A man who worked at a bakery sent fresh bread to people
who suffered from the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake.*
A lady said, “I’m glad I can eat your soft and delicious bread.
It is hard for me to eat hardtack.*
Unfortunately, because of the expiration date,*
we can only enjoy your bread for a short time.”
He thought, “What should I do to [ ① ] ?”
It was a very difficult question.
However, he thought that helping many people in need with his bread
was an important job for him.
He did more than 100 experiments and finally he made soft and delicious canned bread.*
The special canned bread was created from his many efforts,
but it was difficult to sell it at the beginning.
At that time, many people didn’t know about canned bread.
“What should I do to [ ② ] ?”, he thought.
So, he gave 500 cans of bread to the local government.
A TV program introduced his special bread and many schools, companies,
and local organizations ordered it.
One day, a city hall that bought many cans of bread before called him.
The staff in the city hall said, “We’ll buy new cans of bread,
so could you throw away the old ones?”
He was sad to hear these words.
The expiration date of the canned bread was three years.
If customers didn’t eat it before the date, they needed to throw it away.
He thought, “What should I do to [ ③ ] ?”
He faced another problem, but he never gave up.
At that time, there was a big earthquake overseas,
and he was asked to send the canned bread which he couldn’t sell.
Then, he got an idea.
He thought, “In the world, there are many people
who suffer from disasters and food shortages.*
If I collect canned bread from customers before the expiration date
and send it to people in need, the bread will help them.”
He started ④a new service.
In this service, people who buy the canned bread receive an email from
the bakery
before the bread’s expiration date.
They can ask the bakery to collect the old bread or they can keep it for an emergency.
If they ask the bakery to collect the old bread, they can buy new bread with a discount.
After the bakery checks the collected bread’s safety,
it is sent to people who suffer from disasters or food shortages.
With this service, more than 200,000 cans of bread were sent around the
world.
At the beginning of his challenge, his goal was to keep bread soft
and delicious for a long time.
After he achieved his goal, he still faced other problems.
However, he kept trying different ways to solve these problems.
As a result, he could make a system which helped many people.
“I always kept ⑤my mission in my mind.
That was the most important thing for the success of my mission”, he said. |
英語（文章題） 令和6年(2024年)