go on Habitat trips is take off my watch. I don't think on these trips that you really need to worry about every minute and you don't need to worry about time because it's really important to be in the moment and to be a part of the experience and maybe we go for two weeks or ten days but you can't measure how much you change or how much you learn or how much you are moved by the experience. It's really priceless and a lot of times when I tell people about my experience I say I couldn't put an amount of money on how much I learned or how much I've been changed.

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