Youth volunteers from Beijing University visited Songtang Hospital, a care clinic for the aged and dying patients, on April 21, the second Global Youth Service Day.
Thirty student volunteers from the university’s School of International Studies sat at the beds of the patients in their specially-decorated “care huts”. They talked with them and gave messages to patients kept in their beds.
“I felt sorry that I could not offer more to these people except talking with them and trying to cheer them up”, said Deng Yetao, a third-year student, “But it occurred to me that they need more care and love than babies. They are afraid of the coming deat
h. Their loneliness is worse than physical p
ains.”
“Even though they are suffering a lot, the majority of the elderly people want to talk to us. Each of them has a lot of life experiences and philosophies to share. Instead of doing them a favor, I felt I was gaining a valuable lesson,” said Mao Xiaohua, another third-year student.
Mao talked with two elderly patients for a whole afternoon. The fact that most of the patients in the 80-room clinic are aged people with diseases which will lead to death soon made the volunteers’ hearts heavy.
Ninety-one percent of the patients will spend the last days of their lives in the clinic, according to a survey by the hospital.
Daily visits and services by social workers and youth volunteers are a very important part of their programme. A total of 330,000 Beijing students from 119 universities and colleges have visited the hospital. Many continue to offer services in their spare time. Some of them volunteer to hold the hands of dying patients during the last minutes of their lives.
Yin Hang, a student from Beijing Medical College, said he felt “the glory of life” as he saw the fading smile on the face of the old man who slipped into a deep unconsciousness while he was holding his hands.
61. Youth volunteers from Beijing University went to Songtang Hospital to ______.
A. pay a visit to the wounded B. talk with the aged
C. offer services to the aged D. learn something from the aged
62. What the aged most suffered from is ______.
A. loneliness B. death C. physical pain D. disease
63. According to what Mao Xiaohua said, we know that_____.
A. the elderly taught him a good lesson when he talked to them
B. he learned something important from the elderly instead of only helping them
C. he only wanted to get something rather than do them a favor
D. he was glad to have given them a favor
64. When volunteers know most of the aged people in the clinic are dying patients, they feel _____.
A. sad B. disappointed C. hopeless D. worthless
65. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
A. The youth are fond of doing popular things.
B. The Second Youth Service Day is started by the Chinese government.
C. 91% of the aged in China are facing death.
D. The volunteers are taking an active part in the activity