Just as I came back home. I heard a sound coming from the bedroom upstairs—it was from my favourite violin.

“Thief （小偷）！”

 I rushed upstairs and saw a boy in dirty clothes pulling my violin down. At first sight, I found a new pair of shoes missing. It seemed he was surely a thief.

However, when I saw his eyes full of fear, my anger disappeared. I smiled and asked, “Are you Mr. Ram's student Rubens? I'm his butler（男管家）. I've heard Mr. Ram say his student will come. It must be you.”

“Has my teacher gone out ?”the boy said, “I think I'd better visit him again in a while/”

 I nodded and asked him, “Do you like playing the violin?”

“Yes, but I'm too poor to afford one.” the boy replied.

“Then, I'll give you this violin." The boy looked at me surprisingly, but he picked up the violin. While going out of the room, he suddenly saw a huge photo of me playing the violin at the Grand Theatre of Sydney on the wall. His face turned pale. He stood there for a moment and ran out. He must have understood what had happened because no master（主人）would put up the butler's photo on the wall of his living room.

 A few years later, at a music competition in Melbourne, I was invited to be the judge （评委）. Finally, a violin player called Merritt won the first prize.

 After the prize-giving, Merritt ran to me holding a violin box, his face red, and asked, “Mr. Brian, do you still know me? You gave me the violin, which I have treasured ever since! Today, I want to say sorry and give back this violin to you without regret…”

 He was just the “Mr. Ram's student”!

      Bob is eleven years old. One day, his friend Jenny said to him, “I'm going to have a birthday party on Saturday. Bob, can you come?”

      Bob asked his mother, and his mother said, “Yes, you can go.” On Saturday afternoon, his mother said to him again, “Now, Bob, when you go to the party, you must be polite(礼貌的), and don't ask for food until someone gives it to you. ”

     “All right, Mom.” Bob said, and he went to Jenny's house by bike.

      There were many children at the party. They played games for about an hour, and then Jenny's mother gave them some food, but she forgot Bob and didn't give him any. After a long time, he took up his plate（盘子）and said loudly, “Does anyone want a nice clean plate?”

    Twenty-two-year-old Timothy Doner from New York City has been able to speak 23 different languages, including some rare African ones.

    Timothy began his foreign language education at the age of 13. Attracted by in Israeli(以色列) musical band. Timothy listened to their album every morning. A month Later, he kept about 20 of their songs in his mind, though he didn't know what the Hebrew(希伯来语) words mean. But once he learned the translation. it was like he had a dictionary in his head.

    Then Timothy moved on to Arabic (阿拉伯语) which he studied every morning by reading newspapers with a dictionary and by talking to street vendors (小贩). After that he learned Persian, then Russian, then Mandarin... and about twenty others and developed a crazy low for languages.

    Now, Timothy is still teaching himself new languages. With the help of language books and word-learning Apps on his iPhone. He can master a language in a few weeks or months.

    What has Timothy got from learning so many languages? "By learning languages, you are learning a lot more. You are learning about culture, everything from cooking to TV，poetry and whatever it may be. That helps you better understand the language,” he said.

    One day, 100 people were attending a speech. The speaker was making a speech about happiness. However, after a few hours, people began to lose their attention. The speaker thought of an idea. He stopped his speech and asked all of the people to take part in a group activity.

    He gave each person a balloon in the room. Each person was asked to write his or her name on the balloon with a black marker (记号笔). Then, all of the balloons were collected and moved to another room.

The 100 people were then let into the room and told to find the balloon with their own name

    Everyone rushed around, crazily searching for their own balloon. People were bumping into and tripping (绊倒) over each other.

But after about five minutes of searching, no one could find their own balloon.

    After seeing this, the speaker asked each person to collect a balloon and try to find the person, whose name was written on it. Everyone started talking to each other and asking each other for their name. In just a few minutes, everyone had his or her own balloon.

    "Can you see what happened?" the speaker said. "The balloons are like the happiness we look for in our own lives. Everyone is busy looking for their own happiness, not caring what happens to others. But sometimes the best way to find happiness is to help others. Help them find happiness and you can find your own."

    Mr. Jones and Mr. Brown work in the same office (办公室). One day Mr. Jones says to Mr. Brown, "I will have a small party at our house on Monday evening. Would you and your wife like to come?"

    Mr. Brown says, "Thank you very much. I'd love to, but let me ask my wife first." So Mr. Brown goes to the other room and telephones his wife. Then he comes back and looks very worried.

    "What's the matter?" asks Mr. Jones. "Is you wife there at home?"

    "No," answers Mr. Brown." She isn't there." My small son answers the telephone. I say to him, "Is your mother there, David?" and he answers "No, she isn't in the house." "Where is she?" I ask , "She is somewhere outside(在外面). ""What's she doing? ""She is looking for me."