外国语学院2002级英语教育4班　庄羚　蔡丽达　辜伟鹏　刘福岩

       Poverty is a two-edged sword, for it is believed that poverty may bring misery to one’s life and become a stumbling stone to your life. Without money, you couldn’t buy your favorite things, visit places of interest, and develop your own business. And what’s more, poverty may lead to misdemeanor, and even death. Seeking survival is an instinct of human beings. If you are in acute hunger, you can’t help getting an idea to steal and rob. Then maybe you ’ll put it to action. So very often, poverty turns out to be one of the roots of crime. But, if you see the right way, poverty is a “treasure-house”.

       At the beginning, a feeling of relief can be discovered in this “treasure-house”. If borne with poverty, you can be free from the complicated worry about the wholesome mixture of food and drink today; about the eye-catching match of clothes and shoes tomorrow; and about the expensive maintenance of the car this week. At knowing yourself at last genuinely down and out, a feeling of relief will be the first wealth you discover in the “treasure-house”.
Furthermore, success will be achieved in the “treasure-house”. Poverty will compel you to think of ideas to achieve wealth and success. The NBA superstar Allen Iverson, once a child of a poor family, suffered a lot from poverty. With great effort, he succeeded finally. He becomes one of the best players of NBA. Undoubtedly poverty has become a motivation of his accomplishment.

      Besides, poverty is the touchstone of friendship. As a proverb says, “poverty shows us who our friends are and who are our enemies.” On the one hand, those who choose to give you a hand when you are in trouble are true friends; those who choose to leave you alone when you are hard up are actually not. On the other hand, if the great gap between the poor and the rich can be bridged, people can own genuine friends as such. That’s complete happiness in one’s life.
The poverty might bring you to the dark side of the life: lowness in social situation, misery in life, and unhappiness. However, what you should focus on is the bright side of poverty. And obviously, the virtues of poverty outweigh its vices. The poverty will be a “treasure-house”, where you can find a feeling of relief, success and real friendship.(413 words)

（方燕老师　批阅）