Bruno was a boy of eight. His father worked in a cinema and his mother worked in a shop. He lived not far from his school. He always walked there and walked home. On his way to school, he had to pass a playground. It was very wet after it rained. One day, when he got home, his clothes were all wet. His mother became angry and said, "Don't play in the water on your way home from school!"

    On the next day Bruno came home with wet and dirty clothes. His mother became even angrier. "I'll tell your father if you come back wet again," said his mother. "He'll punish(惩罚)you, you know."

    The third day the little boy was dry when he came home.

    "You're a good boy today", his mother said happily. "You didn't play in the water."

    "No," the boy said unhappily. "There were too many older boys in the water when I got there this afternoon. There wasn't any room(空地方)for me at all!"

C

    A man died and was on his way to another world, either heaven (天堂) or hell (地狱). When he was halfway there, he saw a beautiful, huge palace. The owner came out and asked the man to stay and live in the palace.

    "And now I just want to eat and sleep without doing any work."The man said: "I have been working hard my whole life.

    The owner of the palace said: "If so, there is nowhere else better than here for you. There is a wealth of seafood and many other delicious foods in my palace. You can eat whatever you want without anyone stopping you. And you can rest assured (肯定的) that nothing needs to be done by you."

    "That is great! This must be heaven!" said the man. And he settled down (定居) in the palace.

    At first, the man felt very happy with a life of eating and sleeping. But gradually, he felt a bit lonely and bored.

    So he went to the owner and said: "Just eating and sleeping every day is very boring. Now I'm losing interest in this kind of life. Could you help me find a job?"

    The owner replied: "Sorry, there are no jobs here at all."

    After another few months, the man could not stand it any more and went to the owner again. "I really can't stand this kind of life any more," he said. "If you do not offer me a job, I would prefer (宁愿) to go to hell rather than (也不) live here."

    The owner of the palace smiled. "Where do you think we are now?" he said. "Heaven? We are actually (实际上) in hell!"

    Today I am going along with Rowan Dougall, a postman in Queensland in the far north of Australia, on his daily delivery（投递 trip. Every day, Rowan sets off with his post bags in the tail of his little plane--not much bigger than a large family car, and flies across one of the wildest places on Earth, Australia's Cape North, to reach the very faraway inland areas called the Outback.

    We fly just 300 metres above dangerous crocodiles(鳄鱼) and snakes. This is one of the longest and most expensive postman trips in the world.  However, a 50-cent stamp not only gets a letter posted to a neighbouring town, it will get it hand-delivered by flying postman to the furthest areas of the Outback. To help with the costs, the plane takes three or four paying local people or tourists, and I am one of them. In the back of the plane, there is a pile of post--envelopes of all sizes, newspapers, and a few parcels(包裹). Somehow I expected this post to look special, maybe to include some hats or cowboy boots, but this looks no more exciting than the post delivered to me in England. I look at some of the names and addresses, wondering about the people who are waiting for these letters and parcels.

    Rowan's route is 2,000 km long, with 15 stops, and I get a chance to meet Sandy, who has just received an order of clothes from a store. "I look forward to this weekly delivery," she says, "but I do miss actually going shopping myself." Rowan is checking the time. There are another ten stops to make before dusk(黄昏). Time to leap back on the plane and up into the air.

    Years ago I worked at a factory in a small county. Every day I got up very early and often did much extra work at night. I was so tired and exhausted. My whole life was hopeless. Then one day I read the following article from a magazine：

    "A woman went to live with her husband in camp on the Mojave Desert（沙漠）during the war. She simply hated the place: the heat was almost unbearable, 125degrees in the shade, the wind blew incessantly, and there was sand-sand everywhere. Finally, in desperation（不顾-切地）she wrote her parents in Ohio that she couldn't stand it another minute and was coming home.

    Quickly came the reply by airmail from her father just two lines：

    'Two men looked out from prison bars. One saw the mud, the other saw stars.'

    The daughter did some real thinking, not only with the intellect（思维）but also with her heart. She decided to stick to her post.

    She made friends with the natives, learned to love the country, and eventually wrote a book about it. The desert hadn't changed, but her attitude had. Because she listened with her heart to the words her father sent, a whole new world opened up to her. "

    A change of attitude could change everything. After reading the article, I was deep in thought（陷入沉思）.

    Before Monica goes to bed, she looks out of her window and sees the Moon. The Moon looks so beautiful. "I wish I could get the Moon," thinks Monica. But no matter (无论) how hard she tries, she cannot get the Moon. "Papa," Monica says to her father, "please get the Moon for me."

    Papa gets a very long ladder (梯子). He carries the very long ladder to a very high mountain. Then Papa puts the very long ladder on top (顶部) of it. Up and up he climbs. At last, Papa gets to the Moon.

    "My daughter Monica would like to play with you, but you are much too big," says Papa.

    "Every night I get a little smaller," says the Moon. "When I am just the right size, you can take me with you." After a few days, Papa takes it. Down and down he climbs.

    "Here," Papa says to Monica, "I have the Moon for you." Monica jumps and dances with the Moon. But the Moon keeps getting smaller and smaller. And at last, it disappears. Then, one night, Monica sees a small Moon come out. Each night the Moon grows, grows and grows.