A student who is disabled had to stay at a centre for such children.

A kind person who worked at the centre would give him lifts to school.

Now Phạm Ngọc Thương has been kind to other people at his school and started a library.

He has worked hard asking people over the Internet to give books to the school to build up the library.

By Thu Anh

Poor children living in Phú Thọ Province’s Thanh Ba District believe that only books can open a door to the world. Unfortunately, not many books, particularly history and art productions, are sold in the area.

To improve the situation, a disabled student at the Thanh Ba 1 Secondary School works hard every day on his computer to encourage people to donate books to Thanh Ba students.

Phạm Ngọc Thương, 14, has had poliomyelitis since he was two months old.

His grandparents sent him to live in Thanh Ba Centre for Disabled Children because his father died while his mother left home to take a job. 

The centre’s guard gives him a ride to school.  

Thương decided to place a bookshelf in his classroom to help his friends improve their reading. He has used social media websites to encourage youngsters around the country to donate and send books to his school.

“Many students in Hà Nội and other provinces have delivered their books to help us build our own library,” said Thương. “Every book delivers love and sharing from donors to us.” 

Thương and his classmates spent more than seven months saving to buy a small bookshelf to store the charity books.

They locked the shelf with a key, which was kept by their class manager. They called it “Our Library.”

“To borrow a book from the library, you have to sign a paper to guarantee your return. We wanted to keep and deliver the books to our younger friends after we leave school,” Thương said.

Thương said he liked reading history books and he dreamt of becoming a historian. “Reading can improve your soul and will. All of the stories I have gained from good books offer me opportunities to change my destiny,” he said. — VNS

GLOSSARY

To improve the situation, a disabled student at the Thanh Ba 1 Secondary School works hard every day on his computer to encourage people to donate books to Thanh Ba students.

To improve something means to make it better.

Somebody who is disabled is not able to do things normally because of a problem with a part of their body.

To encourage people means to give them a good feeling about being able to do something and therefore make them want to do it.

To donate means to give.

Phạm Ngọc Thương, 14, has had poliomyelitis since he was two months old.

Poliomyelitis is also known as polio. It is a disease that can cause people to become disabled as a result of their muscles becoming weaker.  

He has used social media websites to encourage youngsters around the country to donate and send books to his school.

The social media is made up of websites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram on which friends can share information among one another as well as with many other people.

 “Every book delivers love and sharing from donors to us.” 

Donors are givers.

Thương and his classmates spent more than seven months saving to buy a small bookshelf to store the charity books.

Charity books are books that have been given to the library by people who want to give something to others less lucky than themselves.

 “To borrow a book from the library, you have to sign a paper to guarantee your return”.

To borrow means to take something from someone else with their permission and with the idea of giving it back after using it.

Thương said he liked reading history books and he dreamt of becoming a historian.

An historian is someone who studies and knows a lot about history.

“Reading can improve your soul and will.

Your soul is the spiritual part of you.

Having the will to do something means to want to do it.

All of the stories I have gained from good books offer me opportunities to change my destiny,” he said.

Gained means got.

Opportunities are chances in life.

Your destiny is what will happen to you in the future.

WORKSHEET

Find words that mean the following in the Word Search:

1. Your parents’ parents
2. The shortened name for a disease that can make people disabled.
3. Something the class manager would keep.
4. Phạm Ngọc Thương’s age.
5. A room in which books are kept.

ANSWERS:

© Duncan Guy/Learn the News/ Viet Nam News 2016

1. Grandparents; 2. Polio; 3. Key; 4. Fourteen; 5. Library.