Mitzvah is a word my grandmother often said to me since my childhood. It's a Hebrew word that means "to do a good deed". But according to my grandmother, it also had another meaning. This was the one she was always pointing out to me because she'd noticed how shy I was about letting people do things for me. "Linda, it's a blessing to do a mitzvah for someone else, but sometimes it's a blessing to let another person do something for you."I never really understood what she meant until recently.
It was three months ago, and I'd just moved into an apartment for college in Brooklyn, New York. Several of my friends had offered to help me settle in after the moving men left, but I'd said I could manage. Letting them help did not fit my image of myself as a capable and independent woman of 21.
As December arrived, getting to school became more difficult. One day, snowflakes had been falling past my window for several hours when it came time to leave for class. I put on two sweaters, a coat, a wool hat and boots, making for the bus stop. In this December storm it was a hard journey. As I tied around my neck the blue scarf that Grandma had knitted (编织) for me, I could almost hear her voice: "Why don't you see if you can find a lift?" A thousand reasons came into my mind: I don't know my neighbours; I feel funny asking for favours. Pride(自尊心) would not let me ask even though I came across three neighbours at the door of the apartment building. One of them was the woman living upstairs, and in her hand there was an obvious car key.
Result? An hour of waiting in the bitter cold before the bus finally arrived, followed by another half-hour journey. When I sneaked into the classroom, the class was almost over. If only I had taken the chance and asked for help! It would have been a 10-minute ride by car. Grandma would be shaking her head at my stubbornness (固执).
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按照如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
On the day of my final exam, I again walked to the bus stop through heavy snow.
As I pushed open the door of my apartment building, I found myself face to face with the woman from upstairs.
