I've loved my mother's desk since I was just tall enough to see above the top of it as mother sat doing letters. Standing by her chair, looking at the ink bottle, pens, and white paper, I decided that the act of writing must be the most wonderful thing in the world. Years later, during her final illness, mother kept different things for my sister and brother. “But the desk,” she would say again, “it's for Elizabeth.” I never saw her be angry, and never saw her cry. I knew she loved me—she showed it in action. But as a young girl, I wanted heart-to-heart talks between mother and daughter. They never happened. And a gulf opened between us. I was “too emotional(易动感情的)”. But she lived “on the surface(表面)”. As years passed I had my own family. I loved my mother and thanked her for our happy family. I wrote to her in careful words and asked her to let me know in any way she chose that she did forgive(原谅) me. I posted the letter and waited for her answer. None came. My hope turned to disappointment(失望), then little interest and, finally, peace— it seemed that nothing happened. I couldn't be sure that the letter had even got to mother. I only knew that I had written it, and I could stop trying to make her into someone she was not. Now the present of her desk told, as she'd never been able to, that she was pleased that writing was my chosen work. I cleaned the desk carefully and found some papers inside —a photo of my father and a one-page letter, folded(折叠) and refolded many times. Give me an answer, my letter asks, in any way you choose. Mother, you always chose the act that speaks louder than words.

    A man lived in a village. He had an old cat at home. The cat couldn't run fast and bite，because she was so old. One day, when she saw a mouse, she jumped and caught it. But she could not bite it. The mouse got out of her mouth and ran away.

    Then the man became very angry and began to beat the cat. The cat said, “Don't beat your old servant. I know I'm old and can't kill a mouse. But I have worked for you for many years, and I still want to work for you. Be kind to the old, and remember what good work they did when they were young."

    When the man heard that, he realized that he was wrong.

    When he was small, Hill was a famous bad boy.

    At the age of 9, his father married his stepmother. At that time they lived poor in the countryside while his stepmother was from a wealthy family.

    His father introduced Hill to his stepmother as he said, “Dear, I hope you notice in the entire shire this is the worst boy, who has made me have no other way. Maybe before tomorrow morning he will throw a stone at you, or do a bad thing you will never imagine.”

    To Hill's surprise, his stepmother went up to him with a smile, held up his head and looked at him carefully. She then turned around to tell her husband, “You're wrong. He is not the worst boy in the entire shire, but the cleverest and creative boy. Only he doesn't find a place to show himself. ”

    His stepmother's words warmed his heart, his eyes full of tears. With this, he started building friendship with his stepmother. And this became the drive of his life, making him create 28 successful golden rules, which helped tens of thousands of ordinary people walk on the road to success.

    Before his stepmother came, no one praised him smart, and his father and neighbors considered him as a bad boy. However, his stepmother's words changed his life.

    When Hill was 14 years old, his stepmother bought him a used typewriter and said to him, “I believe you will become a writer.” Hill accepted his stepmother's gift and expectation, and started writing things to a local newspaper. He understood his stepmother's strong feeling of interest in his family while he saw with his own eyes she had changed his family. Therefore, he would do as well as she expected him to.

    The strength from his stepmother made him a rich man and famous writer in the United States and one of the most important persons in the 20th century.

    Praise will never be unnecessary, especially for children. A sincere (真诚的)praise may be better than 10, 000 bad words.

    In about 1503, during Christopher Columbus's fourth and final trip to America, his ship was seriously damaged in a storm. Columbus and his men had to live on a small island for several months while they tried to repair their ship and return to Spain.

    At first, the local people on the island were very kind to the European visitors, giving them all the food and clothes they needed to survive. However, as the months passed, the local people became more and more unhappy with their guests, who were tricking and stealing from them. Finally the locals decided to stop helping. Without food or any way to leave the island, Columbus's group was soon in serious trouble.

    Luckily for Columbus, he had a book about the stars and planets on his ship. It described the movements of all the objects in the night sky. The book, written by a well-known German scientist, said there would be a total lunar eclipse(月食)and how long it would last.

    Columbus worked out the difference in time between Germany and North America. He then had a meeting with the local leaders just before the eclipse would take place. In this meeting, Columbus told them his god was angry because the local people were no longer giving food. So his god would take away the Moon to punish them. At the moment Columbus finished talking, just as he had planned, the Moon began disappearing.

    The local leaders grew frightened and quickly agreed to provide Columbus with food and anything else he wanted. But first, Columbus's god had to return the Moon. Columbus told them he would have to discuss the idea with his god on his ship. Knowing the Moon would stay completely hidden for about 48 minutes, Columbus returned just before the Moon began to reappear. From that day on, until they finally left, Columbus and his men no longer had any trouble getting the food they needed.

    One weekend, Taylor, an eight-year-old girl, went shopping with her parents. She asked her parents to buy a toy she wanted. Instead of giving her money to buy the toy, Taylor's father encouraged her to make money by herself. "How can I make money?" Taylor thought for a while and had an idea, "Why not make cakes and sell them at church to raise money to buy the toy?"

    The next day, Taylor started her plan. She first needed some money for tools and materials. So she borrowed $40 from her parents and promised to pay it back. Then she began to make cakes by herself. To her parents' surprise, she made $175 by selling the cakes that Sunday.

    Everyone thought Taylor would buy the toy she wanted. She certainly had made enough money for it, but she didn't. Instead, Taylor decided to buy business cards and had her father's phone number on them. Then she began handing the cards out. More people knew Taylor and came to buy her cakes. Even large companies began to try buying her delicious cakes.

    Though Taylor has made a lot of money, she still works hard at school. She also likes to take part in other activities. So Taylor must carefully manage her time. For example, instead of watching TV after school, Taylor might have to bake (烘焙) a lot of cakes for customers. When she has dance lessons on some days, she needs to get her baking done on time so she isn't late for class.

    Making cakes may take time and be hard work, but Taylor sees the fun in it. "I think making cakes is mostly my hobby," she says. She also decorates the boxes that are used to pack the cakes. Taylor uses all kinds of decorations to make sure each box looks special for her customers. People love the extra feeling Taylor gives them by decorating the boxes, so more and more people come for her cakes.

    Taylor's cakes are becoming very popular. She achieves a sweet success.