English Original
The situation seemed hopeless.
From the first day he entered my junior-high classroom, Willard P. Franklin existed in his own world, shutting out his classmates and me, his teacher. My attempts at establishing a friendly relationship with him were met with complete indifference. Even a "Good Morning, Willard" received only an inaudible grunt. I could see that his classmates fared no better. Willard was strictly a loner who seemed to have no desire or need to break his barrier of silence.
Shortly after the Thanksgiving holiday, we received word of the annual Christmas collection for the less fortunate in our school district.
"Christmas is a season of giving," I told my students. "There are a few students in the school who might not have a happy holiday season. By contributing to our Christmas collection, you will help buy food, clothing, and toys for these needy people. We start the collection tomorrow."
When I called for the contributions the next day, I discovered that almost everyone had forgotten. Except for Willard P. Franklin. The boy dug deep into his pants pockets as he strolled up to my desk. Carefully, he dropped two quarters into the small container.
"I don't need no milk for lunch," he mumbled. For a moment, just a moment, he smiled. Then he turned and walked back to his desk.
That night, after school, I took our meager contributions to the school principal. I couldn't help sharing the incident that had taken place.
"I may be wrong, but I believe Willard might be getting ready to become a part of the world around him," I told the principal.
"Yes, I believe it sounds hopeful," he nodded. "And I have a hunch we might do well to have him share a bit of his world with us. I just received a list of the poor families in our school who most need help through the Christmas collection. Here, take a look at it."
As I gazed down to read, I discovered Willard P. Franklin and his family were the top names on the list.
中文翻译
情况似乎毫无希望。
从他进入我初中教室的第一天起，威拉德·P·富兰克林就活在自己的世界里，将他的同学和我——他的老师——拒之门外。我试图与他建立友好关系的努力都遭到了彻底的漠视。即使是一句“早上好，威拉德”，也只换来一声几乎听不见的咕哝。我看得出他的同学们情况也好不到哪里去。威拉德完全是个独行侠，似乎没有意愿，也没有必要打破他的沉默壁垒。
感恩节假期后不久，我们收到了为学区里较不幸的人们进行年度圣诞募捐的通知。
“圣诞节是给予的季节，”我告诉学生们。“学校里有一些学生可能无法度过一个快乐的假期。通过为我们的圣诞募捐捐款，你们将帮助为这些贫困的人们购买食物、衣物和玩具。我们明天开始募捐。”
第二天我号召大家捐款时，发现几乎所有人都忘了这件事。除了威拉德·P·富兰克林。这个男孩缓步走到我的讲台前，把手深深伸进裤子口袋。他小心翼翼地将两枚25美分硬币投进了小募捐箱。
“我午餐不需要喝牛奶了，”他咕哝着说。有那么一瞬间，仅仅是一瞬间，他笑了。然后他转身走回了自己的座位。
那天晚上放学后，我把我们微薄的捐款交给了校长。我忍不住分享了发生的那件事。
“我可能错了，但我相信威拉德可能正准备成为他周围世界的一部分，”我告诉校长。
“是的，我相信这听起来很有希望，”他点头说道。“而且我有种预感，让他与我们分享一点他的世界或许对我们有好处。我刚收到一份我们学校里最需要通过圣诞募捐获得帮助的贫困家庭名单。给，看一下。”
当我低头细看时，我发现威拉德·P·富兰克林和他的家庭赫然列在名单首位。