When he was a little child, Andrew had a serious bad habit of sucking（吮吸） his fingers all day long, especially when he had nothing interesting to do: when he was sleeping, when watching TV, when sitting on the sofa and so on. At the beginning, his parents didn't think it was a bad habit.

Therefore, as time goes by, the boy couldn't give up his habit. Now, in his twenties, Andrew seems to have developed the bad habit into another one: he always bites his nails(指甲). He cannot stop biting his nails all the time. There're moments when he even doesn't know that he is doing it. He realized it was a problem and this worried him a lot. Some of his friends told him about this bad habit, and he stops for a while. But then, if he isn't busy doing something, he starts biting his nails again!

In fact, there're a lot of bacteria(细菌) in your nails and they can cause some disease. Also, the nails will become ugly and hard to recover. The worst thing is that this bad habit will bring the mental illness（心理疾病）. If people cannot correct it in time, it can affect man's mental health.

In short, bad habits are very worrying, especially when the person with the habit is in public and cannot stop himself or herself doing it. Still, there must be ways to give up these bad habits and these people should try their best to stop doing them.

In ancient China, a woman told the best stories. She married to the emperor (皇帝). Sadly, one day, this woman became ill and died. Everyone thought the emperor would soon find another favorite among his wives, but the emperor was very sad. He spent more and more time in his garden, and less and less time caring for the needs of his people. Everyone in the kingdom was worried.

One day, a priest (牧师) passed when some children were playing with their dolls. The dolls made dancing shadows on the wall. This gave the priest an idea. He knew the stories the emperor's wife used to tell. What if he could bring those stories to life?

    The priest made a puppet (木偶) out of bits of clay (黏土). He painted the puppet to look somewhat like the emperor's wife. When the puppet was finished, the priest silently walked into the emperor's garden, carrying his puppet, a candle and a curtain. He placed the curtain near the emperor's chair. He placed his candle, his puppet and himself behind the curtain. He waited for the emperor to appear.

The emperor did not even notice the curtain at first. The dancing shadow drew his eyes. As the priest moved the puppet behind the curtain, he told wonderful stories as the emperor's wife. It seemed as if his wife was spending time with him. The emperor was no longer sad. At the end of each busy day, the emperor went into his garden to visit his shadow wife and hear her stories once again. That is how shadow puppets first began.

    A lion is tired very much and sleeps on the ground one day . A cat runs after a little mouse . The mouse runs around and comes to the lion . The mouse sees the lion and he is very afraid (害怕的) . “ I' m very sorry . Please let me go . I can help you some day . ” The lion sleeps well and feels happy now . He says , “You can help me ? You are too small . But I am happy now . You can go . ” The mouse goes .

    One day , the lion is in a cage(笼) . He can't get out . The little mouse sees the sad lion . He bites (咬)  the cage with his teeth . Soon the lion goes out . “Am I right ? ” says the mouse , “ A small animal can help a big one sometimes . ”

    When Grandma welcomed us, she was dressed in bright colors and wore jewelry(珠宝)I never knew she had. She seemed to be in a good mood(心情), but because of her deafness, communication was still difficult.

    It had been half a year since my last visit. She must have thought that as an overseas student, I don't get to eat much good food anymore. So, with her wrinkled(皱纹)hand, she passed me some homemade pastries(糕点).

    Her hands tested the temperature of my cup again and again, and every time it showed a slight sign of cooling down, Grandma poured in more hot water. She also never allowed me to stop eating. As soon as I finished what was on my plate, she gave me something new to try. Finally, when my stomach couldn't take any more, she stopped and held my hands as she sat beside me.

    When it was time to leave, she walked downstairs to see us off. The sun shined on the white pearls(珍珠)round her neck. She was smiling, and her wrinkles sat happily on her soft skin. People usually compare wrinkles to a dry tree trunk(树干). But to me, my grandmother's wrinkles are among the loveliest things I've ever seen.

    There used to be a time when I disliked old age and stayed away from elderly people, but that was because of my ignorance(无知). And now I understand that there's beauty in everything. My grandma's wrinkles are just like a thousand stories being told all at once.

    It was Mother's Day. Chatham was driving his new blue car and enjoying the beauty of nature. A flower shop by the road came into his eyes. So he stopped his car and took a look at some of the flowers. Just then he found a small, cute girl standing next to the shop. She was counting the money in her hand. It seemed that she was a little unhappy.

    He went up to her and asked, "Can I help you?"

    "I want to buy some red flowers for my mother. But I have only eighty rupees(卢比)," said the girl.

    Chatham smiled and asked her to take him to the shop. He bought a big bouquet(花束)for her and said, "I can take you to your mother." The girl was very happy.

    Finally they got to a grave. "Thank you, Uncle." Then she ran to the grave and put the roses in front of it.

    Chatham stood there without words in a minute. He then made a U-turn(掉头)and drove back to the same flower shop. He picked some pink roses and drove down two hundred miles to meet his old mother.

    His mother was happy to see him. But she said, "Why do you drive down all the way? You could talk to me over the phone. "

    He just kissed his mother and said, "Happy Mother's Day!"