An American named Crum invented potato chips in 1853, although that was not his intention (意图). He was a chef(厨师长) at a beautiful restaurant in Saratoga Springs, New York. A regular dish on the menu was fried (油炸的) potatoes, which was an idea that had started in France. At that time, French fried potatoes were cut into thick slices (片).

      One day, a dinner guest at the restaurant sent back his fried potatoes to the chef because he did not like them so thick. So Mr. Crum cut the potatoes a little thinner and fried them. The guest did not like those either. That made Mr. Crum angry, so he thought he would just show the man. He sliced the potatoes paper-thin and fried them, thinking that the man would say nothing about it. However, to his surprise, the man loved the thin potatoes very much. Other guests tried them and also liked them. So, Mr. Crum's potato chips were added to the menu. They were called Saratoga Chips.

      Finally, Mr. Crum opened his own restaurant to sell his famous chips. Now potato chips are packaged (包装) and sold in stores.

      A girl who graduated from a world famous university wanted to do translation work for authority leaders. She was so happy when she entered the British Embassy (大使馆). She thought it was the greatest happiness in her life as many graduates wanted to get that job and she was one of the few people who got it!

But when she started her new job, she realized that it was just a job of answering calls and recording staff members'arriving and leaving times. It was supposed to have no future. For some time, she felt disappointed and didn't know what to do. However, she didn't want to give up this job. She thought about it for one or two days and finally she decided that she would try her best to do this job. From then on, she learnt to appreciate her own job. She wrote down the names and phone numbers of the staff members on a notebook so that she could remember them. She found great pleasure in dealing with the daily chores. When a phone call came in, she picked up the phone as soon as possible. When someone asked her about who was not in the office, she would give the right name and even the time when he or she left. Nobody could do that except her.

Her excellent work received praise not only from the embassy's members, but also from people in the local government. A leader of a famous company in Britain was deeply impressed by her, so he invited her to work for him. After that she became the leader's personal translator and she was appreciated by the foreigners.

      We cannot choose our destiny(命运), but we can choose the attitude with which we face our life. Maybe the attitude could change our destiny.

    It's Jim's birthday today. He is five years old. He gets many nice birthday presents(礼物) from his family and one of them is a big drum (鼓). “Who gives him the drum?” his father asks. “His grandfather does,” answers Jim's mother. Jim likes his drum very much. He makes a noise(噪音) with it, but his mother doesn't say anything about it. His father is not at home. He is working in a school. So he doesn't hear the noise. But one of the neighbours (邻居) doesn't like the noise at all. So one morning she takes a knife and goes into Jim's room. Jim is making a noise with the drum. She says to him, “Hello, Jim. Do you know there is something nice in your drum? Here's a knife. Open the drum and let's find it.”

Tom gave up working and lived by himself a long way from town. He hardly ever left his home, but one day he went into town to buy some things in shops. After he bought them, he went into a restaurant and sat down at a table by himself. When he looked around, he saw some old people put on glasses before reading their newspapers. So after lunch he decided to go to a shop to buy himself some glasses too. He walked along the road and soon found a shop.

    The man in the shop made Tom try on a lot of glasses, but he always said, "I can't read with these."

    The man became more and more puzzled (迷惑的) until finally he said, "Excuse me, but can you read?"

    "No, of course I can't!" Tom said angrily. "If I was able to read, do you think I would have come here to buy glasses?"

    Sally was a student. Her mother's birthday is coming. She wanted to buy her a nice and cheap present(礼物).

    She went shopping after a quick and simple lunch. After she looked for half an hour, she found a shop. It was selling cheap umbrellas, and she decided to take a black one.

    She thought, "Mom can carry it when she is wearing any clothes." So she bought a lovely black umbrella and took it to school with her.

    On her way home on the train she felt hungry because she ate little for lunch. So she went to the buffet car(餐车). She left the umbrella on her seat. But when she got back. She couldn't see the umbrella!

    Sally began to cry. The other passengers felt very sorry for her and asked what was the matter. She told them she couldn't find the black umbrella, and she had to get off at the next station. After the three passengers heard this, they asked her for her mother's address(地址)so that they could send the umbrella to her if someone took it and brought it back.

    After a week, Sally got a letter from her mother. It said "Thank you very much for your lovely gifts, but why do you send me three black umbrellas?"