One day I got in a taxi, and we left for the airport. We were driving in the right lane（车道）when, suddenly, a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver stopped his car at once. The tire（轮胎） made a very loud noise, and at the very last moment our car stopped just one inch from the back of the other car.

I was frightened. But then I couldn't believe what happened next. The driver of the other car, the guy who almost caused a big accident, turned his head and started yelling at us. I couldn't believe it! But my taxi driver just smiled at the guy. So I asked, “Why did you just do that? This guy almost sent us to hospital.”

This is when my taxi driver taught my what I now call, “The Law of the Rubbush Truck（垃圾车法则）.” He explained that many people are like rubbish trucks. They run around full of rubbish, full of anger and full of bad feelings. As their rubbish piles up, they look for a place to throw it away and sometimes they'll throw it at you. Don't take it personally. Just smile, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their rubbish and spread it to other people at work, at home or on the streets.

Successful people never let rubbish trucks change their moods. Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so love those who love you and pray（祈祷）for those who don't.

    Liu Yingying is a student at No. 17 Middle School in Shanghai. She is 14 years old. She likes English and she often (经常) reads English books at home. She can speak English well and write many English words. She likes speaking English with her classmates and teachers at school. Her teachers like her. Liu Yingying likes music and she can play the piano. She often practises (练习) it at home in the morning.

    Liu Yingying has got a happy family. Her father is a worker in a car factory and her mother is a hotel manager. Her father likes sports. His favourite sport is table tennis. Her mother likes sports, too. But she likes swimming. What about Liu Yingying? She likes playing tennis.

    Once a traveller came into a village which was suffering from hunger. The villagers asked him to leave, for they feared he wanted them to give him food. They told him that there was no food. The traveller explained that he didn't need any food and that, in fact, he was planning to make a soup to share with them instead. The villagers watched suspiciously as he built a fire and filled a pot with water With great ceremony(仪式), he pulled a stone from a bag, and dropped the stone into the pot of water. After a moment, he smelt the soup and shouted with excitement, “How delicious the soup is!” As the villagers began to show interest, he mentioned how good the soup would be with just a little cabbage in it. A villager brought out a cabbage to share. This episode(情节) repeated itself until the soup had cabbage, carrots, onions, and beets—indeed, a full pot of soup that could feed everyone in the village was ready. This story describes when there are not enough resources(资源), humans will store things. We do not want to share. The story of stone soup helps us realize that, in doing so, we often prevent ourselves and everyone else from having a feast(盛宴).The meaning of this story goes far beyond food. We keep to ourselves ideas, love, and energy, thinking we will be richer, but in fact we make the world, and ourselves, poorer. The traveller was able to see that the villagers were holding back, and he had the ability to inspire(激发) them to give. In this way, they created a large meal that none of them could have created alone. Are you like one of the villagers? If you come forward and share your gifts, you will inspire others to do the same. The reward is a feast that can feed many.

    When our son Bradley was ten, the new bicycle he had received earlier that year was stolen. Owning a bicycle was a big deal to our children when they were little. They spent hours and hours, day after day, on their bicycles, riding up and down the footpath, and at the front of the house. We also rode together as a family a lot. Bicycling was a great way to get the kids out of the house and into the fresh air without spending any money.

    Bradley had discovered that his bicycle had been stolen from our backyard in Campbelltown, South Australia, when he and his sister went outside for a morning ride. He couldn't believe that someone would do this.

    He got a large piece of cardboard, painted a sign begging for the bicycle to be returned, and tied the sign to the letterbox. The following morning, when I went out to collect the mail, I found a white envelope with the magical words, "Buy yourself a new bicycle". There was a $100 banknote inside.

    We were very touched that someone had the heart to do this, We've never been able to thank the person but we suspect(猜想) that it may have been one of our wonderful neighbors. Bradley painted a big"______!"on the sign and we left it outside for a couple of weeks afterwards, hoping the kind stranger would drive down our street.

    A delighted Bradley was able to buy a new bicycle. As the years went on, the bicycles became bigger and more expensive but remained just as important for those family bicycle rides. Now Bradley is 25. Sometimes I miss the days when receiving a bicycle was the best thing in the world to them.

    All these years later we are still thankful for the stranger's kindness. We were a young family with three little children and it meant a lot to us. We still talk about it and, even now, wonder who the kind stranger was.

    One day, Mr. Smith is going to take a train to his hometown. When the train starts, one of his shoes falls to the ground. The train is running faster and faster and he can't pick it up. Then he quickly takes off(脱下) the other one and throws it on the ground near the fallen shoe. A little boy on the train asks him, "Why do you do that?" "I've already lost one shoe." Mr. Smith answers. "If a man picks them up, he may get a pair of shoes."