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  3. Aunt Charlotte’s Reward My wife’s Aunt

Aunt Charlotte’s Reward My wife’s Aunt

游客2024-03-04  4
问题                                      Aunt Charlotte’s Reward
    My wife’s Aunt Charlotte hives in Brooklyn. A tiny, soft-spoken woman of 74, she could easily pass for 60 with her relatively unlined face and undyed brown hair that is just beginning to break out in gray flecks(雀斑). Only her diminished hearing gives her age away. Her mind and her vision are sharper than those of many 40-year-olds. A shy woman, Charlotte never married. When she telephones us she says, "It’s only me."
Working at the Telephone Company
    In 1923, when she was 17, Charlotte went to work for the telephone company, eventually attaining the position of customer-service representative, a role she performed with pride, skill and dedication for nearly a half century. She responded with patience and courtesy to every customer, even to those whose complaints were voiced in somewhat questionable language. Charlotte, who would commit had-kin before permitting an unladylike word to slip through her lips, never displayed a hint of anger or disapproval, although she confided to us that some of her clients should have their mouths washed out with soap. The days she was out sick could be counted on her fingers; it took a transit strike to make Charlotte late.
Being Forced to Retire
    As a reward for her dedication, the U.S. Government forced Charlotte to retire. She was given a luncheon, a subscription to a retirement magazine, free home-telephone service and a pension and sent home. Two women in their 20s replaced her. Since the government made it difficult for them to be fired no matter what their attitude or degree of competence, neither felt compelled to duplicate Charlotte’s conscientiousness(自觉) or productivity, as we say today.
    Distress Call: Several months afterward the telephone company sent out a distress call for retired workers. Temporary help was needed in the Upper West Side of Manhattan to handle the problems arising from the minority groups in the area, many of whom either did not know English or were puzzled(困惑) by the complexities of maintaining telephone service—problems the new employees displayed no interest in solving. Giving up her social-security checks, Charlotte set off each day to a part of the city considered dangerous for the young and fit, let alone a woman of Charlotte’s age. Before long she had added an extensive Spanish vocabulary to her store of black English and was being presented with gifts by her clients. Unable to change old habits, she arrived early, stayed late and quickly worked herself out a job.
City’s Whack
    The government was not finished with Charlotte. Now it was the city’s mm to take a whack(重击) at her. It moved welfare families by the score into her neighborhood, many into her building, which was like moving the fox into the hen yard. For many of these families consist of a mother and unsupervised children-children who often stand 6 feet tall and carry knifes or worse. Soon mailboxes were found ripped open, social-security checks stolen. The once neat hallways are now filled with beer cans, soft-drink and liquor bottles and the smell of marijuana(大麻). Groups of youths, radios blaring(奏鸣), gathered on the front steps late into the night, making obscene remarks and giggling as people pass. There are purse snatchings and muggings(偷窃) in the once quiet neighborhood. An elderly couple were found tied to their bed, beaten and robbed. Charlotte has stopped going out at night. When she ventured out during the day she conceals cash in various places on her person, leaving a carefully calculated amount in her purse to comfort an attacker. Visiting Charlotte requires driving past miles of burnt out apartment buildings; rims are set either by landlords for the insurance or by welfare tenants for the hardship money.(Everyone has been given an equal opportunity to profit by the system.) Although Charlotte remains outwardly cheerful, she knows she will have to do something soon. But what?
    The neighbors who drive her to the market(the nearby one has been boarded up since the blackout riot) are moving to New Jersey. Others have fled to upstate New York and Florida. It is easier for couples to move to new areas. The widowed have moved in with their children. We have suggested that Charlotte move near us, but that would mean tripling her rent and being a stranger in a new community, as well as being dependent on us. Charlotte is not comfortable imposing on people.
Unable to Get Welfare
    Mistake: She found something that would have answered her needs beautifully. In a group of buildings clustered around a senior centre, there were apartments with safety features designed for seniors, including buzzers(嗡嗡声) to summon aid; meals were available in the centre. Unfortunately, the government limited it to people with little or no money, and Charlotte had made the mistake of saving hers. There are other such places to which she might be admitted if she moved away from the city, leaving her entire life behind. But if welfare people don’t have to move, she wonders, why should she?
    When she decided to call on different government agencies for guidance, she learned that not one of the myriad programs for the aging she had heard about over the years, and which her taxes helped support, was for her. They were reserved for the penniless.
    The other day she visited a sick woman in her building, a woman on welfare for whom the city provided a homemaker, a nurse and a cab to and from free medical attention. If Charlotte were ill, she would have to fend for herself. No government department would rush to her rescue.
    Perhaps the time has come to reconsider which of our citizens are entitled to first claim on our resources. In our haste to better the lives of the lowest economic level of our society we have betrayed another, far larger and more deserving group. People who have worked hard, paid their taxes, contributed to the country. Shouldn’t their needs be met first? Their housing, their neighborhoods, their security?
    If a choice must be made, shouldn’t first choice be given to Aunt Charlotte? She has earned it. Or doesn’t that count anymore?
选项 A、Y
B、N
C、NG
答案 A
解析
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