Tim is a 16-year-old boy who studies in a high school .His parents tell him to study hard and they do everything for him. They wake him up at 6:00 a.m. and after breakfast his father takes him to school by car. As soon as the young man comes home from school, the supper is ready. Of course, he never does chores(杂物). Once, Tim's father would go to London on business for a year. Before leaving, he told his wife to look after their son well. The woman had to get up earlier and did all what her husband did before. Two months later, she was so tired that she was ill. The young man got into trouble at once. He couldn't do housework. He didn't know where to get on the bus.

     Yesterday Tim's mother found his shoes were worn out and told him to buy a new pair. But he didn't know how to choose right shoes. The woman had a sigh(叹息）,gave him a shoe pattern(鞋样)and told him to buy shoes himself. With a policeman's help, he found a shop. The shopkeeper brought some shoes and asked him to choose. When he was trying on pair, suddenly he remembered something and took them off. The man was surprised and asked, “What's the matter?”

“I'm sorry. I've left my shoe pattern at home.”

    Mary loved small animals. One morning while she was walking in the forest, she found 1weak birds in the grass. She took them home and put them in a small cage. She cared them with love and the birds both grew2. They thanked her3a wonderful song every morning.

    But something happened one day. Mary left the door of the 4open. The larger bird flew from the cage. She thought that it would 5. As it flew close, she grasped (紧抓) it. She was very 6to catch it.7she felt strange. She opened her hand and looked sadly at the 8bird. Her great love had killed the bird!

    The other bird was moving back and forth (来回) in the cage. Mary could 9its great need for freedom (自由). It wanted to fly into the clear and blue10. At once, Mary took the bird 11the cage and let it fly away. The bird circled once, twice, three times…

    Mary enjoyed watching the bird flying and singing 12 Suddenly the bird flew13and landed softly on her head. It sang the 14song that she had ever heard.

    The easiest way to lose love is to hold it too tight. The best way to keep love is to 15it wings (翅膀).

    "Can I take your order?" Night after night, I had to say this as I worked in my family's restaurant. My father was a fantastic cook. He wanted me, his only son, to cook with him, but I didn't like cooking. Because of the restaurant, my father was always busy. He never had time to play football with me.

    During my high school and college years, I worked with my family at night. But I always avoided the kitchen. I couldn't wait to graduate (毕业)so that I could move away from the family business. Several days before my graduation day, my father and I started looking at new cars. Finally, we found the right car. I was sure that my father would give it to me as my graduation gift.

    On my graduation day, my father gave me a book as a gift. It was his old cookbook. I was so angry that I gave it back to him and ran out of the house. Several days later I moved away and started my business. Although I often saw my father during holidays, we never talked about the graduation gift. Then one day, I got a call that my father was ill. I went to see him because I was very worried.

    That night, I looked through my father's books and saw the cookbook that he had given me year before. I carefully opened the cookbook and went through it. Then I found something that made me cry. It was a check(支票)for$30,000 dated(注有日期) the day of my graduation. And the price of the car my father and I chose all those years ago was $30,000.

    Once when I was a teenager, my father and I were standing in line to buy tickets for the circus.

    Finally, there was only one family between the ticket office and us. This family made a big impression on me.

    There were eight children, all probably under the age of 12. You could tell they didn't have a lot of money. Their clothes were not expensive, but they were clean. The children talked excitedly about the clowns. It was clearly a very important day out for them. The father and mother seemed happy as they could be.

    The tickets lady asked how many tickets the father wanted, he proudly answered, "Please let me buy eight children's tickets and two adults' tickets, so I can take my family to the circus."

    The ticket lady told him the price.

    The man's wife lowered her head. There was no longer a smile on the man's face. He quietly asked, "How much did you say?"

    The ticket lady again told him the price.

    The man obviously didn't have enough money. But how could he tell his kids the bad news?

    Seeing what was happening, my dad took a $20 note from his pocket and dropped in on the ground. (We were not rich ourselves at all!) He then tapped the man on the shoulder and said,

    "Excuse me, Sir, you dropped this."

    The man understood my father was helping him. He picked up the money, looked straight into my dad's eyes, and in tears replied, "Thank you. This really means a lot to me and my family."

    Although we did not go to the circus that night, we didn't go without.

    Long long ago, there was a crowd of antelopes(羚羊)in the forest. In this crowd there was a wise teacher. He was admired by everyone because he taught the young the tricks and strategies of survival (生存策略). One day, his younger sister brought her son to him and asked him to leach what was important to antelopes. She said, "Dear brother, this is my son, Dick. Please teach him the tricks and strategies of survival. The teacher said to Dick, "You can come at this time tomorrow for your first lesson."

    At first, Dick came to have lessons on time every day. But soon, Dick became more interested in playing games with others, so he began to cut classes. However, he didn't realize how dangerous it could be for a young antelope who learned nothing but games.

    Unfortunately, one day the young antelope stepped in a trap(陷阱). Knowing Dick was missing, his mother was worried. She went to her brother and asked him "My brother how is my son? Have you taught him the tricks and strategies of survival? The teacher replied, "My dear sister, I tried my best to leach him, but your son did not want to lean the tricks and strategies of survival. He cut classes. How could I possibly teach him?"

    At this time, they heard that Dick was caught in a trap. They hurried to rescue him before it was too late. Dick was too scared to move and regretted deeply.

    If the young antelope had kept learning carefully all the time, he wouldn't have been caught.

    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.