A

    Annie is a neighbor's daughter. When her birthday month came around I found out she felt blue and lonely.

    Her family is quite small and kind of poor so there wouldn't be any birthday visitors. I wanted to send her a card and maybe a small gift to make her happy.

    I told some of my friends I would like to have a birthday party for the girl. I asked them for help. Then I bought some small presents, a cake and something else.

    When the day came, my friends and I went to her house. When she got home after school, we gave the presents to her and wished her a happy birthday.

    It was so easy to do something helpful. My friends helped take the party. They still laugh and talk about it. And Annie tells me she likes the birthday very much and she can still remember it!

There was an old mule(骡子). One day accidentally he fell into the farmer's well. The farmer thought for a while and said to himself that neither the well nor the old mule was important to him. So he decided to use soil to bury the old mule in the well.

    Then the farmer called his neighbours and they started to put the soil into the well together. The old mule was quite afraid in the beginning. But soon one hopeful idea came to his mind - every time when a shovel(铁铲) of soil landed on his back, he would shake it off and step up!

He said these words to himself again and again, "Shake it off and step up." This way he could fight against the panic (恐慌) and encourage himself. After some time, the mule had stepped over the well's wall. Although terribly tired, he was the winner and he saved his own life. He decided to face his difficulty bravely and not to give up, and finally he won.

    Sir Steven—Winner of 5 Olympic Gold Medals.

    "in 1997 I was found have developed diabetes (糖尿病）Believing the profession trained for the whole of my life ended, I felt very sorry. Then one of my friends said there was no reason why I should stop training and competing. That was it—the encouragement I needed. I could still be a winner if I believed in myself. I am not saying that it isn't difficult sometimes. But I wanted to prove to myself that I wasn't finished yet. Nothing is to stand in my way. "

    Karen Pickering—Swimming World Champion(冠军)

    "I swim 4 hours a day, 6 days a week. I manage that amount of work by putting it on top diary. This is the key to success—"you can't follow a profession in any field without being organized Make a list of what you believe you can achieve. Trust yourself, write down your for the day, however small they are, and you'll be a step closer to achieving them.

    Kristen Stewart—Actress

    "When things are getting hard, a voice inside my head tells me that I can't achieve anything. Then, there are other distractions, such as family or hobbies. The key is to give most of your attention to one thing. When I feel nervous, it helps a lot to repeat words such as focus, calm, peace, either out loud or silently in my mind. It makes me feel more in control and increases my confidence. This is a habit and is a powerful psychological(心理学的)tool."

    Once there lived a rich man called King. He loved chatting(聊天) very much. Every day he had his men do all the housework, so he had enough time to chat with others.

    One summer afternoon, his friend Bruce invited him to his birthday party. King kept on chatting at table. Later, all the other friends had left, but he didn't notice it. Bruce was worried, because he had just received a call from his sister and he would go to the station to meet her. But King didn't say goodbye to him, and he went on chatting.

    At that time, King's wife came in and asked her husband, "Would you like a roast(烤制) bird, dear?"

    "Of course," King answered, "but where is it?"

    "I heard a bird singing in the big tree outside just now," said the woman. "I want it to be the last dish. I'll cut the tree down. "

    "But I'm afraid it will fly away when you begin to cut the tree," said King.

    "Don't worry about it, dear," the woman said with a smile. "It is a foolish(愚蠢的) bird. It doesn't know when to leave."