George had stolen some money, but the police had caught him and he had been put in prison. Now his trial was about to begin, and he felt sure that he would be found guilty (有罪) and sent to prison for a long time.

    Then he discovered that an old friend of his was one of the members of the jury(陪审团)at his trial. Of course, he did not tell anybody, but he managed to see his friend secretly one day. He said to him, "Jim, I know that the jury will find me guilty of having stolen the money. I cannot hope to be found not guilty of taking it—that would be too much to expect. But I should be thankful to you for the rest of my life if you could persuade the other members of the jury to add a strong recommendation (劝告) for mercy to their statement that they consider me guilty."

    "Well, George," answered Jim, "I shall certainly try to do what I can for you as an old friend, but of course I cannot promise anything. The other eleven people on the jury look terribly strong-minded to me."

    George said that he would quite understand if Jim was not able to do anything for him, and thanked him warmly for agreeing to help.

The trial went on, and at last the time came for the jury to decide whether George was guilty or not. It took them five hours, but in the end they found George guilty, with a strong recommendation for mercy(仁慈).

    Of course, George was very pleased, but he did not have a chance to see Jim for some time after the trial. At last, however, Jim visited him in prison, and George thanked him warmly and asked him how he had managed to persuade the other members of the jury to recommend mercy.

    "Well, George," Jim answered, "As I thought, those eleven men were very difficult to persuade, but I managed it in the end by tiring them out. Do you know, those fools had all wanted to find you not guilty!"

    Eric didn't know he was going to help a blue whale today. As soon as he finished his homework, Eric jumped onto his bicycle and rode off in the direction of the beach. While he was riding along, he thought about the blue whales. He hoped he would see them again today.

    After he got to the beach, Eric hid his bicycle behind a bush (灌木丛) so that no one could see it from the road. Then he ran down onto the sand. The sky was growing dark. Eric frowned (皱眉). If it rained, he wouldn't be able to see the blue whales because they would stay in deeper water. He hurried along the beach to the rocks. They were the best place to watch me blue whales because of their height. Before Eric reached the rocks, he felt a drop of water on his head. "Oh, no! Now the blue whales will stay in the deep water and l won't be able to watch them!"

    But just then he saw a large shape on the beach. It was a young blue whale! The whale had come too close to the shore and got stuck (被困) on the beach! At first the blue whale didn't move at all and Eric thought it was dead. Then he saw its tail move weakly. Eric turned and ran through the rain as fast as he could back to his bicycle. He had to get help to get the blue whale back in the water soon, or it would die and Eric couldn't let that happen…

    This is the story of a little fir(冷杉) tree that dreamed of growing up so that he could be a Christmas tree for humans. The other older trees knew more about life and they told him that being a Christmas tree for humans wasn't as good as he thought. But the little fir tree didn't believe them.

    He was so pleased that day when some children came in with their parents to pick a fir tree as their Christmas tree to decorate the living room. The children adored him at first sight. So he was dug up and brought into the living room. After they finished decorating him, the little fir tree shone with a hundred lights. Christmas was getting closer and everyone admired (欣赏) the little Christmas tree.

    He was the prince of the living room, but he started to lose his leaves after January. Nobody looked at him or touched him. The fir tree started to feel sad that he had been chosen by the family. After several days, the little fir tree was replanted in the family's backyard. He was so happy to be back in the good old earth! In the following years, the family dug him up again to put him back into the living room as their Christmas tree and then replanted him. He was very happy with his new family. And yes, in the end the older trees were wrong. Some humans are good after all.

    Today is the fifth day of July. It is Judy's birthday. When she comes back home from school, she sees a card on the table. It says, "There's a present(礼物)for you, Judy. Look for(寻找)it in your bedroom. "Judy runs in—to her bedroom. Her parents are looking at her and smiling. On the chair she sees a red box. She thinks her present is in it。She opens it, and there is a piece of paper in it. She reads it, "Dear Judy, I'm your present. My first letter(字母)is in the word 'dear', but not in 'pear'. My second letter is in 'red', but not in 'bed'. My third letter is in 'bus', and in' four'. And you can find my last letter in both(两者) 'home' and 'music'. What am I? "Judy thinks for a while and says, "Aha, I know. But where is it?" Her father tells her it is in her drawer.

    What is it? Do you know?

    Last summer holiday, I got a job working at a coffee shop.

    One rainy day, one of my regular customers(顾客)came in. He looked upset. He said he wanted to get in bed, pull the sheets（波单）up over his head, and stay there for a few years. I knew that he was unhappy.

    Before he left, I handed him a bag along with his iced coffee. He was surprised, since he hadn't ordered anything but coffee. I had given him his favorite type of doughnut(油炸图饼).

    "It's on me, "I told him." Have a nice day."

    He smiled and thanked me before heading into the rain.

    The next day, it was still raining. I spent my afternoon hanging out the window handing people their orders. I was wet and cold. Worse, no one was tipping(给小费)that day.

    In the evening, the customer from the day before drove up to the window. He handed me a pink rose and a note. He said that not many people took time to care about others today. With a friendly wave, he drove away.

    I ran to the back of the shop and read the note. It read：Christine, Thanks for being so sweet, kind yesterday. It is so nice to meet someone who's so nice. Please don't change your ways!

    Have a great day!

——Hank

    After that, whenever I felt upset, I thought of Hank and his kindness. Then I would smile, hold my head up high, clear my throat and ask politely, "How can I help you？"