I think the most terrible thing in life for my little brother is getting up in the morning. He is almost sick when my mother calls, "Herbert! It's seven o'clock! Get up!"

    Herbert answers, "I'm coming!" and goes right back to sleep. I'm not at all like my brother. I don't like to go to bed at night but I don't mind getting up in the morning.

    I usually wake up before my mother calls me. I jump out of bed and go into the bathroom to take a shower. I great dressed, brush my teeth, comb my hair, and get ready to go down stairs for breakfast as soon as my mother calls.

    But not Herbert. He just sleeps. A military band (军乐队) in our bedroom could not wake him up. I call him and say, "Get up!" Mum will be up here to pull you out of bed if you don't get up quickly.

    But he just sleeps. After calling a few more times my mother has to come upstairs and pull Herbert out of bed. It's that way every day with my little brother. Perhaps some day he'll learn to get up on time, but I really don't think so.

    Four years ago when I was a boy of 11, I got into the biggest trouble as a kid. It was a Saturday morning. Both my parents were out, leaving me and my 10－month－old sister home alone. Anyway, my sister was still asleep in her room. In fact I had the house to myself. I decided to do some drawing. Soon I gave up. Nothing was on TV, so I felt bored and touched the candles on the shelf…I had an idea! What would happen if I set fire to some kitchen paper? Well, of course it went on fire, but it wasn't the tiny flame(火苗) I'd expected, and I couldn't blow it out. I threw it on the floor, and then I got my dad's boots(靴子) and stamped it out.

    But there was a huge hole left on the floor. When my mum came home later, she smelt the smoke immediately. She dropped the shopping bag, luckily for me, over the hole. I thought this meant she would never see it. However, after running round the house checking for a fire, she of course picked up the bag and saw the hole. Next I was grounded(关禁闭)  for months. Even worse though, the hole was still there, reminding me of what I did.

    One morning, a blind boy sat on the steps of building with a hat by his feet. He held a sign which said, "I am blind, please help me."

    There were only a few coins in the hat. A man was walking by. He took out a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words on it. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by could see the new words.

    Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, "Are you the one who changed my sign in the morning? What did you write?" The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said, but in a different way." What he had written was, "Today is a beautiful day, but I cannot see it." Do you think the first sign and second sign were saying the same thing?

    Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply told people to help by putting some money in the hat. The second sign told people that they were able to enjoy the beauty of the day, but the boy could not enjoy it because he was blind.

    The first sign simply said the boy was blind, while the second sign told people they were so lucky that they were not blind.

    There are at least two lessons we can learn from this simple story. The first is: Treasure what you have. Someone else has less, Try your best to help those who need your help. The second is: Be creative. Think differently. There is always a better way.

    Then Alice saw a small glass table. There was a little golden key on it. She picked it and put it in all the locks on the doors but it didn't open any of them. She moved a curtain on one of the walls and discovered another door, a very small one. She put the key in the lock. It was exactly the right size! She opened the door and looked through it. At the end of a low passage she saw a beautiful garden. It was full of brightly coloured flowers and fountains.

    "Oh, how beautiful!" she said. "I'd love to go there but I'm too big to get through the door."

    She walked back to the table. There was a bottle on it now.

    "I'm sure that bottle wasn't there before," she said, a little confused.

    She put down the key and picked up the bottle. She read the words "DRINK ME" on it. Alice wasn't a stupid girl. She didn't drink it immediately. First she looked at the bottle carefully. There wasn't a label on it that said "POISON".

    So she put the bottle to her lips and drank.

    "Mmm, ifs nice," she said. It tasted like cherry tart, pineapple, roast turkey and toast-all the things that she liked to eat-so she drank some more. And some more. Soon the bottle was empty.

    "What a curious feeling," she said. "I'm getting smaller and smaller.'" It was true! She was now as small as her cat Dinah.

    "Good! I can go through the door into the garden," she said. But, poor Alice! When she got to the door, she didn't have the key! It was on the table. She couldn't reach it because she was too small now. She sat down and cried.

    After a while she said, "Alice! Stop crying! Crying doesn't help! Dry your tears immediately!"

    When she looked at the table again, she saw a small glass box under it. She picked it up and opened it. There was a small cake inside. It had the words "EAT ME" on it. She put a small piece of it in her mouth.

    "If I grow bigger I can reach the key," she thought. "And if I grow smaller I can go under the door."

    But nothing happened so she finished it.   

    Born without arms or legs, Nick Vujicic knew from an early age that he was different. There is no medical explanation for Vujicic's physical disability. Though he struggles（挣扎）with some little things of everyday living（brushing teeth, for example）,he has become a great speaker.

    Confidence didn't come naturally to Vujicic. Growing up in Melbourne, Australia, he struggled with depression （抑郁）and was bullied（欺凌）at school. When he was just 10 years old, he tried to kill himself. Thanks to his family's strong support and selfless love over time, Vujicic chose to be positive towards life. After his mother showed him a newspaper article about a man dealing with a serious disability when he was seventeen, he started to give public talks. The great Australian has visited more than 50 countries and given thousands of talks. No matter where he goes, he communicates the main message﹣that no matter what difficulties you meet, you can overcome ! Here's what he said in one of his powerful speeches:

"I felt like I was a burden （负担）to those around me and the sooner I go, the better it'd be for everyone. I wanted to end my pain and end my life at a young age, but I am thankful once again, for my parents and family who were always there to comfort me and give me courage.

    Because of my emotional struggles I had experienced with bullying and loneliness, God has given me a passion（激情）of sharing my story and experiences to help others deal with whatever difficulty they have in their life and let God turn it into a blessing. To encourage and inspire others to live to their fullest potential and not let anything get in the way of achieving their hopes and dreams. "

Amy and Susan both live an ordinary （普通的） life. They have an ordinary house, an ordinary job and an ordinary family. There is really nothing 1 about their lives. 

Amy and Susan are both satisfied （满意的） with their lives, 2 it seems that Amy is happier than Susan. Whenever Susan comes to visit Amy, Amy seems carefree（无忧无虑的） and happy. She looks like3 can make her unhappy. She is always wearing a big 4 on her face. 

Susan can't stop 5 that. Why does Amy look much happier than her when they both lead such6 lives. How can Amy be so carefree when life is so stressful? There are always a million things in her life— work, shopping, housework and kids. But every time Susan asks Amy, Amy says, "I just take life as it comes. It seems pretty 7 then. "

So what is the8 between the two friends? Why does Amy's life seem so much better most of the time? The 9 with Susan is that she tries to do so many different things at the same time that she doesn't do any of them well. However, Amy takes everything one step at a time. She stays present in the moment and tells 10 to do just one thing at a time.