A man bought a donkey at the market one day and took him home. Now the man owned several donkeys already and he knew each one's character very well. One of the donkeys was very strong and brave. Another always wanted to make people happy by working quickly but soon got tired. One donkey was very lazy. He hated going to work in the morning and he did as little as he       possibly could all day long. When the other animals were being loaded up(装载), he always tried to be the last so that he would get the lightest load.
The man led the new donkey into the yard. For a moment the new donkey stood sniffing(闻，嗅) at his new friends. Then, without hesitation, he came up to the lazy donkey and began eating comfortably at his side.
Though it was late in the day, the man immediately led the new donkey out of the yard, straight back to the market.
"You can't have given him a fair trial yet," said the seller, "It is only ten minutes since you bought him."
"I don't need to try him any more,"replied the man, "I know just what he is like from the friend he chose for himself. Take him away and give me my money back. I can do without donkeys like him."

    In ancient China, there was a man called Zhou Yong. Before his father died, he left Zhou Yong a great number of gold ingots (元宝). Zhou hid them in a safe place in his home. One day, Zhou decided to travel far away. He was afraid that someone would steal the gold ingots. But they were too heavy for him to bring along with him. So he put all the ingots into a jar (坛子) and gave it to his friend Wang Wu, telling Wang that the jar was full of fresh red dates (红枣).

    A year later, one day before Zhou came back, Wang's wife wondered what was in the jar. So she secretly opened it. She was shocked when she saw so many ingots inside. She told Wang about it and they took the ingots out and filled the jar with fresh red dates.

    When Wang returned the jar to Zhou, Zhou found the ingots were missing. They argued about it for a while, then they went to see the county magistrate (县官).

    When the magistrate asked Wang what had happened, he answered, "Zhou said that there were fresh red dates in it when he gave me the jar a year ago."

    The magistrate examined the jar and the fresh red dates in it carefully. Then he said: "Bring the ingots back, Wang Wu!"

    Wang still denied (否认)having taken them. But after the magistrate explained what he knew, Wang finally admitted (承认)that he had taken the ingots.

    I teach economics in a university three times per week. Last Monday, at the beginning of class, I asked my students how their weekend had been. One young man said that his weekend had not been so good. He had his wisdom teeth removed. Then he went on to ask me why I always seemed to be so cheerful.

    His question reminded me of something I'd read somewhere before: Every morning when you get up, you have a choice about how you want to live that day. I said, "I choose to be cheerful."

    "Let me give you an example," I continued. "Besides teaching here, I also teach at a college in Henderson, 17 miles down the freeway from where I live. One day a few weeks ago I exited the freeway and turned onto College Drive. I only had to drive another quarter mile down the road to the college. But just then my car died. I tried to start it again, but the engine wouldn't work. So I put my flashes on, took my books, and walked down the road to the college. When I got there, I called AAA(汽车协会) and asked for a tow truck to meet at my car after class. The secretary there asked me what had happened. "This is my lucky day," I replied, smiling.

    "Your car breaks down and toady is your lucky day? What do you mean?"

    "My car could have broken down anywhere along the freeway. I didn't," I replied. "Instead, it broken down at the perfect place: off the freeway, within walking distance of here. I'm still able to teach my class, and I've been able to ask for the tow truck to meet me after class! If my car was meant to break down today, it couldn't have been arranged in a more convenient way."

    I ended my story. In spite of the early hour, no one in my class seemed to be asleep. Somehow, my story had touched them.