Charitable Giving
Section I
Most of the mail we get these days is junk mail: flyers, pamphlets and brochures trying to sell us stuff we neither want nor need. Our first impulse is to gather them up, unread, and throw them in the recycling bin – we are responsible citizens, after all. When did you last read through them and see what they were about? Most of them really are junk, but a surprisingly large percentage of them are from charitable organizations asking you to support good causes. A lot of them, too, make for uncomfortable reading.
Section II
Photos of children dying of starvation and disease come through your mail box in the morning. Then there’s your daily paper telling you about earthquakes, droughts, famines, wars, and other catastrophes. In the evening you settle down in front of the TV to watch your favourite sitcom, but there too in the commercial breaks are appeals to your conscience and your pocket. No one can be blind to the fact that for millions of people elsewhere life is a nightmare.
Section III
With so many causes needing public support – that is, your support – how are you to decide which is the most deserving? You can’t donate to them all. People react generously to sudden natural disasters such as the tsunami in Indonesia, and send money for medical aid, food, and fresh water supplies. They sympathize, and they are willing to pay out hard-earned cash to help those hit by enormous bad luck. There are also those who contribute to a favourite charity or charities year in, year out, even if they know it’s a problem that is part of the human condition and is not going to go away.
Section IV
Most of us, if we contribute to charities at all, go with those that touch us in some personal way: for example, cancer research, because a member of the family or a close friend has the disease, or animal welfare and the environment, because we are genuinely concerned about the state of the planet. Topping the list of causes donated to is medical research followed by hospitals, with children’s welfare a fairly close third. Contributions to causes overseas are little more than a third of those to medical research.
Section V
There are a fair number of people who feel that such causes as poverty, disease, fresh water supplies, medical research, and so on, are the sort of thing that governments are supposed to take care of. Well, yes, and many governments do have aid policies, but that is not a good enough reason to duck any personal involvement in helping others. You may not be responsible for their misery, but you can feel responsible about improving their situation.
Section VI
In an economic recession, both the number and the amount of contributions fall off, but as a rule they usually pick up again when the recession is over. So there’s no doubt that the desire to help is there, but also that it’s easy to feel helpless in the face of so much human and non-human misery. What difference can my small contribution make? Well, add your small contribution to thousands of other small contributions and you get an amount that can make a difference.
Choose the correct answer. Write A, B, or, C.
1. Which of the following words is most closely related to “famine”?
a. drought
b. starvation
c. disease
d. catastrophe
2. Which word or phrase is closest in meaning to “donate”?
a. pay out
b. support
c. contribute
d. cash
3. Which of the following statements is true of Section IV?
a. Aid to hospitals is second only to aid for medical research.
b. People only donate when they are personally involved.
c. Most of us worry about the state of the environment.
d. Aid to hospitals exceeds overseas aid by a third.
4. Which of the following statements is not true?
a. Governments don’t provide aid.
b. People should give aid where they can.
c. We should take responsibility for others’ misery.
d. It’s not the government’s business to give aid.
5. In an economic recession
a. people feel unable to help.
b. our contributions make little difference.
c. fewer people make donations.
d. people lose the desire to help
The reading passage has six sections I–VI. Choose the most suitable heading for each section II–VI from the list below. Write the appropriate letter (a–i) for each section.
a. Making Choices b. Is it My Responsibility?
c. Which Cause Do You Support? d. Altruism is Alive and Well
e. Governments Should Act f. Not All of it is Junk
g. Can You Spare a Dime? h. Causes Close to Our Hearts
i. Take Time to Read Your Junk Mail
9. Section I Heading:
10. Section II Heading:
11. Section III Heading:
12. Section IV Heading:
13. Section V Heading:
14. Section VI Heading:
Responses