张靓颖凉粉博客

The following paragraph is excerpted from Jonathan Kozol’s The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society.

“I stood at the bottom of the ramp. My car has broke down on the freeway. There was a phone. I asked for the police. They was nice. They said to tell them where I was. I looked up at the signs. There was one that I had seen before. I read it to them: ONE WAY STREET. They thought it was a joke. I told them I couldn’t read. There was other signs above the ramp. They told me to try. I looked around for somebody to help. All the cars was going by real fast. I couldn’t make them understand I was lost. The cop was nice. He told me: ‘Try once more.’ I did my best. I couldn’t read. I only knew the sign above my head. The cop was trying to be nice. He knew that I was trapped.’ I can’t send out a car to you if you can’t tell me where you are.’ I felt afraid. I nearly cried. I’m forty-eight years old. I only said:’ I’m on a one way street…’ “

How are you feeling after you finish reading this? I don’t know it should be a joke or a tragedy. I knew there were tons of Illiterates in China. My grandmother is an example. However, I didn’t know there were so many Illiterates in America too, and this really astounded me. As far as I know, there are little Illiterates in China now, but I didn’t know what’s going on in America. Woefully pelople,woefully society. Hope there is no Illiterate all the world!