A grown-up(成年)person has ten or eleven pints(品脫)of blood(血液)inside his or her body.We can lose a pint of blood without feeling anything, but if we lose too much blood, we feel weak and cold.Our faces become pale(蒼白).We may die.This is what often happens when somebody is hurt in an accident, or a soldier is hurt in a war.Many people used to die in this way.But today they can be taken to hospital and given more blood.Almost at once they feel better.Their faces are no longer pale.They do not die.
Where does this blood come from?People who are healthy may donate blood(獻(xiàn)血)to a blood bank so that it can be used to save people’s lives.When they go to donate blood, a special kind of needle(針)is put into the arm.It does not hurt.The blood runs through the needle and through a rubber tube(橡膠管)into a bottle or a bag.A pint of blood is taken this way.The person who has given blood drinks a cup of tea or coffee and rests for a few minutes.Then he feels quite well.And he may give his blood this way three months later.
A person who gives blood feels happy, because he knows that his blood will be used to save someone’s life.Perhaps one day he himself will need blood.
When you are older, you may give blood, too.But you can not do this until you are eighteen.
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