“Jamila, I just found one dollar sitting on the coffee table,” said Mrs. Johnson. “Is that your money?”

    Jamila looked up fromthe book she was reading. “Oops, it's mine. I emptied my jacket pockets before Ileft for basketball practice yesterday. I was running late, so I didn't have time to take it up to my room.”Jamila placed it quickly in the back of her book and went back to reading.

  “Jamila, you just put that money into the back of your book. I'm quite sure that you're not going to be able to find it when you need it.” her mother said. “You see, some of your money is in the pencil case on your desk. Some is in the glove hanging behind the door. I think you might also have a few dollars in your bag. You are such a careless girl.”

   “Mom. I'm too busy to take care of my money.”

     Mrs. Johnson smiled,“It looks like it's time for you to get your own bank account (账户).”

   “My own bank account?Is it necessary? Kids know little about it."Jamila replied.

    The next day, Mrs.Johnson took Jamila to a bank and opened an account for her. The banking mangerexplained how the money in the account would increase. “The longer the money staysin the account, the more it will earn(获利),” he added.

     Jamila was surprisedto learn that she could earn money just by keeping her money in a bank account.“I wish I had done this a long time ago.”

    Anny was a five-year-old girl. One day when she and her mother were in a department store（百货商店）, Anny saw a plastic pearl necklace (珍珠项链). What a beautiful necklace! She wanted it very much, so she begged（乞求）her mother to buy it for her. The mother said, “Well, I can buy you the necklace, but when we get home, we should discuss what you can do to pay for it. Can we do that?” Anny agreed with much happiness, and she got the necklace.

    How much Anny loved the necklace! She wore it everywhere and every minute. Anny also did part - time jobs to make pocket money. She worked very hard. Soon she succeeded in paying off the price for the necklace.

    Anny's daddy knew how she tried her best to get the necklace. He also knew how much Anny cared about it. One night, he asked Anny if she loved him. “Sure, Daddy.” the little girl said. “Then how about giving me your necklace?” “Oh, no, Daddy! Not my necklace!” Anny cried. “Oh, dear, it's fine.” her father gave her a kiss.

    Several days later, Anny went to her daddy, with her lips(嘴唇) trembling(颤抖). “Here, Daddy. I love you.” She held out her hand. Inside it was the plastic pearl necklace that she loved so much.

    When he saw this, Anny's father smiled with surprise. He then pulled a cute box out of his pocket. Inside the box was a real and colourful pearl necklace, which was waiting for Anny for so long.

Washing the Apples

    Mrs. Smith has a shop in the town. There are all kinds of fruit in her shop. She's friendly to the customers and never fools^① anyone. So the customers like to buy fruit in her shop, and she gets more and more money.

    One day, the apples she sold were all fresh and nice. She remembered her son Steve liked them best, so she brought some home for her son. After lunch, she went out and left the apples on the table. That afternoon Steve came back from school, he felt very hungry. He looked for something to eat and found some apples on the table. “Great! They are my favorite.” he cried and ate a lot. Mrs. Smith got home after she closed her fruit shop. When she saw Steve, she asked him, “Did you have the apples? ” Her son answered, “Yes. And I ate lots of them.” “Did you wash them? “Oh, I forgot. I was too hungry^②. What should I do? ”

    A few minutes later, Mrs. Smith found her son kept on drinking water.

    “Are you thirsty? Why are you drinking so much water?” asked the mother.

    “No, Mom.” answered the boy, “I want to wash the apples in my stomach with the water.”

D

    Linda was Tara's best friend before, but now things are different. Tara is a member of Purple Girls Club and they have some rules about who they can be friends with. Linda isn't very pretty and doesn't wear cool clothes. So she can't be in their club. Now Tara is making a name list for her party, and she decides not to invite Linda.

    “Tara, come here.” her mother calls from the living room. Tara goes to her mother and sees the school report card in her hands.

    “Tara, what's the matter with you? You have failed(不及格)math and English and you did badly in all of your other subjects. You were such a good student before!”

    Tara sees the disappointment in her mom's eyes. She feels terrible. The activities of Purple Girls Club leave her very little time for studies. The girls get together almost daily for movies, shopping and surfing the Internet. She calls every friend in the club and asks them to help her. But they all refuse(拒绝）and say, “Who cares about studies now?” This makes Tara even sadder.

    Later, Tam's mom takes her to Linda's house across the street. Tara says sorry and Linda is glad to have her friend back. She happily helps Tara with her studies.

    Tara now has a new rule for friendship and it is that a friend that lends a helping hand is a true friend.

    Some people have a very poor sense of direction. Unluckily, I am one of them. I have visited a place many times but I may still get lost there the next time.

    When I was a little girl, I never dared to ask strangers the way. And so I used to walk around in circles and hope that by chance I would get to the place I was going to.

    Now, I am no longer too shy to ask people for directions, but I often receive useless or ever wrong information. So I try to avoid giving people wrong directions. It anyone asks me the way somewhere, I would say, "Sorry, I am a stranger here."

    Once on my way to work I was stopped by a man. He asked me if I could tell him the way to the Friendship Building. I gave him my usual reply. But just as I walked on only a few steps, I realized that he had asked the way to my office building. However, I had no time to turn back and look for him. I hurried to meet someone at my office and I didn't want to keep him waiting.

    When I just got to my office, the secretary showed in the man who had asked me for directions. Imagine how awkward I was and how surprised he was when we saw each other at the first sight!