Once there was a man and a woman. They had been married for more than 60 years. They kept no secrets from each other except that the old woman had a shoe box under her bed. She told her husband never to open or ask about it.

For all these years， he had never thought about the box. But one day the old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would never get better.

The woman said it was time that he should know what was in the box. The old man took the shoe box to his wife's bedside.

When he opened it， he found two beautiful doilies(装饰小垫) and some money. The money was $25,000.

“When we got married，”she said,“my grandmother told me that the secret of a happy family was never to fight. She told me if every time I got angry with you， I should just keep quiet and crochet(编织) one doily.”

The old man was so moved because only two doilies were in the box. He thought she had only been angry with him twice in all those years.

“My dear，”he said， but what about all the money？ Where did it all come from？”

“Oh，”she said，“that's the money I made from selling the doilies. So far， I have sold 2,500 doilies.”

    After a serious earthquake happened, a father left his wife safely at home and rushed to his son's school, only to find that the building where his son studied had collapsed and looked like a pancake.

    He was shocked. He didn't know what he should do for a while, and then he remembered the words he had said to his son, "No matter what happens, I'll always be there for you!" And tears began to fill his eyes. He started digging through the ruins (废墟).

    As he was digging, other helpless parents and the firemen arrived and tried to pull him off the ruins, saying, "It's dangerous here! There's nothing you can do!" To them he replied with one line, "Are you going to help me now?" And then he kept on digging.

    He went on because he needed to know for himself, "Is my boy alive or is he dead?" He dug for eight hours… 12 hours… 24 hours… 36 hours… Then, in the 39th hour, he pulled back a rock and heard his son's words. He shouted his son's name. "Armand!" He heard back, "Dad?! It's me, Dad! I told the other kids not to worry. I told them that if you were alive, you'd save me, and when you saved me, they'd be saved. You promised, 'No matter what happens. I'll always be there for you!' You did it, Dad!"

    "What's going on there? How is it?" the father asked. "There are 14 of us left out of 33, Dad. We're frightened, hungry, thirsty and thankful you're here. When the building fell down, it made a triangle (三角形) and it saved us."

    "Come out, boy!"

    "No, Dad! Let the other kids out first, because I know you'll get me! No matter what happens, I know you'll always be there for me."

    Long long ago, there was a small village in the mountains, and many people lived there. Mike was one of them. He was a middle-aged man. The people in the village always laughed at him. They liked to show visitors how stupid Mike was. They thought this was an amusing thing to do.

    One day, a visitor came to the village. "Watch this!" a villager said and called to Mike." Come and play a game, Mike." he shouted. Mike walked slowly towards him, with a silly smile on his face. "Look, Mike, "the villager said, "I have got something for you." He showed Mike a $1 coin and a much larger 50￠（美分） coin." Which one would you like？" he asked Mike, holding them both out. Mike immediately took the 50￠coin. The villager laughed." See how stupid he is!" he said," He always does that. How stupid he is!" He walked away, leaving Mike with the visitor.

    The visitor felt sorry for Mike." Mike, listen," he said," Although the 50￠ coin is bigger than the 1 coin, the 1 coin is worth much more. Twice as much." "I know that," Mike said," But the very first time I take the $1 coin, they will stop playing the game. "Mike went away and left the visitor in silence.