One day, while I was walking on the street, I heard the piano music and singing rising above the noise of the people. I stopped and saw a young lady sitting at a piano.

    She was singing songs about love. The way she was singing made me a little comfortable. I stood there watching her playing on such a crowded New York square. I thought that she must be brave enough to perform in front of so many people.

    She noticed me. I walked over and told her how good her music sounded. “Thank you.” she said.

    “I have been going through a hard time recently, but you've made me hopeful again.” I said to her.

    “I'm glad that I could help,” she replied, “Why are you so sad?”

    “Well, my mom has lost her job, and I'm not sure what to do …”

    “Did you notice the way you were walking? Your head was down.” she said. “Don't be upset, because opportunity (机遇) comes in different ways and if your head is down, you might not see it. You should smile more… lift your head up.”

    I looked at her, surprised at how she was encouraging (鼓励) me. “Why are you playing the piano here?” I asked her with a smile.

    She explained that she saw a lot of unhappy people in the world and she tried to cheer them up by playing music.

    I smiled a little wilder, realizing that no difficulties could stop me from going on.

    Many years ago, I was a shy boy and lived a very peaceful life. I liked school but I felt bored.

    And then I started the fourth grade. My teacher, Mrs. Chen, was a young woman who was good at writing, art and music. Her class was very interesting. With her help, I started Fun Club with some boys in my class. I also wrote a book called Through the Forest. And lots of my classmates liked it.

    However, I was surprised when fifty years later I got a letter about a reunion (聚会). A few days later, we had a reunion at Mrs. Chen's home. Reconnecting with Mrs. Chen was a journey back in time. Fifty years have passed, but my teacher still remembers every student. She even doesn't forget the class bully (欺负) — a boy used to hit me with snowballs on my way to school. Lots of teachers thought bullying was nothing serious at that time, but Mrs. Chen didn't agree. She put a stop to it at once when she found out about it.

    Now, in my mid-fifties, I appreciate the gifts Mrs. Chen has given me even more. It's never too late to say thanks to this fantastic teacher. I hope you are lucky enough to have one teacher like Mrs. Chen.

    A call came into Jimmy Gilleece's bar this past March. A newly married woman who had spent the afternoon at the dive (潜水) beach bar in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, couldn't find her wallet. She didn't care about her ID, credit cards, or $150—but her wedding ring was inside it.

    Gilleece, 42, the boss of the bar, didn't like the idea that there was a thief at his place. So he set out to find the wallet. He spent hours looking for the footage(录像) from 16 different cameras, watching the woman's every step in the bar. Finally, a young man caught his eyes. He picked up something from the place where the woman stood and put it in his pocket.

    Gilleece posted the picture on the bar's Facebook and asked if anybody knew who the guy was. Within hours, 17-year-old Rivers Prather came and said he had taken the wallet and told Gilleece he'd done it because he hadn't eaten for two days. He said he saw the ring but thought it was not real, so he took the money, and threw the wallet into the ocean. Then he bought a sandwich.

    Prather wasn't getting along with his family and lived in the woods for weeks. Gilleece saw him for what he was: more of a kid than a thief. Gilleece wanted to help him somehow. He found two local divers, to search the waters where Prather threw the wallet. After waiting for hours worriedly but luckily, a diver came out from the water with the wallet in his hand, and inside was the ring.

    "Most people would give the footage to police, but the boss chose to help me," Prather told CBS News. "I say thank you to him every day."

    There was once a musician. He said he was not afraid of dangerous animals, "Even a bear would be as quiet as the friendliest cat when hearing my music." But he had never played the game, and no one believed him.

    A chance to show his words arrived just when a circus (马戏团) came to the town. The musician came to the ringmaster (领班) and told what he could do.

    "Wow, that's interesting." The ringmaster said. "We just have three new lions and they haven't worked with the lion tamer (驯兽师) yet. Let's see what you can do with them." The musician agreed and the whole town crowded the hall to see what would happen.

    The musician was standing quietly in the center with a smile. Then the ringmaster opened the door of the cage and jumped out angrily a huge lion, shouting and showing his teeth. Everyone was too nervous to breathe.

    Still with the smile, the musician began to play. The beautiful music rose, then the lion sat down and began to enjoy the music. Everyone lost themselves in the music. The lion did, too. For the second lion, ________________.

    Then it was the third lion's turn to appear and everyone there was waiting for the lion to be quiet just like the other two. But the lion ran up to the man and ate him.

    All the people were surprised. The other two lions asked angrily, "What have you done! We were enjoying the music!" The third lion put his paw (爪子) to its ear and said, "Sorry, I can't hear you. I have been deaf for 5 years."

    Miss Grey lived in a small house. She was old and did not like noise at all, so she was very pleased when her noisy neighbor moved out. A young man moved in and Miss Grey thought the man seemed to be quiet.

    But at three o'clock the next morning, the noise of a dog woke her up. She thought she had never heard a dog there before. It must be the young man's dog. So she telephoned the young man, said something bad about the dog and then hung up the telephone before he could answer. Nothing more happened until three o'clock the next morning. Then Miss Grey's telephone rang, and when she answered, a voice said, "You telephoned me twenty-four hours ago, now I ring you up to say that I don't have a dog."