An Arab Woman, Who Is Recently Widowed and Had Been Living in Old Jerusalemuntil 1948

An Arab woman, who is recently widowed and had been living in Old Jerusalemuntil 1948, desired to see the house in which she previously lived when the Old and New Cities of Jerusalem were reunited in 1967.

She started to seek her old home and she found it. She knocked on the door of the apartment, and a Jewishwidow greeted her by the door. The Arab woman told her that she had lived there until 1948, and wanted to take a look around. The Jewish woman invited her to come in and made her coffee.

The Arab woman said, “I hid some valuables as I lived here. I’d love to share them with you if they were still here, half and half.”

The Jewish woman rejected and said, “They are certainly yours if they were still here and belonged to you.” After a great amount of discussion back and forth, they went into the bathroom, loosened the planks of the floor, and found a hoard of gold coins.

reunion[ri`yunyJn]n. 重聚；再聯合

＊Arab[`ArJb]adj.阿拉伯（人）的

n. 阿拉伯人

＊widowed[`wIdod]adj. 成寡婦的；寡居的

＊Jerusalem[djJ`rusJlJm]n. 耶路撒冷

previously[`priviJslI]adv. 以前；事先

reunite[:riyu`nZIt]v. （使）再結合；

（使）再聯合

＊Jewish[`djuIS]adj. 猶太人的

＊widow[`wIdo]n. 寡婦

valuable[`vAlyUJbL]n.貴重物品

adj. 值錢的；貴重的

reject[rI`djEkt]v. 拒絕；抵制

loosen[`lusJn]v. 鬆開；解開

＊plank[plAGk]n. 板（條）；厚板

＊hoard [hord]n. 貯藏的錢財；貯藏物；密藏物

v.貯藏；聚藏；隱藏

back and forth 來來回回地

The Jewish woman said, “I will ask the government to let you keep them.” She didand the government gave the permission.

The two widows visited each other time after time. One day, the Arab woman told her, “You know, my husband and I were so scared that we escaped from the fighting here in 1948. We grabbed our possessions, took the children, and ran awayseparately. My husband thought I had taken our three-month-old son and I thought he had him. Can you imagine our sorrow? As we gathered together again in Old Jerusalem, we both found that neither of us had taken the child.”

The Jewish woman was so shocked right after she heard the story, and asked the exact date of the Arab woman’s leaving. The Arab woman named exactly the date and the hour, and the Jewish widow told her: “My husband was in one of the Israeli troops that entered Jerusalem. He got into this house, and found a baby on the floor. He asked the permission that if he could keep the house and the baby and it was granted.”

At that moment, a twenty-year-old Israeli soldier in uniform walked into the room, and the floods cross the distance in the Jewish woman’s eyes. “He is your son,” she cried.

Do you already know about the aftermath? The Jewish widow invited the Arab widow to live together and they were taken care of by their loving son.

permission[pK`mISJn]n. 允許；許可；同意

scared[skErd]adj. 吃驚的；嚇壞的；恐懼的

escape[J`skep]v. 逃跑；逃脫

grab[qrAb]v. 攫取；抓取

possession[pJ`zESJn]n. 所有物；財產

separately[`sEpJrItlI]adv. 分別地

sorrow[`saro]n. 悲痛；悲哀；悲傷

gather[`qATK]v. 聚集

＊Israeli[Iz`relI]adj. 以色列（人）的

n. 以色列人

＊troop [trup]n. 軍隊；部隊

grant[qrAnt]v. 同意；准予

flood[flVd]n. 洪水；水災

aftermath[`AftK:mAH]n. 後果；餘波；事件結束後的一段時期

time after time 多次

run away 逃走

Graphic Organizer

I. True or False:Mark T for a true statement and F for a false statement.

1.The Arab woman wanted to see her old house in order to get her property back.

2.The Jewish woman wanted to keep the hoard of gold coins because it’s her house now.

3.The government didn’t give the permission for the Arab woman to keep her belongings.

4.The Arab woman told the Jewish woman that when she escaped from the house, she lost one son.

5.The Jewish woman had been taking care of the child since the Arab woman ran away from her old house.

II. Multiple Choice:Choose the best answer based on the reading.

1.What is the main idea of this article?
(A) The Arab woman eventually came back together with her loving son.
(B) A widowed woman finally got her property back.
(C) The Old and New Cities of Jerusalem caused a lot of families to separate
from one another.
(D) The government helped the Arab woman, so she is wealthy now.

2.How did the Arab woman come back together with her loving son?
(A) The government helped her to find her son.
(B) The Arab woman prayed and asked God to help her and she found her
son.
(C) The Jewish woman told her the truth right after the Arab woman stated
her story.
(D) The Arab woman desired to see her old residence and luckily she found
her son as well.

3.What does the word “grant” mean?
(A) Love.(B) Dislike.
(C) Agree.(D) Fall.

4.Which of the following statements is true?
(A) The Jewish woman’s husband’s kind heart saved the baby during the
war.
(B) The Arab woman thought highly of the possessions in the old residence
she had.
(C) The Arab woman wanted all her possessions back from the Jewish
woman including the house.
(D) Because of her lost son, the Arab woman fought with herhusband
all the time.

5. What can we infer from the passage?
(A) The more time we spend, the more friendship we gain.
(B) The approval and assistance from the government is crucial.
(C) They were going to live happily ever after since they found one
another’s importance.
(D) Both Arab and Jewish women’s kindness brought them unexpected
outcome than they could ever imagine.

III. Match the Words:Fill in the blanks using the following words.

valuablereuniteback and forthpermission

possessionsgrantedrun awaytime after time

What is really for us in our lives? Real like jewelry or gold? Or the things we do have to be by the person who is important ? We all know they’re not true. The most valuable thing for all of us is to from the material and shallow things instead of being involved in it . If we could learn how to love and one another, we would have ourselves to get the highest of success from ourselves. Trust me; we all have the potential to fulfill it!

主題閱讀文章中譯：

母子重逢

一位最近成為寡婦的阿拉伯婦人，於舊耶路撒冷居住了一段時間直到1948年，而當新舊耶路撒冷於1967年再度結合時，她渴望回到之前的居所瞧瞧。

她開始尋找舊居所，而且她很快地找到了。她敲了敲這公寓的門，一位猶太寡婦在門口迎接她。這位阿拉伯婦人告訴她，這是她直到1948年以前所住的居所，所以想要過來看一看。那位猶太婦人便邀請她進門並且泡了杯咖啡給她。

這位阿拉伯婦人說：「我當初住在這裡的時候藏了一些財物，如果它們仍在這裡，我很願意與你分享，一人一半。」

那位猶太婦人拒絕了，並說：「如果它們仍然在這裡，而且是屬於妳的，那麼它們便是妳的。」在多次互相的討論後，她們進入浴室，將地板上的木板撬開，並且找到大量的金幣。

那位猶太婦人說：「我將會請求政府讓妳持有這些金幣。」猶太婦人如實地向政府請求，而且她也得到許可。

這兩位寡婦一再地拜訪對方。有一天，這位阿拉伯婦人告訴她：「妳知道嗎？在1948年時有一場戰爭，我和我的先生非常恐懼，所以我們就逃離這裡。我們拿了我們的財物，帶著我們的孩子，並分開逃跑了。我先生以為我帶著我們三個月大的兒子，而我以為是他帶著兒子。你可以想像我們的悲傷嗎？當我們於舊耶路撒冷再聚的時候，我們才發現我們都沒有帶走我們的孩子。」

在聽完她的故事之後，那位猶太婦人非常震驚，並且詢問阿拉伯婦人離開的確切日期。這位阿拉伯婦人詳細道出日期和時間時，猶太婦人告訴她：「我先生是當初進入耶路撒冷的以色列軍隊當中的一員。當他進入這間房子時就發現了在地上的一個嬰孩。他便請求持有這棟房子和嬰孩的允許，最後他獲准了。」

就在這個時候，一位穿著制服的二十歲的以色列士兵走進這個房間，而那位猶太婦人便潰堤而哭了。她說：「他是妳兒子。」

你知道後續的發展了嗎？猶太婦人邀請阿拉伯婦人與她同住，並且由她們摯愛的兒子來照顧她們。