2012一模任务型阅读.docVIP

In November of 1995, Leslie was working for the Department of Social Services in North Carolina. Her job is to take children out of dangerous home situations and place them in foster homes (寄养家庭). During her first such task, Leslie saw that the children she had come to pick up were carrying all of their things in plastic bags. They didn’t have suitcases (手提箱) for their clothes. Wanting to help these children, Leslie asked her mother if she could have the family’s old suitcases to give to them. Leslie’s 10-year-old sister Abby asked how many foster children there were in the area and found out that there were 300. Most of those children had to carry their things from place to place in plastic bags. Leslie’s care and the thought of those 300 children made young Abby take action. Abby decided to ask people to give away their old suitcases to these foster children. She began making and hanging posters, speaking at churches, and asking other children for help. But after a few weeks, she had not received any ones. Abby decided to buy some suitcases with her mother’s help. That’s how Abby Burnside set up her program, Suitcases for Kids. By March of 1996, Suitcases for Kids had collected and sent 175 suitcases to the foster children. Finally, Abby’s efforts were noticed by the media. Her story was in newspapers and magazines and Abby appeared on popular television shows. As the story became known, Abby’s local chapter (分支机构) received more and more suitcases, until it collected 4,000 suitcases in 1996. Soon, Abby was traveling to different states to help set up new Suitcases for Kids chapters. By the end of 1996, there were Suitcases for Kids chapters in 19 different states. After two full years, Suitcases for Kids had set up chapters in all 50 states. By its sixth year, the little organization reached international attention, having chapters in more than ten countries. Now thousands of children around the world can carry their things in suitcases instead of plastic bags j