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    An Englishman was showing a foreign visitor around London.“What's that strange building?” asked the visitor.“That's the Tower (塔) of London.”“I see. How long did it take to build it?”“About 500 years.”“In my country we can build it in a few months.”said the visitor. After they came to St. Paul's Cathedral (大教堂), the visitor asked the same question. “Nearly forty years,”said the Englishman. “In my country we finish it in forty days at most,” said the visitor. This went on all day. They visited most of the best known buildings in the city. Every time they saw a new one, the visitor asked what it was and how long it took to build it. Then he said they could do the same thing much faster in his country. At last the Englishman got angry with the visitor though he tried not to show it. Several days later they came to the House of Parliament (议会) and the visitor asked his usual question, “What's that?” The Englishman answered, “I have no idea. It wasn't there last night.”

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    When US teenager Jake Olson isn't playing football or golf for his high school, he's often offering inspiration(灵感)through his new book about his own life.

    These activities might be too much for the average 16-year-old to deal with, but Jake is blind. When people ask him how he can possibly play golf without being able to see the ball, he says he is thankful for his father's guidance.

It seems apparent that his early experience playing sports as a person with sight and muscle(肌肉) memory— repeating behaviors over and over until they become second nature — have also enabled Jake to hit the ball quite well.

    Jake was born with a rare kind of eye cancer that took away the vision from his left eye when he was a baby and eventually his right eye, in 2009, when he was 12 years old. Rather than letting the disease hold him back, Jake used his loss of sight and his faith as sources of motivation(动力).“If I was going to sit on the couch all day, feeling sorry for myself, I wasn't going to do anything. I decided that I was going to go out and persevere (坚持不懈).” he said.

    It was with that mind-set that the student from Orange Lutheran High School in California was able to write his first book, Open Your Eyes: 10 Uncommon Lessons to Discover a Happier Life. “It's about opening the readers' eyes to their true talent in life and making sure that they use all the abilities that they have,” Jake said.

    Jake's father, Brian Olson, said the family is impressed with what he has done with his life, including showing people that they can get through hardships. “Your darkest hour can soon become your brightest, and with every setback, there's a setup,” Jake said. “In every one of us, there's more potential than we can ever imagine, and it really is a choice.”

    JOINING A CHOIR

    I've always loved singing, but singing hasn't always loved me. I

would open my mouth with a beautiful song in my head, fully expecting my voice to follow suit — only to get an awful tone (音调）in return.

    Still, without a second thought, I continued to try to sing whenever possible. On car journeys, when my now twenty something sons weresmall, they would make a great play ( hands over their ears， shoutingNo，Mum，stop!') of going through punishment as I sang along to the radio.

    Never in a hundred years would I have thought about joining a choir. And when I did finally become a member of my first choir 15 years ago, something fantastic happened to my life. From the first time I experienced my voice as something special but also comfortable, in harmony (和谐）with the other singers, I lost my heart to singing. It was like falling in love. And everyone in the choir had the same shining smiles and bright eyes — singing made them feel happy, too.

    Although it is singing itself that makes me happy，it is also how a choir works together. There is something magical about breathing together. The voice of everyone singing quietly together is powerful and excitingly mysterious (神秘的），almost spiritual.

    And there's the unexpected friendship from the activities we do as a choir: raising money for good causes and taking our singing sometimes to places where people are forgotten and sad.

    I am now a member of six choirs and，if I can，sing every day of the week. I stand in front of several hundred people，and know that some，if not all，of each song will sound not bad at all.

    Once there was a boy. He loved candies very much. He always asked his father for candies. The boy's father thought hard about how to stop (阻止) the child from asking for so many candies. A great man lived nearby (附近). The boy's father wanted to take the boy to him. He could make the child give up (放弃) candies. So they went to the great man. The father asked the great man to help him. But the great man liked candies himself. He told the father to bring his son back after a month.

    In this month, the great man tried to give up eating candies. At last he did it. When the boy and his father came back after a month, the great man had a talk with the boy. From then on, the boy did not ask for candies any more. The boy's father felt surprised, "Why didn't you ask my son to give up candies when we came to you a month ago?" The man answered, "How could I ask a boy to give up candies when I loved candies myself? In the last month I gave up eating candies."

    A person's example (榜样) is always more important than (比) words. We should not ask others to do what we can't do ourselves.

    One night, a young woman was driving along a country road. It was dark and rainy. Suddenly she saw an old woman by the side of the road, holding up her hand as if she wanted a lift(搭车).

   "I can't leave her out in such bad weather," the young woman said to herself. She stopped her car and opened the door.

   "Do you want a lift?" she asked. The old woman nodded and climbed into the car. After a while, she talked with the old woman. But the old woman didn't say anything. The old woman only nodded or shook（摇）head. She tried again." Bad weather for the time of the year" she said.  The old woman nodded.

    Then the young woman noticed that the old woman's hands, which were large and hairy (多毛的). Suddenly she realized(意识到)that" she" was a man! She stopped the car." I can't see out of the rear screen(后视镜)," she said. "Would you please help me clean it?

   "The old woman" nodded and opened the door. As soon as "she" was out of the door, the young woman drove off as fast as she could.

When she got to the next village, she stopped. She noticed "the old woman left "her" handbag behind. She picked it up and opened it. Inside was a gun(枪).

Bob's father has a big farm.On New Year's Day，he asked Bob，"Could you work on the farm when you're free this year？"

"Farming is not my work，Dad. I have much schoolwork（功课） to do."Bob wasn't glad about it."If you help me work on the farm，I will give you anything you want."

"OK."Bob agreed happily.

So Bob gets up early and works hard on the farm in his free time this year，just like other farmers.His wheat（小麦） grows very well.

Time flies.Today is December 31st，the last day of the year.The father is talking with his son."I'm happy to see you work hard on the farm，Bob.Now tell me what you want as the gift（礼物）（已经得到）your gift，Dad.You are trying to give me a lesson——no pain