[Sports ★★★]
(P1) Poland’s Piotr Malachowski is no slouch at throwing the discus, but he appears to be even better at being an awesome human being. After winning a silver medal in Rio, the 31-year-old went home and put it up for auction to raise funds for a little boy with eye cancer, CBS reports. Malachowski, who had been seeking to raise around $84,000 so that 3-year-old Olek Szymanski could have an operation in New York to save his eyesight, announced on his Facebook page that the auction was ending early because of billionaire siblings Dominika and Sebastian Kulczyk had agreed to buy his medal for the remaining cost of the surgery.
(P2) “We were able to show that together we can do wonders,” Malachowski wrote, per ESPN. “My silver medal today is worth a lot more than a week ago. It is worth the life and health of a small Olek. It is our great shared success.”
WORDS: 153
SOURCE: http://www.newser.com/story/230236/rio-medalist-sells-his-silver-to-save-little-boys-sight.html
VOCABULARY: slouch, auction, operation, siblings, wonders
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
If you found the passage difficult to read or had problems understanding specific words or idiomatic expressions, please discuss them with your tutor. The following discussion questions should be answered in your own words and with your own arguments.
- Briefly, summarize the content of the article in your own words.
- If you won a medal at the Olympics, would you sell it to help another person? Why or why not?
- Why do you think the Olympian did this act of kindness?
- How would you feel if an Olympian sold his medal to help you with an operation?
READING COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS:
- Which event did Mr. Malachowski compete in at the Olympics?
- What is the age of the silver medalist?
- Without the surgery, the boy would probably lose his vision. (T or F)
- Who bought the medal?
- What’s the name of the child who needs eye surgery?
EXPRESSIONS or PHRASES:
What do the following expressions or phrases mean?
- throwing the discus (P1)
- put it up for auction (P1)
- raise funds (P1)
- a lot more than a week ago (P2)
Image source: by AP Photo/Matt Dunham http://www.newser.com/story/230236/rio-medalist-sells-his-silver-to-save-little-boys-sight.html