Jane Browning works in a busy hospital (医院) in Boston, USA. On weekdays, she usually gets up at six o'clock in the morning and has a shower. Then she goes to work at seven o'clock.

Her husband (丈夫), David usually gets up at seven o'clock. He is a science teacher. They have one son. His name is Andy. Andy is thirteen. He goes to school at seven thirty in the morning with his father.

    After Jane gets to the hospital, she talks to her patients and asks how they are. Then she meets the new patients. At about one o'clock in the afternoon she has lunch.

Usually Jane gets home at six o'clock in the evening and she is very tired (疲倦的). But she loves her job, because she likes helping people.

    David walked down the street. All he wanted to do was to play basketball with Jim. But his mother told him to return his sister's books to the library on his way to Jim's house.

    In his eyes, books and summertime just don't go together. He thought he had read a lot during the school year. And he had never set foot inside a public library. Today he'd just drop the books off in the outside return box, but it was locked. He had to go inside to return them.

David walked inside the building a few minutes before closing time. He put the books into the return box. After a quick drink of water and a short stop in the toilet, he'd be on his way to meet Jim. He walked out of the toilet. The library lights were turned off. He was locked — in a library.

    David tried to use the telephone, but he couldn't find one. As the sun began to set, he searched for a light and found a little one on the desk. He used a pencil to write a note on a big piece of paper. It read, "I'm locked inside. Please call for help." He put it on the front door. Surely, someone passing by would see it. He then turned his attention to the library itself.

    He was surprised to discover that this place was not so bad. Rows and rows of books! When he saw a book about Michael Jordan on the desk, he picked it up. He opened the book and began to read. He felt that being locked in the library didn't seem to be such a terrible thing.

    A river was running happily in the hill, the valley(山谷) and the field. Soon it was stopped by a huge rock and the river was a little afraid and worried what it could do.

    The rock said, "Hi, baby！Where are you going？"

    The river answered, "I'm going to the sea. My mother is waiting for me."

    The rock made fun of the river and said, "You're too young. Go back to the hill at once. You can't get there. Don't come back here again!"

    The river was surprised to hear that and said, "I can only go forwards(向前).There's no river that goes backwards(向后)!"

    The rock became angry and warned the river. "Don't speak! If you don't go back, you will have to change your direction. Don't want to run over my body!"

    The river asked helplessly, "Where should I go？"

    "You can go anywhere you like. Just don't come close to me!"

    While they are talking, more and more water came here. Then it began to get out of control. The river ran quickly over the rock and the rock was washed pitifully.

    The river said proudly, "A weak person will change his goal and direction. A person who is strong will only go ahead and nothing can stop him!"

    Four beggars (乞丐) usually met at an old shack (小窝棚) at the end of the day. One day, they were very upset because none of them had got much in their begging bowls.

    "I only got this piece of meat today," the first said. "I hardly got anything," the second said. "I just picked up these few vegetables outside the fruit and vegetable store." The third complained that all he was given was a handful of herbs(香草) that he couldn't eat on his own. The fourth beggar didn't do much better. "I only got the handful of old, dried beans, but they aren't very nice!"

    As they sat around the fire, one of them had a great idea. "Let's put all our bits together and boil them. In this way, we can make a tasty dish and share it." They all agreed.

    However, the first beggar thought, "I don't want to share. I'll just pretend (假装) to throw my meat into the pot. They'll never know and I'll eat my meat later." So he pretended to put the meat into the pot. Now the same idea had also hit the other beggars and the shack was so dark that no one could see what the others were doing.

    Finally, one of them suggested that the dish should now be ready and, in turn, each of them helped himself to a bowl. They drank the hot water in absolute(绝对) silence, learning that selfishness doesn't taste all that good.

Love is a two-way street

    A father sat at his desk and looked at his bills when his young son rushed in and announced, "Dad, because today is your birthday and you're 40 years old, I'm going to give you 40 kisses, one for each year!"

When the boy started making good on his word(履行诺言), the father shouted, "Andrew, don't do it now. I'm too busy!" The boy soon fell silent as tears fell from his big blue eyes. Feeling sorry, the father said, "You can finish later." The boy said nothing but quietly walked away. That evening the father said, "Come and finish the kisses now, Andrew!". But the boy didn't. Unfortunately，a few days later after the father's birthday, the boy had an accident and died. His sad father wrote, "If only(要是.....该多好) I could tell him how sorry I am for my thoughtless words, and how much my heart is hurting. "I Love is a two-way street. We must warmly accept any loving act, or others will take it as a "NO" and it can leave a scar(伤痕). If we don't receive love, our life will lose its true meaning. Nothing is more important than accepting love from those who are near and dear to us.