When Josephine Cooper was growing up, she learned the importance of charity from her parents. Although they made a modest living for their family of 10, they insisted on sharing with those less fortunate. Her mother would make chicken soup and tortillas to distribute to people living under bridges.
Half a century later, Mrs. Cooper became a beloved volunteer at the San Diego Food Bank, where she devoted herself to helping others. She organized and ran a distribution center from a church, helping it become the organization’s largest emergency food distribution center in San Diego. She was one of 25 outstanding senior volunteers in the nation selected and invited to Washington D.C. to receive the award.
“She was the main person who helped us make that program grow,” said Mike Doody, former director of the Food Bank. “She had a way of getting people to work together and to work hard. She was determined and stubborn, but in a good way. She had a good heart.” People knew her as “Grandma” because of her selflessness and her devotion to helping hungry children and families. “She reminded people of their Grandma.” Doody said.
As a widow with a young child in 1979, Mrs. Cooper was helped through a difficult financial time when the Food Bank provided her with groceries. “She dedicated her life to giving back,” said her daughter, Monica Cooper. “She loved life, and she loved people. She was very outgoing, caring and very concerned about our community.”
It wasn’t unusual for a local church to call Mrs. Cooper to ask her to aid a needy family. “She would give people food out of her cupboard. Sometimes we would cook a meal for a family living out of their car,” Cooper said. Although Mrs. Cooper was honored to receive the national award for her volunteer work, she said being able to help others was her reward. “She just gave from her heart,” her daughter said.
Mrs. Cooper died of liver disease and kidney failure, aged 93.
36．The underlined word “charity” in Paragraph 1 refers to .
A．offering help B．donating money
C．providing services D．showing sympathy
37．Which of the following is true of Mrs. Cooper?
A．She died at an early age. B．She refused the national award.
C．She was kind and devoted. D．She was not easy to get along with.
38．From what Monica Cooper said, we know that .
A．she is in financial trouble B．she was finally rewarded
C．she once misunderstood her mother D．she thinks highly of her mother
39．Mrs. Cooper’s story suggests that .
A．everyone needs a Grandma nearby B．children are what their parents are
C．a sound mind is in a sound body D．a mother’s love never changes