There was once a king who had a great palace with a wonderful garden. In the garden, there lived all kinds of animals. All of them

enjoyed living there.

 There was only one thing in the garden that the king hated: an old tree in the center of the garden. It was so old and dry. This made

the king so angry that he finally asked some people to cut it down and turned the place into a swimming pool. However, after the tree was cut down, the animals left the garden. Without the animals, the garden was not so beautiful as before. The king was sad, but he didn't know what had happened.

 A young man went to the king, and said he could explain what had happened. “This was because you cut the old tree down,” said the young man. “There were thousands of moths (飞蛾)which lived in the tree. Birds needed the moths to eat and then they produced wastes for plants to grow. The plants then attracted many other animals to your garden. So your garden became very beautiful. But as you cut the tree down, the animals had to leave.

“Excellent!” said the king, “I'll make you rich and you will try to make my garden beautiful again.”

“I'm afraid it will take many years to finish. It will take many years for the natural balance(生态平衡) to get back again,” said the young man.

 The king was sad, but all he could do was just to wait.

    Long, long ago, a donkey(驴) fell in a dry well. The animal cried for hours as the farmer tried to think out what to do. Finally, the farmer thought the animal was too old and the well needed to be covered(覆盖) up anyway, so he decided not to try to save the donkey.

    The farmer invited his neighbours(邻居) to help him. They began to shovel(铲) dirt into the well. The donkey cried harder. Then a few shovelful later, he became quiet. The farmer looked into the well, and was surprised by what he saw.

    While every shovelful of dirt hit his back, the donkey would shake (抖) it off and take a step on the new layer(层) of dirt. As the farmer's neighbours continued(继续) to shovel dirt on top of the animal, the donkey would shake it off and take another step up.

    Soon the donkey stepped up out the well and ran away, to the surprise of all the neighbours

    The lesson we get from this story is that life shovels some dirt on us, we must get out of the well and not let it cover us. We must learn to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our trouble is a stepping-stone (踏脚石). We can get out of the deepest well by never giving up!

    Twenty years ago, I drove a taxi for a living. One early morning, I went to pick up a passenger at 2:30 a. m. When I arrived to collect my passenger, I saw a small woman in her eighties standing before me. I took her suitcase to the car and then returned to help the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly towards the car.

    She kept thanking me for my kindness. "It's nothing," I told her. "I just try to treat my passengers the way l would want my mother treated."

    "Oh, you're such a good man," she said. When we got into the taxi, she gave me an address, and then asked, "Could you drive me throughout the downtown (市中心)?"

    "It's not the shortest way," I answered quickly.

    "Oh, I'm in no hurry," she said. "I'm on my way to hospice (末期病人安养所). I don't have any family left. The doctor says I don't have very long time." I quietly shut off the meter (计价器). For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked, and the neighborhood where she had lived. Sometimes she asked me to slow down in front of a special building and she would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.

    As the day broke, she suddenly said. "I'm tired. Let's go now."

    We drove in silence to the address she had given me.

    "How much shall I give you?" she asked.

    "Nothing," I answered.

    "You have to make a living," she said.

    "Oh, there are other passengers," I said.

    Almost without thinking, I bent down and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly and said, "You gave an old woman a little moment of happiness."

    In fact, all decisions come down to choosing whether to open a door or to close it. I have learned that opening a door always makes life more interesting.

    A few years ago, I was living in a small world. I worked as a teacher in a very small high school. My life was quite simple. Then one day I had an opportunity to teach in a large school. The students there came from different countries. But the school was far away from my village. So I asked myself, "Should I go to that strange place to teach? Or should I stay at home?" In my home town I was safe and comfortable.

    Finally, I decided to go. I thought this was the best decision in my life. In that large school, I learned a lot about very different cultures. I also found that just a smile or a hug could make people understand each other. My new students made me feel welcome. We had a lot of fun. It was wonderful to live in a very different area of the country. So I was lucky that I didn't close the door to the chance, or I would miss all of those wonderful experiences.

    Once upon a time, there was a family with 18 children living in a village. Two of the children, both boys, loved painting very much, but the family was so poor that it was impossible to send both of them to study at art school at the same time.

    After many discussions, the two boys finally worked out a plan. They would toss(抛) a coin. The loser would go down into the mines(煤矿) and, with his money, pay for his brother's college tuition(学费).Then, when the brother who won the toss finished his studies, he would pay Tor the other brother to study at the college.

    One of the brothers, Albrecht Durer, won the toss and his brother Jack went down into the mines. Durer worked with all his heart and his paintings were much better than those of most of his teachers. He was beginning to make a lot of money for his paintings.

    Durer returned. When he told Jack he could go to art college, Jack said softly: "The four years in the mines have done too much to my hands. It is too late. Now I can't even hold a glass."

    To show his great love and respect for his brother, Durer drew his brother's hands with palms(手掌)together and thin fingers towards the sky. He called his drawing The Praying Hands, which became very famous years later.

    The next time you see a copy of that touching work, take a second look. Let it be your reminder: No one can ever succeed alone!