"Two books per visit per week,"said the unsmiling librarian as she handed a library card.
Neither the limits nor her attitude __1__ me, a 9yearold Jewish girl growing up in Berlin in
the 1950s.I needed those visits.The books were filled with stories in which, however__2__
things seemed, everything__3__ well in the end, __4__ justice, bravery, and wisdom-a
striking contrast (对比) to my everyday experiences.
     Thirty years later, I, a recent immigrant to the US with a daughter aged 13, stood in front
of another librarian.This librarian was__5__.
     "What did she say?" I asked my daughter, who already knew a little English and often
__6__as my interpreter.
     "She said 'Can I help you?'"
     "Ask if they have any books in__7__," I requested.
     "No, they don't." translated my daughter.
     While hunting for a job, I was told that the library needed people to__8__ books.The
interview was short－the job didn't require much English, just a__9__ of the alphabet.I started
the next day.Every day, I handled hundreds of books whose meaning was__10__ from me,
mentally dividing them by size and color.     One day, while shelving, I found English for
Beginners and began studying it on my own.__11__ English letters started forming words
I could__12__, words combined into phrases, and-oh,__13__!-I was reading.It was a slow
process, supported by dictionaries and __14__ by tears, but it was progress.Afterwards I got
promoted to the front desk-__15__ books in and out and answering simple questions.
     Every day I receive dozens of people.Sometimes I spot new immigrants.They come from
all over the world, so they look different, but the hesitant expression on their faces and their
__16__ manners are similar.My heart goes out to them,__17__ they are people like me.I fully
understand the __18__roads on which they have stepped."They've come to the right place," I
think to__19__.Then I smile and say-just the__20__ a librarian said to me a long time ago "
Can I help you?"