I used to believe courtesy①courtesy 英 ['k??t?s?] 美 ['k?t?si] n. 禮貌；好意；恩惠 adj. 殷勤的；被承認的；出于禮節(jié)的was a thing of the past. Very seldom have I encountered a courteous human being in this modern era of the so called Generation X.

Recently, I had to change my thinking, when I came face to face with just such a human being. I had gone to a happening coffee place, with two of my grown up daughters. The place was crowded with②be crowded with充滿，滿是the usual loud crowd and we had to climb a steep fl ight of③a fl ight of 一段（樓梯） ④descent英 [d?'sent] 美 [d?'s?nt] n.下降；血統(tǒng)；襲擊 vt. 除去……的氣味；使……失去香味stairs in order to find an empty table. After enjoying coffee and snacks, we were at the steep descent④down the stairs, where the narrow space made climbing down only possible in a single file, with hardly any space for another person to either climb up or come down.

Just as I was in the middle of my descent, a gentleman entered the main entrance of the restaurant which was right in front of the staircase. I was sure I would be pushed roughly by this man who will want to go up in a hurry. I kept coming down as fast as I could, holding on to the bannister⑤bannister英 ['b?n?st?] 美 ['b?n?st?] n. 欄桿, in lieu of my advanced years. My agile⑥agile 英 ['?d?a?l] 美 ['?d?l] adj. 敏捷的；機敏的；活潑的daughters were already down,looking up at me worriedly,hoping I would reach them before the stranger started up the stairs,knowing I was a nervous sort.

Nearly reaching them, I noticed the man still standing near the door. I reached my daughters and passed the stranger at the entrance door which he kept holding open. I looked back thinking he was still at the door,deciding whether to go in or fi nd another less crowded place. I saw him going up the stairs, two at a time. I told my daughters about it and all three of us felt bad that we did not even thank the courteous gentleman who was actually holding the door open for us ladies to pass through before going up.

We applauded his chivalry for⑦applaud for夸獎；喝彩鼓掌both, waiting for us to come down before going up himself and also holding the main entrance door open for us to go out. Such well mannered people are hard to fi nd these days, when shoving,jostling and pushing is very common in our advanced but aggressive⑧aggressive 英 [?'gres?v] 美 [?'gr?s?v] adj. 侵 略性的；好斗的；有進取心的；有闖勁的society. Till date,I remember this gentleman and pray to God to make more human beings like him.