The author had mixed feelings: whether to kiss the two women for their kindness, or give them a lesson by cautioning them not to trust any stranger, for they could have run into a bad person instead of himself.
Checking Your Vocabulary
Word Detective
1 Choose the definition in Column B that best matches each italicized word in Column A.
1) c
2) d
3)a
4) j
5)h
6)b
7) e
8) i
9) g
10) f
2 A synonym is a word that has the same or nearly the same meaning as another word. An antonym is a word that means the opposite of another word. Write S before each pair of synonyms and A before each pair of antonyms. The first word in each pair is taken from Text B and the corresponding paragraph number has been indicated for you.
Example: S virtually, almost (Para. 1)
1) S govern, control (Para. 3)
2) S signal, sign (Para. 4)
3) S participate, join (Para. 5)
4) A heave, lower (Para. 6)
5) S collapse, fall (Para. 7)
6) S establish, found (Para. 10)
7) S locate, situate (Para. 10)
8) A occasional, frequent (Para. 15)
Checking Your Comprehension
1 Answer the following questions with the information contained in Text B.
1) What is the author and his wife‘s opinion about becoming a true friend to someone whose name they don‘t know?
The author and his wife used to think that it was virtually impossible to be a true friend to someone whose name they didn‘t know. But now they realize they were wrong. Years of Sunday-morning bus trip through the city with the same ―nameless‖ people have completely changed thei r thinking.
2) Why does the author say that taking the Sunday-morning bus trip requires teamwork though they don‘t know each other‘s names?