Billy always loved blueberries. They were his favorite fruit. Today he was going to make juice with his uncle. His uncle liked to make juice out of everything. He made carrot juice, apple juice, vegetable juice, and more juices. He had never made blueberry juice before though!

  First, Billy and his uncle went to a blueberry farm. They were each given a basket. They picked for an hour and got several pounds. It was hard work picking the little berries from the trees. Now Billy understood why they were expensive in the store.　

  Next, they had to wash the fruit. Some of them still had leaves. Those had to be pulled off. Then the bad berries had to be thrown away. They washed the berries and made them air-dry.

 After that, they pushed the blueberries through a strainer(过滤网). The strainer caught most of the seeds and skins, and only left a small glass of dark purple juice to them.

 When they tasted the juice, it wasn't very sweet. Billy's uncle didn't want to add white sugar to the juice. It was better to use a naturally sweet juice, like apple juice, pear juice, or grape juice. They used grape juice as a sweetener (甜味剂), because grapes had a similar color to the blueberries.

  Finally, they could drink it. It was a lot of work to make juice, but it sure was refreshing!

        In a nice house there lived an old man. Behind the house there was a big garden. He planted many plants there. He took care of his flowers all the time, watering and fertilizing (施肥) them.

       One day a young man went by the garden. He looked at the beautiful flowers, imagining how happy he could be if he lived in such a beautiful place. Then, suddenly he found the old gardener was blind. He was very _________ about this and asked, “You can't see these flowers. Why are you busy taking care of them every day?”

       The old man smiled and said, “I can tell you some reasons  . First, I was a gardener when I was young, and I really like this job. Second, although I can't see these flowers, I can touch them. Third, I can smell the sweetness of them. As to the last one, that's you.”       

       “Me? But you don't know me,” said the young man.

       “Yeah, it's true that I don't know you. But I know that flowers are angels that everybody knows. We enjoy the happiness these flowers have brought us.”

       The blind man's work opened our eyes and pleased our heart, which also made his life happier. It was just like Beethoven, who became deaf in his later life and wrote many great musical words. Beethoven himself couldn't hear  his wonderful music, but his music has encouraged millions of people to face their difficulties bravely. Isn't it one kind of happiness?

    One day, a farmer was walking along a road with his son Thomas. The father said, "Look! There's a horseshoe. Pick it up arid put it in your bag. "Thomas said." It isn't worth(值得) the trouble. "His father said nothing but he picked it up himself. When they got to a nearby town, they had a rest. There the farmer sold the horseshoe and with the few pennies he bought some cherries(樱桃).

    The father and the son continued their way. The sun was well up in the sky, and there wasn't a house or even a tree where they could have a rest. Thomas felt too thirsty(口渴的) to walk on. At the moment, his lather dropped a cherry on the ground and Thomas picked it up quickly and ate it. After a while, his father dropped another cherry and once again, his son picked it up and put it in his mouth.

    And so they went on. The old farmer dropped the cherries and the son picked them up. When Thomas had caught' up all the cherries, his father said to him," My dear son, if you had bent(弯腰) down in the beginning to pick up that horseshoe, you wouldn't have bent so many times for the cherries. Always remember this lesson：If someone don't worry about the little things, he will find it impossible for him to do the great things."

    A beautiful and very successful actress was the star for a new musical show. Her home was in the country，but she didn't want to go back there every night，so she bought an expensive house in the center of the city，got some beautiful furniture and got a man to paint the rooms in new colour.

    It was very difficult to get tickets for her show in the evening，because everyone wanted to see it. So she decided to give the painter two of the best seats. She hoped that this would make him work better for her. He took the tickets without saying anything, and she heard no more about them until the end of month，when she got the painter's bill. At the bottom of it were these words "Four hours from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm watching Miss Hall sing and dance：3 pounds," with this note:"Before5：00 pm I get 10 shillings（先令）an hour and after 5:00pm 15 shillings."

    Mr and Mrs Green lived in a big city. Last summer, they went to a country for their holiday. They enjoyed it very much because it was a quiet, clean place.

    One day they went for a walk early in the morning and met an old man. He lived on a farm, and he was sitting in the warm sun in front of his house. Mr Green asked him. "Do you like to live in this quiet place?''

    The old man said, "Yes, I do."

    Mr Green said, "What are the good things about it?"

    The old man answered, "Well, the people here know each other. They often come and visit me, and I often go and visit them. And there are also lots of children here. "

    Mr Green said, "That's interesting. And what are the bad things?"

    The old man thought for a moment and then said,

"Well, the same things, really. ''

    As far back as he could remember, Larry had wanted to go to Hollywood and become a film star. The young man's hopes for success were broken again and again. However, Hollywood was just everything to him. When he first came to California? Larry had decided never to give up and return home without success. Therefore, he kept on trying. "Some day," he told himself, "my big chance would come."

    Larry found a job—parking cars at one of Hollywood's big restaurants. His pay was low, but since the guests were kind enough to give him more money, he managed to make a living. One day he recognized an important film director driving into the parking lot and getting out of his car. Larry had recently heard that the man was ready to make a new picture.

    Larry got into the car and prepared to drive it on into the lot and park it. Then he stopped, jumped out, and ran over to the director. "Excuse me, sir, but I think it's only fair to tell you that it's now or never if you want me in your next picture. A lot of big companies are after me."

Instead of pushing away the boy, the director laughed, then wrote something on a card and handed it to the young man. "Come and see me tomorrow."

    Larry got a small part in the director's next film. He was on his way!